How the new Nintendo Network ID and Wii U accounts work

The latest Nintendo Direct broadcast and just finished and as expected Nintendo went all out detailing how not only how Nintendo Network ID’s will work but also how will the Wii U handle accounts on the one console.

First up when you boot up your Wii U you’ll have to create a user account, this is just a local account on the system. You can have up to 12 of these on any one system as well. Save games, game settings, browser history, bookmarks and your activity log are all tied to the user.

If you want to use Miiverse, Nintendo eShop and Wii U Chat you’ll need to create a Nintendo Network ID. To do this you’ll need to supply your email address and password, your birthday, your gender and where you’re from. How purchases are tied to accounts remains to be seen but you can share eShop purchases with other users on the Wii U console.

Adding friends is really simple now too, you can just bring up someones profile on the Miiverse and ask to add them to you friends list. If you like them but don’t really want to be friends you can just follow them just like on Twitter. You can have 100 friends and follow 1000 people. No trading of Friend Codes, just tap and bam you’re friends. You’ll need to enter your friends Nintendo Network ID to add them as a friend. They’ll have to accept you of course.

The Nintendo Network ID can also be used on other Nintendo game systems (when updated), smartphones and through your computer. These features might not be available at launch. You’ll also be able to use your Nintendo Network ID with third party network services such as EA’s Origin and Ubisoft’s U-Play.

Iwata also reconfirmed that you can transfer your WiiWare, Virtual Console and Wii save files over to the Wii U. More instructions regarding this will be posted on Nintendo’s site at a later date.