Not quite all in the box

Wii U is getting so close that we can smell the packaging, and vital details about what to expect out of the box are starting to emerge. While many are no doubt hoping that preview systems will reveal Wii U's secrets to the world, it seems that we'll all have a little longer to wait.

As reported by IGN, Wii U is lacking a number of core elements — aside from playing games, thankfully — in its original form, which is almost to be expected with the nature of manufacturing and ever-evolving user interfaces on consoles. One of the first things you'll need to do when you load up your Wii U will be to connect online and perform a system update, which will spruce it up with lots of extras. We're not talking about minor additions, either, as the update will apparently bring you Miiverse, Wii U Chat — described as a "real time communication application" — eShop and, if you're in North America, TVii. It seems that preview systems will actually be retail units requiring this update, and even these aren't expected to receive it until shortly before public release.

While downloading and installing a potentially sizeable update may not sound ideal, at least this functionality will be there on day one, an improvement over the eShop delay on 3DS. We don't have long to wait before we can see what these features can deliver.

[source uk.ign.com]