Maybe you’ve decided to be one of the Wii U’s early adopters – and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s pretty lovely little console, and will deliver some pretty incredible experiences. Plus, with it being touted a a machine for the “hardcore,” it’ll have the sort of games you’re looking for. Here’s a caveat though; you might not be able to get any game DLC – because the Wii U’s eShop is not currently supported in South Africa.
When you first switch on your Wii U (and after you spend forever updating it), you’ll be prompted to create an Mii and an associated online MiiVerse account. Because South Africa is a listed country, you’ll probably be tempted to select that as your region – but that would probably not be your best bet if you plan to download content, whether it be full games, DLC add-ons or even demos.
Instead, select the UK as your home region before even creating your online account – which then becomes locked to that region. After that, you’ll be able to access the UK’s eShop and pay for stuff in pounds, using your credit card or 3ds/Wii U eShop vouchers.
Echoing the same sort of rubbish local gamers had to endure when the Xbox 360 launched in South Africa, the lack of local support is a damned shame – and something I hope sees resolution soon. Nintendo’s trying to focus a little on the core gamers, but they’ll never move to a console that doesn’t afford them the latest in DLC.
Of course, this should come as no surprise to local 3DS owners – who are only able to download “free” items from the 3DS eShop, which is still better than the nothing they can download from the Wii U one.
Last Updated: December 3, 2012
