Yesterday’s Nintendo Direct gave us a lot of 3DS related news, but some of the best stuff had nothing to do with games, it had to do with the system’s capabilities- more than a year after the launch of the Wii U, the 3DS will be getting Miiverse, the integrated social network that lets players post on game boards, interact with each other and developers, share messages privately or broadcast them, share screenshots and videos, chat, ask for help, and more.
Like the Wii U, the 3DS Miiverse will be a fully multitaskable application (meaning you can suspend your game, use it, and then return to your game without having to quit anything); alongside Miiverse, the 3DS is also getting Nintendo Network IDs at long last. Whether this means that the system wide Friend Codes are gone or not remains to be seen, but for now, you can link your 3DS Nintendo Network ID with the same one that you use on your Wii U.
Finally, the 3DS and Wii U eShop storefronts will now be unified, sharing a common wallet balance and everything (which was not previously the case). Although cross platform purchases have still not been confirmed, and although it is unclear whether this means that your purchases will no longer be tied to your hardware, these are all small steps towards a unified online ecosystem that Nintendo has taken.
Stay tuned for more information.