Nintendo Wii U Direct Summary & Poll - Zelda, Mario, Miiverse, Yoshi, Pikmin 3 and more!

We're just settling down with a cup of warmly brewed Nintendo tea - in what was initially expected to be a fairly low key affair, Nintendo today lifted the lid on a wealth of first party projects and services for the Nintendo Wii U.

Incase you missed out on Today's Nintendo Wii U antics, here's a summary of what was announced and what to expect from the House of Mario:

Wii U Firmware Updates & Wii U Miiverse

• Nintendo are happy with the amount of activity on Miiverse so far, lots of messages and pictures, but are aiming to create filters to better view content.
• Official users can post links and videos, like Nintendo have done with New Super Mario Bros. U, and there will be more YouTube videos across Miiverse in the future.
• Nintendo will spruce up Miiverse with filters, user-created private communities and official communities through a future firmware update.
• There will be two major Wii U firmware updates in the coming months - One in Spring, the other in Summer.
• Pikmin 3 will include an expanded camera function so players can post their photos onto Miiverse.
• Nintendo are rolling out Miiverse on smartphones in the Spring via browser, with an app to come.

Wii U Virtual Console

• Nintendo confirmed that the Wii U Virtual Console will launch with the spring firmware update.
• There will be initially a select handful of NES and SNES games with Game Boy Advance coming soon after.
• The Virtual Console games will support off-TV play on the GamePad, save states, plus the ability to custom map controller buttons.
• Virtual Console games will also receive their own Miiverse communities.
• From January till July, Nintendo will offer selected games at 30 Yen ($0.30/30p) for 30 days to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Famicom (NES) console.
• Japan will receive Mother 2 for just 30 yen during March as part of the Mother 2 Resurrection Festival.

First Party Nintendo Wii U Software

• Nintendo/Sakurai confirmed that Super Smash Bros. is coming along nicely, with screenshots to be shown at E3 Expo.
• New 3D Super Mario Wi U game and New Mario Kart Wii U to be shown in playable form at this year's E3 Expo.
• Nintendo also revealed snippets of a new party game called Wii U Party with all sorts of interesting control configurations.
• Nintendo also revealed the first look at a new Yoshi Wii U game from the creators of Kirby: Epic Yarn.
• Nintendo revealed a unique Wii U collaboration with fellow Japanese studio Atlus - Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem.
• A stunning new adventure title from Monolith, creators of Xenoblade Chronicles, was revealed for Nintendo Wii U.
• The Legend of Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma spoke about reconsidering The Legend of Zelda conventions - less linear, possible multiplayer.
• Aonuma also confirmed The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD remake for Nintendo Wii U, with debut screenshots - due this fall.

Third Party Nintendo Wii U Software

• A teaser trailer from the development studio for Bayonetta 2 was shown.
• New trailer for The Wonderful 101 Wii U was shown.

That's a wrap folks - Nintendo Wii U fans will receive their fill of two Legend of Zelda games, improvements to the system/Miiverse, new Mario and Yoshi games, with much more to come at E3 2012 and future Nintendo Direct presentations.

The Nintendo Direct Wii U video can be streamed again below.

Finally - have your say on today's announcements in our poll below.

Poll: Which news from today's Nintendo Direct has excited you the most?