Nintendo has put a lot of attention into its Miiverse social network for the Wii U, but the bragging/assistance/art piece of the company's world has been confined to its latest home console.  That will change soon when a system update for the Nintendo 3DS adds the Miiverse in all its community glory to the handheld along with the ability to merge account balances between the two systems.  Kotaku summarizes for us:

When the update goes live, all you have to do is sign up for the same username on both systems, and you'll be able to merge your 3DS funds with your Wii U funds to buy games on either platform.

We're so close to an actual account system for Nintendo hardware that I can taste it.  I've hoped and wished for the company to embrace Sony's cross-buy initiative that allows customers to purchase a game on one platform and then play it on all other related platforms without an additional charge, and while this announcement has nothing to do with that, this is a viable first step into making it happen someday.  Buying a Virtual Console game on the 3DS or Wii U should enable access to the game on the other device; I'll gladly buy Super Mario Bros. 2 again, but I won't buy it again and again and again to spread it around my Nintendo library.  Miiverse and a unified balance is great news, Nintendo.  Now let's take the next logical step.