Wii U Not Compatible with DVD or Blu-ray

[JMcEntegart]

E3 is over but the hype surrounding the Wii U has all but died down. Though it’s not expected to be available until sometime next year, fans are eager to know more about the device...

Wii U Not Compatible with DVD or Blu-ray : Read more

 

[army_ant7]

Yeah

 

[timbozero]

Proprietary 25 GB format ? Yeah right ! Nintendo have paid extra to develop a non-Bluray disc or hardware unit ? I don't think so !

What I suspect is that they are using a Bluray unit with a custom firmware to make it secure but , at the cost of Bluray playback.

 

[nukem950]

I figure it is licensing fees. I think they should have an app that has the fees in it. So if someone wants it, then they pay for it. Those who do not care do not have to pay for it.

 

[reprotected]

If the next Mario game rules and it would cut some costs, then I could care less about DVD or Blu-Ray playback. I don't even watching Blu-Ray movies, and I have like 4 DVD players in my house.

If I would consider buying a Wii U, I would want:
1. A Steam/Xbox Live like experience for free, and an amazingly loaded and featured App Store like Apple's (yes I said it)
2. Great games.
3. Price tag lower than $400, which includes at least 3 controllers in the price.
4. HD option for Wii games (if you used the Dolphin emulator and enable AA, it actually looks decent, though not the level of Xbox 360)
5. Good graphics (I'm not looking for over-the-top no jagged edges FPS on a 97" screen, but at least at the PS3 level).

 

[dmhalljr]

It needs to be able to stream content (Pandora, Netflix, and Espn3) and play blu-ray. I don't want to buy a separate blu-ray player.

 

[Guest]

I think it's a great move. Just avoiding as many licensing fees as possible. And they are absolutely correct - most people with a wii, have something else in addition that can play movies.

 

[jamesedgeuk2000]

I think this is the right idea, nobody whined that the SNES/N64 couldn't play VHS, now just fix the stupid controller 😛

 

[belardo]

The Japanese versions of the Wii and WII-U play back DVD / BR.

Stupid, so stupid.... they are targeting this to kids, so for some of us with kids... it means one less device to make clutter under the TV.

 

[CyberAngel]

Who cares!
GPU is not DX11 level => no Tesselation power = weak graphics => PC ports suffer
I'll wait for PS4/Xbox 720

 

[TheProfosist]

[citation][nom]CyberAngel[/nom]Who cares!GPU is not DX11 level => no Tesselation power = weak graphics => PC ports sufferI'll wait for PS4/Xbox 720[/citation]
and how many wii exclusive games have been ported to pc?

 

[chronicbint]

Wii U looks like a lemon.

 

[TheProfosist]

[citation][nom]chronicbint[/nom]Wii U looks like a lemon.[/citation]
what because it doesnt have something that nintendo systems have never had?

 

[N19h7M4r3]

Its easy to figure out why they did it. If its proprietary I can bet you no one will have a burner at home that can make disk's for it.

 

[back_by_demand]

[citation][nom]timbozero[/nom]Proprietary 25 GB format ? Yeah right ! Nintendo have paid extra to develop a non-Bluray disc or hardware unit ? I don't think so !What I suspect is that they are using a Bluray unit with a custom firmware to make it secure but , at the cost of Bluray playback.[/citation]
Dude, it will be Bluray media the same way Wii games are DVD media.
It's the drive unit that's proprietary and the method used to burn the media.
...
They spin in the opposite direction, didn't you know?

 

[eiskrystal]

--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 --

We also already have mario and zelda in elebenty different versions so why not take it a step further and not bother making a Wii U at all. A console that adds little to an already saturated market.

 

[back_by_demand]

[citation][nom]dmhalljr[/nom]It needs to be able to stream content (Pandora, Netflix, and Espn3) and play blu-ray. I don't want to buy a separate blu-ray player.[/citation]
The Wii can already stream network content from the PC with T-Versity, transcodes in real time via the Opera browser - isn't the best in the world but it's still pretty good - the Wii U will be able to do the same and Netflix already works too.

 

[back_by_demand]

Most modern stand alone Bluray players support streaming services such as Netflix and DLNA network content, so why would I want a console to do the same?

Consoles are for playing games.

End of.

 

[juliom]

[citation][nom]CyberAngel[/nom]Who cares!GPU is not DX11 level => no Tesselation power = weak graphics => PC ports sufferI'll wait for PS4/Xbox 720[/citation]

So many kids commenting these days... You do realize that the R700 has a tesselator? Hell, even the Xbox 360 has a telesselator! And you realize that just because it's R700 BASED doesn't mean that it will be outdated? And you do realize that the chip will be tweaked and enhanced? (example: it's going to be manufactured at 32nm instead of the original 55nm) And you do realize that an "old" and "outdated" 4870 GPU is around 4 times more powerfull than the 7800 based GPU on the PS3? And you do realize that the current AMD flagship card is based on the R700 architecture?

 

[juliom]

[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]Dude, it will be Bluray media the same way Wii games are DVD media.It's the drive unit that's proprietary and the method used to burn the media....They spin in the opposite direction, didn't you know?[/citation]
They don't spin the opposite direction, but they are read from the outside to the inside. Same as Gamecube discs.