Likely shocking no one, Nintendo has confirmed that the Wii U will not play DVD or Blu-ray movies.
Like when discussing the Wii, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata says the company thinks you probably already have a device capable of playing those formats. He adds 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.”
It’s a fair assumption to make. You likely already do have that functionality built into a device in your living room… on another videogame console. Given that, the lack of physical video disc playback isn’t a huge deal, especially since the Wii U will support Netflix and (potentially) other video streaming services.
When it comes to movies, I have a strict “no physical media” policy after two generations (VHS and then DVD) of owning now near-useless tapes and discs. I ain’t mad at Nintendo. But for those who do have a soft spot for touching things and putting them on a shelf, it’s a bit disappointing that the Wii U won’t deliver on all fronts.
But hey, that Zelda HD experience demo at E3 has me totally jazzed!
Iwata: Wii U doesn’t have DVD or Blu-ray playback capabilities [CVG]
