Wii U System Updates Download in the Background

Seems like all of those US reporters who waited around an hour or more to download their first Wii U system update could have been playing games while waiting instead of staring at an progress bar.

There are now reports that if you go ahead, connect your system to your network and then go play any Wii U titles (not online obviously) that the initial Wii U system update will download in the background while you play.

The Nintendo 3DS also does this, albeit not when you’re actually playing a game but when the system is asleep and we’re glad to see it pass through to the Wii U. Looking at a 1GB or more update after just freshly opening your Wii U would have been painful.

There are now reports though that background downloads do affect the Wii U’s in game performance though. We’ll wait until our Wii U arrives to test all of the above though and verify it.

The Wii U is out in Australia in just a week now. Follow our countdown on our Facebook page.