What could it all mean?

Nintendo can be accused of many things, often unfairly, but sleeping on the online job surely isn't one of them. The current generation of Wii U and 3DS has seen the company drastically evolve and update its online infrastructure, and system maintenance has been a regular feature of just that. Sometimes the work of Nintendo's tech whizzes can give us clues, however, to something on the way or — equally possible — nothing at all.

So which will it be this time? Nintendo is planning coordinated extended maintenance that'll affect the Wii U and 3DS eShop platforms on 13th March, well after the day's Download Update. What's made us raise our eyebrows to a slightly uncomfortable degree is that this is exactly one month after the last Nintendo Direct, and we know how Nintendo likes to make them a monthly affair.

Random speculation aside, below are the times when disruption is expected on the Wii U and 3DS eShop.

From Thursday, March 13, 2014 1pm Pacific / 4pm Eastern / 8pm UK / 9pm CET to Thursday, March 13, 2014 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern / midnight UK (14th March) / 1am CET.

Affected Services:
Wii U

  • Nintendo eShop

Nintendo 3DS

  • Nintendo eShop

Also of interest for you Pokémon X & Y gamers is that online play and services for the game will be affected for a whopping 14 hours on 11th March for maintenance.

From Monday, March 10, 2014 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern / midnight UK / 1am CET to Tuesday, March 11, 2014 7am Pacific / 10am Eastern / 2pm UK / 3pm CET

Affected Services:
Nintendo 3DS

  • Online Play, Rankings, etc. for Pokémon X, Pokémon Y

So, what do you think Thursday's maintenance points to? Will it follow a Nintendo Direct as it has on occasions in the past, lay the ground for an update, or do absolutely nothing that any of us can notice? Speculate wildly in the comments below.

[source nintendo.com, via nintendo.co.jp]