Satoru Iwata of Nintendo headed up the broadcast, and he talked about some of the cool features of Nintendo’s Miiverse, including the ability for official Mii characters to share links and videos with one another. Iwata also announced that new communities and functionalities are coming to Miiverse, including support for mobile devices.

The company also announced that verified accounts are coming to Miiverse, as well. It’s a lot like how verified accounts work on Twitter. Essentially, these are accounts reserved for public figures and developers. However, these verified accounts have special powers that are exclusive to verified accounts on Miiverse, including the ability to insert links in their Miiverse posts, as well as embedding YouTube videos.

Verified accounts will be launching in the spring, along with the Wii U’s first major console update. New features on Miiverse will also be hitting around the same time. Hopefully these updates will give the new console the boost in performance that it deserves, and let’s hope that the new features will turn it around for Nintendo.

It isn’t such a ludicrous thing to expect. The Xbox Live and PlayStation Network services both allow users to connect their Facebook accounts to let their friends stay posted on everything that’s happening in their gaming lives. That integration continues to be expanded through firmware updates, but this will not be the case with Nintendo’s first ambitious foray into the social online space.

When asked about the possibility of Facebook integration in a recent interview, Nintendo of Europe’s Laurent Fischer said no – “I think it is the other way around, from any devices in the future you will be able to access the Miiverse, from mobile phone or laptop. You can check what’s going on and even participate.” So if you want to share your Wii U experiences with people who don’t have a Wii U, you can, but you’ll need to convince them to sign up for Miiverse – a difficult proposition for someone who doesn’t own the console.

[via GamesIndustry.biz]