Nintendo Wii U Miiverse Smartphone Support Incoming

During this morning's Nintendo Direct web broadcast, the company announced a slew of new features that are coming to their newest console, the Wii U. We already know that a "Virtual Console" is on its way, as well as some speed boosts to the console to remedy game-loading times. However, the company also announced new developments coming to the Miiverse.

Satoru Iwata of Nintendo headed up the broadcast, and he talked about some of the cool features of Nintendo's Miiverse, including the ability for official Mii characters to share links and videos with one another. Iwata also announced that new communities and functionalities are coming to Miiverse, including support for mobile devices.

The company also announced that verified accounts are coming to Miiverse, as well. It's a lot like how verified accounts work on Twitter. Essentially, these are accounts reserved for public figures and developers. However, these verified accounts have special powers that are exclusive to verified accounts on Miiverse, including the ability to insert links in their Miiverse posts, as well as embedding YouTube videos.

Verified accounts will be launching in the spring, along with the Wii U's first major console update. New features on Miiverse will also be hitting around the same time. Hopefully these updates will give the new console the boost in performance that it deserves, and let's hope that the new features will turn it around for Nintendo.