With suppliers running short on supply, Nintendo's newest console, the Wii U, seems to be the toy for the holiday season. So if you've picked one up to give to whomever, well done.
However, before you wrap it up all nice n' purdy, Nintendo wants to remind you about something.
The company tweeted, "Giving Wii U as a gift? Pro-tip: Perform system updates before wrapping so it's good to go as soon as it's opened!"
Nintedo's Wii U requires an update that can take anywhere from an hour to two. The update enables the Wii U's online functionality so you can access things like the eShop, Miiverse, online gameplay, as well as making it backwards compatible with any of your old Wii games. So to save yourself some impatient kids come Christmas morning, plug it in, and take care of it now. THEN you can put it all back together, and wrap it up nice and neat, with no one the wiser.
Just remember, while the system is updating, don't unplug it, unless you want a very expensive paper weight. When the Wii U was first released, reports circulated that if the console was unplugged during the update, the system would be bricked. After reports spread, Nintendo of America released an official statement, warning consumers to "not power down or unplug your system while downloading updates. Doing so may cause damage to your Wii U.'"
Users who fell victim to the unfortunate update dilemma were sent another Wii U, but with the holiday season being what it is, don't expect a new console anytime soon should you find yourself in the same boat.
Nintendo plans to update newer releases of the console so they won't require the day one system update, but Nintendo doesn't plan to implement this until sometime next year.
