14 DAY TRIAL // The team at Nintendo in charge of the Wii U home console announces that a new firmware update is now available for the device, offering all those who use it improved overall stability after they execute the required download.
The official support site for the company states, “Improvements to system stability and usability: Further improvements to overall system stability and other minor adjustments have been made to enhance the user experience.”
Nintendo is unwilling to offer more information about the new firmware, which brings the device up to version 4.100, but it is probably designed to make sure that future launches for the company perform well on the home console.
The company has a long history of being opaque when it comes to its updates, mostly because it does not want to talk about the problems that the device is facing.
The next big launch for the Wii U is Mario Kart 8, the casual and cartoony racing title that will be delivered on May 29 in Japan and May 30 in North America and in Europe.
The company might be tweaking aspects of the console in order to make sure that the big launch goes as smoothly as possible and that all players can enjoy the experience.
Nintendo has also promised that it will add more functionality to the Wii U all through the year in order to give players more options when it comes to connecting with their friends and more content other than games to enjoy.
The other big launch that has been confirmed for 2014 is Super Smash Bros., which is set to arrive at some point during the fall and which is widely seen as the game that will significantly improve sales of the platform.
The Wii U has been selling much worse than Nintendo expected when it launched it and the company was forced to slash overall expected sales for the current fiscal year from 9 to 2.8 million units.
The company is focused on expanding the number of titles available on the device and it is not yet contemplating a price cut to make it more attractive to gamers, although that might change as Christmas 2014 draws closer.
The Wii U is facing strong competition from both the Xbox One from Microsoft and the PlayStation 4 from Sony, which have been selling better than their last-gen counterparts and show no signs of a major slowdown in the coming months.