Nintendo 'very sorry' for Wii U day-one updates

New Wii U owners must download a hefty day-one patch if they wish to take advantage of all the system's network-based features. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata wishes this were not the case, telling IGN that he feels "very sorry" that such an update was required.

"Personally, I think that users should be able to use all the functions of a console video game machine as soon as they open the box," Iwata said. "So I feel very sorry for the fact that purchasers of Wii U have to experience a network update which takes such a long time, and that there are the services which were not available at the hardware's launch."

Elsewhere in the interview, Iwata said Nintendo will not follow the lead of Microsoft's Xbox Live and Sony's PlayStation Network with regards to the Wii U's online functionality.

"We have not thought that offering the same features that already exist within other online communities would be the best proposal for very experienced game players," Iwata said. He added that the Wii U's social network Miiverse is its own "very unique game-dedicated social graph that has never existed before."

Lastly, Iwata addressed some of the prelaunch skepticism regarding the Wii U. He said such cynicism is not uncommon and reiterated Nintendo's belief that once users get their hands on the Wii U, they will understand why it is compelling.

"The brand new user interfaces that Nintendo invented often faced skeptical views before a hardware launch, but wound up becoming de facto industry standards," Iwata said. "It is challenging to communicate attractions which are hard to understand unless you actually touch and experience them yourself. This is especially so with Wii U because it has unprecedented entertainment potential."

The Wii U launched in North America on November 18 and sold 400,000 units during its launch week. The system comes to Europe and Australia November 30 before launching in Japan on December 8.