Nintendo Network will feature personal accounts on the Wii U

One of the great many criticisms that have been levied against the Wii, DS, and 3DS is the complete lack of online user accounts. This meant that all of a game’s records and multiplayer data (not to mention digital purchases) were tied to the console – family members sharing one system would be forced to share a singular online presence, which isn’t ideal if your little brother sucks at Call of Duty and screws up your kill-to-death ratio.

Nintendo will address this and include personal user accounts in the Wii U’s implementation of Nintendo Network:

Also for the Wii U, we are planning to introduce a personal account system compatible with Nintendo Network. With this, for example, the ease of using a video game system when the hardware is shared by multiple family members, which has been a challenge we needed to tackle, shall be improved, and we will also be able to construct and offer the system by combining a variety of different services and content.

We’ve yet to find out whether user accounts will be transferable between systems and whether digital purchases will be tied to them or the console. But it still sounds like a heck of an improvement nonetheless.