President of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata, has confirmed that the brand new Wii U console will not support DVD or Blu-Ray playback, during a conference with investors.
We already know that the Wii U will use game discs which carry 25GB of data (that’s the same capacity as a Blu-Ray disc), but not even DVDs? Really Nintendo?
Iwata explained their reasoning for leaving out the two disc formats; “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.”
With the Playstation 3 being a home entertainment device playing both DVD and Blu-Ray, and the Xbox 360 playing DVD as well, we have to wonder just how well the Wii U will fare against them.
We’ve heard earlier today that the Wii U will supposedly be 50% more powerful than both the PS3 and Xbox 360, so perhaps Nintendo are looking to channel all of that power into next-gen HD gaming.
We’re a little surprised at Nintendo’s decision to omit DVD and Blu-Ray capabilities from the Wii U’s specs sheet. Being a next-gen games console, we would at least expect to see DVD playback from the device.
What are your thoughts on this news? Will it put you off buying a Wii U? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Via: Kotaku