Wii U Firmware 3.0 Released April 25, 2013

Wii U owners frustrated with the operating system’s long load times can breathe a sigh of relief tonight as Nintendo has just released firmware version 3.0 for the Wii U.

The update will start automatically the next time you fire up your Wii U. Once it’s finished downloading in the background, you can start it from the download menu. Just press the Home button on the Wii U controller to check the download’s progress. Or you could just start a manual update from the Settings menu. The download should take around 30 minutes, and about five more for the installation.

The update does more than just improve load times for the Wii U’s operating system, it adds the ability for the Wii U to download and install system updates while turned off. If you want to enable this feature, the system will prompt you about it after the update is finished and the system restarts.