Earlier this week we brought you news that Wii U will have a 'day one' update that will enable a variety of functionality, including Miiverse, TVii and Wii U Chat. There is one critical extra element that is apparently coming in this update - Wii functionality. What we have is a retail Wii U unit - the very same system you will buy next week. When we insert a Wii disc to play, the system notifies us that an update is necessary to play the game. The same applies to the Wii to Wii U data transfer , which we detailed to you yesterday.

Just as we mentioned before, we don't have further information on the update itself, only that it will be available when the system launches. We are anticipating being able to access this update prior to the launch, and with any luck will be able to bring you more details on key online and Wii-related operations. We've also reached out to Nintendo for more information, and to see if there will be an update method for those gamers without an Internet connection, particularly in light of this backwards compatibility functionality.Stay tuned to IGN for all the latest on Wii U.

Rich is an Executive Editor of IGN.com and the leader of IGN's Nintendo team. He also watches over all things WWE, Resident Evil, Assassin's Creed and much more. Follow him on Twitter, if you dare!