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Nintendo Wii U Doesn't Have DVD, Blu-ray Playback
by Mike Rose [Console/PC, Business]
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June 15, 2011
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Nintendo has confirmed that its upcoming Wii U console will not support DVD or Blu-ray playback, as both features "didn't warrant the cost."
As part of a Q&A session at E3 last week, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata explained that the costs involved due to patents mean that the upcoming console will not be able to play Blu-ray or DVD discs, much like the Nintendo Wii.
"Wii U does not have DVD or Blu-ray playback capabilities," Iwata said. "The reason for that is that we feel that enough people already have devices that are capable of playing DVDs and Blu-ray, such that it didn't warrant the cost involved to build that functionality into the Wii U console because of the patents related to those technologies."
The company unveiled the new console at E3 last week, with the new controller which features HD graphics and a built-in 6.2" touchscreen, and is meant to offer "a new structure for home entertainment".
Later in the week, the company was forced to admit that it put too much emphasis on the controller for the newly revealed Wii U console, noting that it "should have made more effort" to explain the console better.
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I cant imagine adding DVD support to cost that much, Blu-Ray support I can understand. Although I would put money on the fact that most Wii owners don't own Blu-Ray and adding it may have been their chance to get the 2 for 1 that the PS3 offers (Thats how I convinced the wife into getting a PS3).
No Blueray = meh, who cares
Not really considering that Nintendo would have to pay licensing fees for the patents. That would mean one of two things: 1) Higher prices for the consumer. 2) Lower profits for Nintendo.
I don't see them wanting to do either of those.
The Same would go for Bluray, with the added cost of the needed hardware.
And then there's Blu-Ray which could very well be the next format for all movies to be based on. Time will tell of course. For all we know, we may never have disc formats anymore, but that's just outward thinking.
Storage. I can only assume, because that's all Nintendo will allow us to do, that the quoted statement means that DVD and Blu-ray are unsupported formats, which means are options are.........
We're talking about mainstream titles that are likely to be on multi-platform titles, like BF3, on a console that doesn't support the two most supported physical media formats.
Even DVD is an archaic format that's drastically showing its age. Take FFXIII XB360 vs. PS3. DVD vs. Blu-Ray.
Before we go further into speculating that we'll be using downloads as the predominant method of acquiring games, let me remind you of the poor internet penetration stateside. Broadband isn't as readily available in homes across the United States as people would like to think, our infrastructure is decades behind the rest of the world.
So unless it will be using blu-ray or dvd, but not allowing movie playback, which takes a leap to assume based on the above article, then all we can do is speculate further on their physical media format. Which if it is anything less than blu-ray, expect disc swapping on future titles.
‘Later in the week, the company was forced to admit that it put too much emphasis on the controller for the newly revealed Wii U console, noting that it "should have made more effort" to explain the console better. ‘
So why are we beating a dead horse?