Gamers beware! It is not a good idea to unplug the Nintendo Wii U while it is receiving its day one firmware update.
According to a report by video game website Joystiq, LA Times film and video game industry journalist Ben Fritz tweeted that he unplug his Wii U during an update. The update said it would take two hours to finish and Fritz says there was no option to cancel the download.
"Wii U has stopped functioning before I managed to play a single game, Fritz tweeted. "I tried to stop an interminable software update and now... nothing"
Joystiq notes that a few people on Twitter have experienced the same issue as Fritz with one person saying his system shutoff during the update and now don't work.
According to Joystiq, "Nintendo of America warns Wii U owners, 'please do not power down or unplug your system while downloading updates. Doing so may cause damage to your Wii U.'"
The new firmware adds a number of features, including the backward compatibility with Wii games. Geoff Keighley of GTTV tweeted, "The Wii U firmware update is apparently about 5 gigs," Keighley tweeted. "No wonder it takes about an hour+ to download.
Nintendo has not said how big the update is and others have called the 5 GB size into question in the industry. According to report by Games Industry, tech expert Rich Leadbetter of Eurogamer says the update is only 1GB and that the installation process took only 11 minutes.
Gamers take precaution when updating the system, especially if you have a slower Internet connection. Nintendo has not made any announcement regarding what to do if you system is damaged during the process, but Fritz tweeted that the company was sending him another Wii U.
"Nintendo sending me a new Wii U," Fritz later tweeted. "This time with firmware update pre-installed so I can't screw it up."
The Nintendo Wii U is available now in North America and comes in two versions: a "Basic" white-colored version with 8 GB of internal Flash storage for $299.99 and a Deluxe black-colored version with 32 GB of Flash storage, which includes stand and docks for $349.99.
