Miiverse is Wii U's 'killer app' - Reggie Fils-Aime

Reggie Fils-Aime is excited about the Wii U's games and media features, but he thinks its most definitive aspect will be native social network Miiverse. The Nintendo of America president and chief operating officer spoke with AllThingsD about Miiverse and how Nintendo plans to compete not just with video games, but with all the screens of a modern household.

“As the network grows and the installed base grows, it will prove to be a true killer application for the system, and I say this loving what we have done with Nintendo TVii and loving all the games," Fils-Aime said. "Until you try it and experience it, you may not totally understand it.”

He said Miiverse stands apart from other social networks in that it is built from the ground up around gaming. Fils-Aime said it's a "key differentiator" despite other efforts in the space like Xbox Live or Apple's Game Center.

Players congregate in a central plaza area of Miiverse, where their avatars use speech bubbles with text or drawings to share whatever is on their mind. While Miiverse will only be accessible from Wii U at launch, Nintendo plans to eventually support it on any web-enabled device.

“People have to leave the current paradigm behind to understand what we are trying to do," he said. "Miiverse is going to be embedded right on the game platform, so literally some of the activity will be able to happen immediately as people experience it."

Nintendo is also planning heavy social integration for TVii, its integrated live TV and streamed video service.