No Blu-ray, DVD support for Wii U

Nintendo has made the decision to omit DVD or Blu-ray playback capabilities from the Wii U to save on manufacturing costs.

The information came from a Q&A session for investors.

"We feel that enough people already have devices that are capable of playing DVDs and Blu-ray," explained Satoru Iwata, Nintendo president, "in 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."

The report also addressed the disappointing sales of the handheld 3DS, with Iwata admitting they "have not met our expectations."

"What we have analysed up to this point is that the initial move by the early adopters has not translated into broader movement by the broader market in the ways that we had expected."

He was quick to reassure investors that this is expected change as new services become available. "I think that we'll be able to show you that as Nintendo eShop and 3D video services come online, and a number of key software titles become available, we'll be able to regain momentum for this hardware."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-ray-for-wii-u

I can get a FULL DVD player at WalMart for $30. How in the world can they justify not even having that much support on the basis of "cost"?? It would add, what, $1 to the price? Less? I can understand them not adding BD yet - it's still fairly expensive and DVDs are still the majority of the market. But to not have DVD NOW? Maybe they're pinning their hopes on online video service.

Japanese d*ckhead just doesn't want to proceed with paying out the patents to use the services!