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Wii U won't play DVDs or Blu-ray

Posted Jun 15, 2011 at 8:25AM EST by Mabie A.

Listed in: News Tags: Nintendo, Satoru Iwata

For all of Wii U's celebrated hardware "successes", it still won't be able to play DVDs.

This was confirmed by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata in a meeting with their investors. Instead, it will only be able to run the 12cm proprietary disc and the 12cm discs for the Wii.

NintendoWiiU_logo

Explained Iwata, "Wii U does not have DVD or Blu-ray playback capabilities. 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."

Despite this lack of support for other forms of disc media, Nintendo still gives their full support to third party developers, believing that it is "absolutely fundamental". More of the functionalities of the Wii U online feature can be found here.

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But what doesn't make sense is that the drive CAN read DVDs in the current Wii and I would assume the same would be true of the Wii U. Nintendo probably don't want to pay to licence it to play DVDs as they want to keep costs down.

I really wish companies would stop avoiding the truth when they're asked things and just admit shit.

Nintendo stated that the Wii could never play DVD movies. Hacking proved otherwise...

# RE: RE: Wii U won't play DVDs or Blu-ray — Andy Mitchell 2011-06-15 11:32

And even though they've said the cost of patents is too high, how is it you can pick up a dvd player for under £15 brand new in shops?

# RE: RE: RE: Wii U won't play DVDs or Blu-ray — lordrand11 2011-06-15 13:11

Quoting Andy Mitchell:

And even though they've said the cost of patents is too high, how is it you can pick up a dvd player for under £15 brand new in shops?

patent licensing is real high. Imagine if you will you make 200,000 wii u's now imagine that you have to pay $20 per Wii u. The total sum comes out to 4,000,000
plus whatever bs royalties those companies want to instill on nintendo for licensing. And usually its a lot more than that for multimedia machines.

# RE: RE: RE: RE: Wii U won't play DVDs or Blu-ray — truk 2011-06-16 01:33

Quoting lordrand11:

Quoting Andy Mitchell:
And even though they've said the cost of patents is too high, how is it you can pick up a dvd player for under £15 brand new in shops?

patent licensing is real high. Imagine if you will you make 200,000 wii u's now imagine that you have to pay $20 per Wii u. The total sum comes out to 4,000,000
plus whatever bs royalties those companies want to instill on nintendo for licensing. And usually its a lot more than that for multimedia machines.

if they make and sell 200,000 wii u's @ $300, that's $60,000,000. Plus one game @ $60 that's $12,000,000. that's $72,000,000. less than 6% of that covers said patents you mentioned. that's less than 6 cents for every dollar

# RE: RE: Wii U won't play DVDs or Blu-ray — John 2011-06-15 12:11

And I'm pretty sure that Wii U will be able to play dvd movies (after being hacked) too.

# RE: RE: Wii U won't play DVDs or Blu-ray — truk 2011-06-15 17:36

Quoting Andy Mitchell:

But what doesn't make sense is that the drive CAN read DVDs in the current Wii and I would assume the same would be true of the Wii U. Nintendo probably don't want to pay to licence it to play DVDs as they want to keep costs down.

I really wish companies would stop avoiding the truth when they're asked things and just admit shit.

Nintendo stated that the Wii could never play DVD movies. Hacking proved otherwise...

really? wouldn't the purchasing of the dvd cover that "licensing" fee?

# RE: RE: RE: Wii U won't play DVDs or Blu-ray — Andy Mitchell 2011-06-15 21:43

I would have thought so personally but you never know. I thought it was more like he said in the statement, the patenting fees for the ability to playback DVD movies.

"it didn't warrant the cost involved to build that functionality into the Wii U console because of the patents related to those technologies"

Nintendo are right though, most people already have DVD players. Still kinda sucks though because you could get your kids a Wii for games and their own personal DVD player in one if they did have DVD playback.

Plus it would be a bit silly to only have DVD playback now we're in the next gen for storage media. Blu-ray on a HD console would make sense and I'd bet that is a fair bit more expensive to implement than DVD!

# RE: RE: RE: RE: Wii U won't play DVDs or Blu-ray — truk 2011-06-16 00:58

it only makes sense if this translates into cheaper costs to the consumer. i mean, how much are we actually saving?

but for the most part, i'm in the same boat as you; everyone has a dvd player. if you don't then you probably don't care about wii u or anything remotely related.

# RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Wii U won't play DVDs or Blu-ray — druidium 2011-06-16 12:50

If it has play back of dvd and blu ray then Nintendo has a reason to raise the price value of the Wii U, this extra cost will cost the consumer more money to buy the system. I would be buying this for games not movies so why would I want to pay more for a couple of features I don't need, and would shorten the life span of my game system.

# RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Wii U won't play DVDs or Blu-ray — truk 2011-06-16 17:34

not necessarily.

what type of margin is nintendo making on each sold system? what about each game sold? what about each peripheral sold? what about dlc? as you can see they have several avenues to "spread" the cost for implementing dvd playback.

one can also argue that it is a matter of customer appreciation...they could just throw us a bone..

# RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Wii U won't play DVDs or Blu-ray — truk 2011-06-16 17:35

also, having it play dvds doesn't actual mean it will shorten the life span of the system.

# RE: Wii U won't play DVDs or Blu-ray — AithePanda 2011-06-15 12:15

Plus anyone here replying seems to have a CPU which adds to everyone having at least one thing that plays back DVD's.

It's not as if I expect for Video Game Systems to force themselves to be like a smartphone.

# RE: RE: Wii U won't play DVDs or Blu-ray — garos 2011-06-15 14:49

The Wii U has a CPU too, a 3-core one.

# RE: RE: RE: Wii U won't play DVDs or Blu-ray — Ryugen 2011-06-15 20:50

I think he means that each of us at least has a Desktop with a DVD player... I mean seriously, most of my electronics have a separate CPU with all the crap they can fit in a piece of hardware now. Even my Kindle runs an ARM processor on Linux with and has over 100 mb or ram.

+1 # Suck it Wii U! — blitzkrieg23 2011-06-15 12:30

so much for playin dvds at least now we know nintendo can't be trusted with hardware i mean how much does it fuckin cost to include a simple DVD functionality.. think i'll stick to my trusted ole consoles than opt for this

Really nintendo except for the controller the Wii U is simply gay!

-2 # RE: Suck it Wii U! — lordrand11 2011-06-15 13:14

Quoting blitzkrieg23:

so much for playin dvds at least now we know nintendo can't be trusted with hardware i mean how much does it fuckin cost to include a simple DVD functionality.. think i'll stick to my trusted ole consoles than opt for this. Really nintendo except for the controller the Wii U is simply gay!

dude this is the 21st century who the f*** watches or even buys dvd's anymore?

# RE: RE: Suck it Wii U! — PS360 Owner1 2011-06-15 14:15

I do.

Anime series are better originally on DVD than upscales on Blu-ray.

Dragon Ball Kai is better on Blu-ray, not all animes on BD are upscales.

# funny comment — lolwut 2011-06-15 14:53

That's pretty funny because I could have sworn the DVD became more popular in the 21st century since they became more affordable.

A lot of people still buy DVDs and even Blu-rays (Yes a blu-ray disc is an up scaled version of a DVD)

# RE: funny comment — lordrand11 2011-06-15 23:10

Quoting lolwut:

That's pretty funny because I could have sworn the DVD became more popular in the 21st century since they became more affordable.
A lot of people still buy DVDs and even Blu-rays (Yes a blu-ray disc is an up scaled version of a DVD)

Weeeellllll I for one download. I have all of my movies stored on to a local external hard drive. Not necessarily narcing that dude but making a funny statement in the sense of time comparative to technology.

# RE: Wii U won't play DVDs or Blu-ray — hadoken 2011-06-15 12:47

i think if they give an internal hd big enough and they offer a video store service like ps3, i doubt it, since they offer netflix is way cheaper then rent or own a video on ps3, who knows...

+4 # RE: Wii U won't play DVDs or Blu-ray — xnamkcor 2011-06-15 13:04

"it didn't warrant the cost involved to build that functionality into the Wii U console"

That's funny, because the cost of not putting it in is encouraging homebrewers. And that leads to pirates.

I hope it was worth it.

+1 # RE: RE: Wii U won't play DVDs or Blu-ray — liight 2011-06-15 13:43

either way, hackers would have found some reason to hack it with or without dvd functionality.

# ... — TheRockness 2011-06-15 14:13

Sounds like Nintendo is trying to squeeze a dollar out of fifteen cents. Good executive decisions do not always equate to what might be best for the customer. Nintendo just wants to keep their production costs down so they can profit off of every Wii U from day one.

# RE: Wii U won't play DVDs or Blu-ray — bobobobo 2011-06-15 15:23

fact is blueray and dvd are allowed on a license fee basis, but if nintendo has online movie streaming they are making cash for movies, why should nintendo pay for dvd features, they dont even make any dvd's, unlike sony who included blueray as a marketing stratagy, same as hd-dvd for MS true is anyone who hasnt got a dvd player by now wouldnt be buying a wiiU anyway

# ... — TheRockness 2011-06-15 16:29

I think there's probably still a fee or license console makers have to pay to be able to stream those movies through consoles.

-2 # stupid — xrossfire 2011-06-15 16:31

Wii= Wtf+idiot+idiot nientendo, dumb even the ps3 can play DVD and even the Xbox could play DVD and that was like 5-7years ago. you mean you cant even create a console that can play DVD???

# RE: stupid — PS360 Owner1 2011-06-15 17:39

It can, Nintendo just won't allow it, as Sony doesn't allow OtherOS on PS3.

# RE: stupid — Andy Mitchell 2011-06-15 21:47

It's because Nintendo want to create affordable games machines. They're not looking to make multimedia systems. To be able to play DVD movies requires them paying the patent fees per console, which in turn means the public have to pay more for the console.

The original Wii has a DVD drive but only plays movies if hacked as Nintendo never implemented the playback feature.

# RE: stupid — xnamkcor 2011-06-15 23:34

"even the ps3 can play DVD"
That word. I don't think it means what you think it means.

# EPIC Death — rapturestar 2011-06-15 18:52

1) PS2 & the original Xbox had movie DVD Playback support.
2) GameCube was stuck with a mini-dvd until the Wii came out.
3) Failure to compete on either the DVD or Blu-ray format would mean utter doom for the company's future.
4) Sony & Microsoft already offering movie playback on their systems. If Nintendo doesn't step up, then they will lose more customers.
5) Customers care about dvd playbacks(eithe r formats) and games. They don't want a console sitting around for nothing.

# RE: EPIC Death — PS360 Owner1 2011-06-15 20:53

Other than having BD/DVD, media streaming would be damn cool too, if Nintendo were to allow.

So much potential going to waste, Nintendo.

# ... — SeRosiS 2011-06-15 21:11

Let's add VCD to the list of things it should play. The 3DO had that capability on release how come every other CD based console didn't.

Why don't we add BetaMAX, VHS, and LaserDisc as well.

# RE: ... — Andy Mitchell 2011-06-15 21:50

Ah. Good old VCD! I never did get one of them cards for my old PS1 or Saturn

Maybe eBay might have one for me!

(And yes, I am aware that PS1/Saturn didn't come with VCD at launch, just noting that 2 other systems had the ability to play them eventually!)

# RE: EPIC Death — Andy Mitchell 2011-06-15 21:48

Look at the price gap between Nintendo vs Sony/MS though. Nintendo aren't aiming to be multimedia systems. They're aiming for gaming only. Gaming only = cheaper systems = profit from day one.

# RE: RE: EPIC Death — xnamkcor 2011-06-15 23:32

Yeah, because multimedia features are so expensive. I heard, if you don't play DVDs, your computer magically costs less.

# RE: RE: RE: EPIC Death — Andy Mitchell 2011-06-16 07:46

Oh I know DVD drives/players aren't that expensive but obviously they're that much more of an expense that Nintendo don't feel it warrants allowing movie playback.

Which is fine anyway as both the PS3 and X360 are (from what's been leaked) almost just as powerful as the Wii U and both have DVD movie playback.

The only reason I can see people buying the Wii U is for their exclusives, which consist almost entirely of Mario and Mario variants.

# RE: EPIC Death — lordrand11 2011-06-15 23:11

Quoting rapturestar:

1) PS2 & the original Xbox had movie DVD Playback support.
2) GameCube was stuck with a mini-dvd until the Wii came out.
3) Failure to compete on either the DVD or Blu-ray format would mean utter doom for the company's future.
4) Sony & Microsoft already offering movie playback on their systems. If Nintendo doesn't step up, then they will lose more customers.
5) Customers care about dvd playbacks(eithe r formats) and games. They don't want a console sitting around for nothing.

So is nintendo just not in the form of dvd.

# What?! — James Flames 2011-06-15 23:46

I currently own a PS3, XBox 360, Wii, a Caanoo, and a laptop. There is currently NO reason to make me want to buy this machine right now. No DVD playback and I heard no backwards compatibility for Gamecube games doesn't sound good. The new generation of consoles and handhelds doesn't sound too promising right now. I am not invested in this new generation at all.

+2 # Well, that tears it. — president2038 2011-06-16 00:34

If this was a cost-saving measure, then I better see a console that's comparatively cheap compared to what's on the market. I'll buy a $250 3DS for nostalgia's sake because Nintendo continues to please me with it's handhelds, but if this thing is over $300 I'm done with Nintendo home consoles. There's no reason I should be able to get a Blu-ray playing, Hard Drive having PS3 for a little more than $200 and a non-DVD playing, flash memory having Wii Successor for well over $300.

# RE: Well, that tears it. — truk 2011-06-16 01:54

but what if it's value is not in the hardware features but in it's media?

+1 # RE: RE: Well, that tears it. — president2038 2011-06-16 02:14

True, that's how it always is with Nintendo systems, that's why I bought a 3DS. I generally enjoy Nintendo's characters and games far more than any Sony originals, but Nintendo lacks in 3rd Party support most of the time as well as hardware. Although they claim they will have many more 3rd party developers this time, I'm a bit skeptical as to how long it will last considering they only announced PS3/360 ports... =/

Nintendo is being a little selfish with their fanbase, I think. Just because we love your games doesn't mean we're going to keep supporting your poor business decisions. =/ If Wii U is supposed to be for ME, I'd like a system I can be proud of for buying.

# RE: RE: RE: Well, that tears it. — truk 2011-06-16 17:23

value is subjective. case and point^^

nothing wrong in your game, homeslice. respect.

# RE: Wii U won't play DVDs or Blu-ray — leo9891 2011-06-17 23:54

I understand what they mean, about everyone already having a device that plays DVDs or Blu-Rays, but if their console had the ability to play either of those formats, people would rather play it on their newer innovative device instead of using their old DVD and/or Blu-Ray Player that you that you had to press physical buttons than using on-screen buttons.

Its true, people would rather play a media format on their newer product than their old one that can do it just as well, sometimes even better. Its part of the retail business. People would rather buy a machine that can be their "All-In-One" device than have multiple devices that can only do one thing.

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