The Wii U will update itself. You can't really prevent it, unless you block internet access to Nintendo Network on your router. CoD would probably still work for now. The update doesn't effect vWii homebrew, and there is no such thing as Wii U homebrew yet. Most likely, when homebrew finally comes out for real, they will be able to do it with the then current firmware, but no guarantees. The Wii U doesn't have an update later button, it's really hard to not update.