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Nintendo: no DVD, BD playback for Wii U
Not Invented Here
Nintendo's next-gen console, the Wii U, will, like its predecessor, have no DVD playback capabilities. It won't play Blu-ray Discs, either.
Ninty boss Satoru Iwata confirmed the news during a Nintendo Q&A session following E3 last week.
He 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."
Proprietary all the way
In an interview with Kotaku, Nintendo designer Katsuya Eguchi confirmed the Wii U will use a proprietary high-density optical disc format. These supposedly pack 25GB of storage capacity, the same as a single-layer BD.
Considering Nintendo appears to be pushing the Wii U as the ultimate entertainment hub for consumer's living rooms, the exclusion of standardised formats might not be such a wise one. Still, it didn't do the Wii any harm, despite the many calls for DVD playback functionality.
Has Iwata got a point - perhaps he thinks we'll all be downloading HD movies by the time the Wii U appears - or is Nintendo simply cost-cutting? Let us know what you think below. ®
Biting the hand that feeds IT
