The first of Nintendo's planned Wii Ufirmware updates went live just yesterday, bringing a much needed speed boost to software load times. And in that short time since, Nintendo's also made its retro-gaming Virtual Console portal available to users, effectively bypassing the need to boot into the Wii emulator for access. The downside to this new, belated convenience is that users will have to re-download any previously purchased Virtual Console titles, though that additional cost is relatively low at $1.00- $1.50 for NES and SNES games, respectively. Unfortunately, you'll still have to wait a bit longer for those beloved Game Boy Advance and N64 classics to make their way to the VC, as Nintendo plans to include those games sometime "in the future." Still, withband-aid number one out of the way for the ailing console and a host of tried-and-true classics now easily accessible, Wii U owners have a little something to tide them over until that late summer Pikmin 3 launch.