Nintendo boss speaks Wii U online features

Wii U will provide players with social interaction in single and multiplayer games, according to Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata.

Iwata believes that having a form of interaction in gaming is required in the modern age.

He told Kotaku: "We have reached an era where even a single-player game experience [can] have a social component that is very important. And I think that social component is mandatory."

As a result, the Miiverse on Wii U was created to let players interact during gameplay and make them feel like they are never playing alone.

Iwata added: "If you look at gaming services, for example if you look at Xbox LIVE, one of the more traditionally or generally accepted features of the gaming service is the ability to play with folks at different locations at the same time.

"On the other hand, you're not always going to be available at the same time to play with each other. And of course we're going to have that service of head-to-head [multiplayer, when you are] on at the same time playing games against each other, but what we really want to do is create a place where folks who are playing by themselves will not feel like they are playing by themselves.

"They'll be able to share those experiences and have that empathy."