A new system firmware update for the Wii U has gone live. With it comes two significant changes:

1. It is now possible to transfer data from one Wii U system to another. Note that the transfer moves all data and cannot be used to move single items.

2. The Wii U eShop can now be navigated with controllers other than the GamePad.

Some additional details on the system transfer:

• All pre-existing data on the target Wii U will will be formatted prior to the transfer, save for existing data on the Wii Menu (that's the Wii menu accessible on the Wii U, not the Wii U menu itself).
• Content from the Wii Menus of both consoles will be combined. (i.e.: All Wii downloadable titles/Wii Virtual Console titles that were spread across both consoles can now be accessed on the target console).
• All existing data on the source Wii U will be formatted after the transfer is complete.
• Nintendo Network IDs that were on the target Wii U prior to the format can be relinked to the console, and the console can keep up to 12 NNIDs at once.

EDIT: The sixty-character limit for thread titles continues to unnecessarily confound.

While the transfer is something I wont need, the eShop being able to detect other controllers now is nice.

Ugh, finally.

As someone who prefers navigating the menus on the Wii U with a wiimote that's great. I dont think i'll get any use out of the data transfer thing though. It would make sense if you had a defective console but as far as I know Wii U's are fairly reliable.

I just want them to convert all the Wii Virtual Console games to Wii-U mode.

For all the grumbling about lack of transfer capability till now, I was surprised that I didn't hear about it before reading the update notes. It is still not as good as a decoupled account but it's definitely a step in the right direction.