Wii U pre-E3 event introduces the Miiverse and a ton of new social features

During Nintendo's Wii U preview earlier today (make sure to check out our summary), President Iwata showed us a concept demonstration of a number of new social features the Wii U will include at launch. Here's a quick rundown of the various features shown, from video chat to the Wii U's new hub -- the Miiverse.

The Miiverse

President Iwata made sure to point out that this is a combination of the two words: Mii, and Universe. Jeez, Mr. Iwata, this is getting way too complicated way too fast. What exactly is the Miiverse, however? It's going to be the Wii U's hub, or the first place gamers will land when they turn on their Wii U console.

The screen will go white and dozens of Miis will rush the screen, gathering around various icons representing games. These are players around your regional area (North America, Japan, etc.) who are currently playing that game, though your friends' Miis will be prioritized for display.

Comments these players create and post will displayed on-screen in real time, both in text or picture form. If you're in the middle of a game, no problem, as you can pause and jump straight back to the Miiverse to peruse its various areas.

All Wii U social functionality will likely directly involved the Miiverse in someway, though any sort of menu systems were never displayed.

Message Boards

The Wii U demonstration video introduces a glasses and flannel hipster as the protagonist, currently in the midst of a difficult zombie boss. The zombie emerges victorious, and our hero is in despair. "What's your mood?" prompts the Wii U GamePad screen. Flannel-man chooses a sad-looking facial gesture for his Mii icon and then types a message asking for tips.

Yes, like most gamers in the modern area, our hero decides to look for answers online. All he has to do is access a message board  that correlates to the exact game he is playing via the Miiverse -- even better, it's a board directly related to the boss fight our hero is fighting. The board appears to be automatically pulled up after thick-rimmed glasses dude responds to the GamePad prompt.

Quick note here, but President Iwata shows later in the preview how you can respond both in text messages, but also in small hand-drawn messages on these boards. In fact, you can use touch screen messages in multiple different ways -- including Mother's Day cards.

The hero quickly finds a tip from one OctoG123, but not before he receives a call from his arch-nemesis... WARREN.

Mobile Networking

Warren, naturally, has been following hiper protagonists gaming adventures this day. He's seen the post capturing the hero's despair, and has called to gloat and giggle and mostly just gloat and giggle.

What this entire process implies is not just mobile access to Wii U social feature (touch on this in a bit), but that the Wii U potentially includes a friend's list along with a timeline of status updates similar to Facebook or Twitter. Either that, or Warren is a creep-ass hacker, or he just innately knows dude-hero is playing the zombie game and is actively following the message boards in the hopes the hero will post. I'm going to just assume friends list, as I don't think Nintendo wants to promote stalking.

And yes, Warren does all of his net-stalking via Mobile. We'll learn later in the Wii U preview from President Iwata that this mobile connectivity will not be available at the Wii U's launch, but will be added at a later date. This includes the 3DS, PC, and all web-enabled mobile devices.

Video Chat

After our nameless hero gets off the phone the that hipster antagonist, he again runs into trouble with the zombie boss. He decides to call the hint dropping friend from the game's message boards directly -- through video chat. Yes, it appears Wii U owners will be able to contact each other directly for video conversations using the Wii U GamePad as a camera.

Nameless hero props his GamePad up in front of the TV and calls octoG123, an aging gamer doomed to a three-wheeled Rascal motor-scooter. "Call me Grandpa," octoG asks. "That makes me uncomfortable," our hero responds. The two trade in-game secrets and our hero is able to start his game up quickly after the video call ends. He defeats the zombie boss and all is well with the world. Our hero's side-kick, non-specific action figure, approves.

Additional Features

• President Iwata mentions how gamedevelopers can explore how to use the Miiverse in different ways in their own games. For an example he does a Mario overworld video where short messages are displayed over each world, assumedly they are descriptions or thoughts on the level left by friends.
• Almost in passing, President Iwata mentions playing Wii U games competitively, cooperatively, and varying levels of social interactivity built into games. Though there has certainly been no mention of friend codes or something similar, we can assume the Wii U is designed to more highly promote online capabilities.
• Keep in mind that the Wii U GamePad is a fully functional touch screen. You'll be able to use this to draw and share images in a variety of ways.
• The entire Miiverse, all of the above features, are said to be native to the Wii U and can be accessed at any time -- even in the middle of a game -- simply by pressing the home button.

Look forward to more Wii U news Tuesday morning at 9AM for the Wii U keynote. We'll be there with live coverage and updates on all the latest exciting Wii U news. Hipster-protagonist and non-sepcific action figure approved.