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Nintendo’s Satoru Iwata has said he is "very sorry" to consumers for the 1gb day one Wii U update they must download.
Speaking to IGN, the console giant’s global president admitted users should not have to experience a network update to take advantage of all of the system’s functionalities, and that the Wii U should offer these from the off.
The mandatory update to access the console’s online services weighs in at 2gb in total, and could take some users several hours to download.
“Personally I think that users should be able to use all the functions of a console video game machine as soon as they open the box," said Iwata.
"So I feel very sorry for the fact that purchasers of Wii U have to experience a network update which takes such a long time, and that there are the services which were not available at the hardware’s launch."
Iwata went on to say that he was confident the Wii U would overcome early scepticism about its chances for success, stating Nintendo had often faced dissenting voices when it released new hardware, such as the Wii and DS, and had managed to perform well in the market regardless.
"The brand new user interfaces that Nintendo invented often faced sceptical views before a hardware launch, but wound up becoming de facto industry standards,” he said.
“It is challenging to communicate attractions which are hard to understand unless you actually touch and experience them yourself. This is especially so with Wii U because it has unprecedented entertainment potential."
In its first week on sale in the US, the Wii U sold 400,000 units. During the same period, the Wii shifted 300,000 units, while Microsoft sold an impressive 750,000 Xbox 360’s.
