So it's basically going to work
EXACTLY the same way that softmodding a standard Wii with an external Hard Disk plugged in to the USB ports currently works.
Glad to see Nintendo recognizes a good configuration from the hacking community and is willing to implement the same idea legitimately now.
Even on the current Wii, loading from the USB 2.0 ports is at least 3X faster than the Wii optical drive. I think USB 2.0 will be fine on Wii U as well.
Kytim89: If it's implemented similar to the way hacking is currently done, it will simply support the
"USB mass-storage device class". In theory this means any storage device that conforms to this standard will "just work" from the USB port including: thumbdrives, usb hard drives, usb-based solid state drives, or any other hypotheical future storage medium that conforms to the class. There's a layer of abstraction which makes the actual physical device irrelevant to the machine.