Wii U Will Launch With Digital Store

[castlezelda]

When Mario Kart comes to Wii U, you can download it
And full retail downloads
One of the biggest criticisms levelled against 3DS was the lack of a digital store at launch, but Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has assured investors Wii U will land with a full download store.
Iwata didn't discuss the available types of software — Virtual Console, WiiWare etc. — but did confirm that Wii U owners can choose to buy their Nintendo-published games physically or via download, right from the start:

For the Wii U, we will start the digital download sales of packaged software that I just discussed, so our consumers can choose either the packaged version or the digital download version of the same software from day one of the Wii U’s launch.
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Nintendo hasn't revealed Wii U's internal storage capacity but we know it'll support USB external hard drives, so if you want to do a lot of downloading you'll likely need a HDD.
3DS retail downloads kick off in August with the launch of New Super Mario Bros. 2, but they'll be with Wii U on day one.
Satoru Iwata also confirmed that Wii U release date and price announcements will probably happen after E3.

Via Nintendo of Japan