Miiverse on Wii U will let players share messages about various games with their friends, the system’s home screen will have Miis gathering game icons that they’re playing, and messages from other players can pop up at certain moments sharing their experience of whatever section of a game they’re in. This sort of social interaction is vital to the next generation of gaming, according to Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata.

“We have reached an era where even a single-player game experience [can] have a social component that is very important,” he said. “And I think that social component is mandatory.”

“Early on, when I played a Mario game, it was really fun for me to sit and chat with my friends about, ‘Hey I found coins over here, there’s a hidden place.’ [or] ‘This is how far I got.’ That interaction was great. Of course the Internet does provide a lot of that interaction, but it’s not built for that purpose,” he said. “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.”

Source: Kotaku