Wii U Won't Play Blu-rays Or DVDs

[Phishfood]

While I won't miss the wii having a DVD player really, I have to ask...would it REALLY affect the price to include a chip to play DVDs? really? I can buy a whole DVD player for £25. Since the wii u will already have most of the parts - optical drive, case, power cable, sockets for TV output....I really can't imagine this is a genuine cost saving.

 

[robert022614]

Yeah, but only if you bought the 'DVD remote' for it...

By the way the PS2 didn't need a remote to play games. Just figured you should know

My bad. I definitely recall this being an issue, (again, licensing being the culprit rather than the actual need for a remote.)

Still, if I'm remembering this incorrectly, what was the situation?

I think that was the case for the original xbox

 

[DustyDrB]

Not an issue. I have four or five devices already in my house that can play DVDs. If anyone who buys the Wii U doesn't have at least two devices that can play DVD's, I'll actually be shocked.

 

[CrystalShadow]

Yeah, but only if you bought the 'DVD remote' for it...

By the way the PS2 didn't need a remote to play games. Just figured you should know

My bad. I definitely recall this being an issue, (again, licensing being the culprit rather than the actual need for a remote.)

Still, if I'm remembering this incorrectly, what was the situation?

I think that was the case for the original xbox

Yeah, I looked it up. That's what I was remembering. Which is of course a little stupid of me to get those two confused. Oh well.

 

[MetalDooley]

While I won't miss the wii having a DVD player really, I have to ask...would it REALLY affect the price to include a chip to play DVDs? really? I can buy a whole DVD player for £25. Since the wii u will already have most of the parts - optical drive, case, power cable, sockets for TV output....I really can't imagine this is a genuine cost saving.

A DVD chip(or whatever)probably doesn't cost a huge amount but if your talking about manufacturing millions of machines then I guess the costs add up.A PS2 emulator chip probably doesn't cost a whole lot either but that didn't stop Sony removing them from the PS3 in order to bring production costs down

 

[Sabazios]

I would like to bring everyone's attention to the fact that the Wii hardware could actually play DVDs, but the software restricted this ability, which could be changed with some tinkering. It is just Nintendo controlling what you can do.

 

[thiosk]

I agree with them. why should nintendo pay sony to do something that no one really needs? They mentioned patents and that is the key feature of the news. It costs too much to license that stuff from sony. I'm sure sony is giving them a great deal, too [sarcasm face]

 

[Twilight.falls]

I honestly don't see the problem.

A good majority of gamers, or at least people who would buy a Wii U, probably already have a DVD player or two.

This makes the Wii U less expensive, as well as keeping the costs of production down.

This is a win-win situation for everybody. People are, once again, trying to bash Nintendo.

 

[shadowmagus]

I don't see why this is a bad idea. Most people have a dvd/blu-ray player already or a console that already takes care of this. Why add a feature that no one is going to use anyway?

 

[fgdfgdgd]

well yea I guess 99.9% of us already has a dvd player in their house.
but will it have an HDD (or SSD?) so we can accually put media on our WiiU's?
that is a buy or die factor for the WiiU.

Well if they're not intending on having it used for anything else than games I don't think they'd go through the process of making it capable of playing video files, but hey, I could be wrong, it's early days yet.

 

[AngryMongoose]

My PCs and Consoles are the only reliable DvD players I've ever owned... to the point they're the only ones I use now. Plus, I'd really love the ability to watch movies through the controller while in bed (Please say you'll be able to somehow watch movies through the controller...)

 

[ChildishLegacy]

Oh well, I'll use one of my other millions of devices that play DVDs. If all else fails, I'll go buy one for £10.

Who honestly cares about this? I buy my hardware on what they will be able to play and the games available to me, not if they play a format of video that I can already play on multiple things in my household.

 

[ReservoirAngel]

I don't see why this is a bad idea. Most people have a dvd/blu-ray player already or a console that already takes care of this. Why add a feature that no one is going to use anyway?

Rule of anti-Nintendo: anything they do is a bad idea and brings them one massive leap closer to going out of business.

 

[Woodsey]

I don't understand why this requires extra functionality. The thing must have a DVD drive to run the games that all come on DVDs, what's the issue? And what patent is there? Not one that stops absolutely everyone else from including DVD players.


I can't imagine anyone's particularly bothered given the reasons they've said, but why they're making it out to be such a big problem to have to work through is beyond me.

 

[THEoriginalBRIEN]

Probably to knock a couple hundred off the already expectantly high price tag. Wireless touch screen controllers aren't cheap/

 

[Koios]

Do HD and and good graphics please, maybe get some more adult third party support. And for god sakes, just tell publishers they aren't required to use your gimmicks (ie., motion controls and tablet controller). Thanks for listening.

The first two issues seem to have been addressed at E3- tech demos specifically designed to show off graphics and Reggie Fils-Aime confirming 1080p HD in a G4 interview shortly after the press conference, and an impressive list of third party games. However, I'd honestly be surprised if Nintendo was actually forcing developers to integrate certain control schemes. I remember SSBB not having any motion controls whatsoever, so I'm fairly sure they leave control choices up to the devs.

 

[weker]

I have a DVD player and I also have a computer. I am glad to hear their focus is games, I don't want another console that throws films and tv at me when im not interested.

 

[Zeraki]

While I won't miss the wii having a DVD player really, I have to ask...would it REALLY affect the price to include a chip to play DVDs? really? I can buy a whole DVD player for £25. Since the wii u will already have most of the parts - optical drive, case, power cable, sockets for TV output....I really can't imagine this is a genuine cost saving.

A DVD chip(or whatever)probably doesn't cost a huge amount but if your talking about manufacturing millions of machines then I guess the costs add up.A PS2 emulator chip probably doesn't cost a whole lot either but that didn't stop Sony removing them from the PS3 in order to bring production costs down

I thought that they took backwards compatibility out of the PS3 so they could still sell more PS2s.

OT: I've got a Blu-Ray player and a PC in my living room. I've also got a laptop, PS2, PS3, 360 and an ancient DVD/VHS player down the hall. The lack of a DVD drive isn't really that big of a deal for me, never was with the Game Cube back when making your console play DVDs was just starting to become standard.

Sadly the only reason I would want to get this thing so far is for a 1080p Zelda game. I've already got two modern consoles(one of which I never use anymore), so at the moment I have no compulsion to throw my money at Nintendo.

 

[ZeZZZZevy]

I'm somehow not surprised but still disappointed. It's mostly just an awkward situation, since yes most other devices nowadays can play DVDs, but also, most other devices play DVDs. It makes Nintendo appear behind the pack in terms of device versatility, but there's a decent enough business decision behind it (making the WiiU cheaper, which it desperately needs to be to compete with the reduced prices of the other consoles)

 

[Magikarp]

On the plus side, this makes the system price lower, correct?

But on the downside, even the fucking PS2 could play DVDs.

DOES THIS MEAN THE WIIU WILL USE...CARTRIDGES?

Dear God I hope so. Bring back the golden age of cartridge blowing!

OT: I don't see any problem with this. I think it would be a waste of money, considering the fact that basically everything can play DVDs these days, & a bluray player would probably add at least £50 onto the price, & a lot of people wouldn't even use it.