Wii U no blu ray/DVD player
 

In a call with investors and analysts about the Wii U, Iwata has this to say on the decision to exclude a DVD and Blu-ray player from the upcoming console:

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.

http://i.zdnet.com/blogs/nintendo-e3_wii-u-back.jpg

I disagree. How much could it possibly cost to have a blu ray player anyway ?

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Considering the OEM costs, it might have forced the consoles MSRP up $20-$40 dollars.

But given Nintendo's current scenario, the lack of console features is going to hurt sales even more. This console would need to be pretty darn amazing if they don't want to go bankrupt in a matter of years.

The license fee for a blue ray/dvd player has dropped substantially to just under $10 , however there is the software cost itself and I can see there point when you consider the number of units. I just don't think they can afford to take such a risk anymore. Nintendo shares have been crushed in the last year.

At least start porting there games to cell phones.:doh:

It's not the cost of the components, it's the cost of licensing the codecs.

Give it WiFi and USB streaming and BR/DVD is close to unneeded.

^^^^^ Source of informations?

I agree with Herne though, in today's digital age, I hardly think another device to playback discs is needed.

:offtopic::offtopic:

Forgive me for changing the topic a little, but I thought that Nintendo was doing okay. I don't particularly follow how well Nintendo is doing, so I don't really know, but I thought that as little as a couple of years ago the Wii was really hot stuff and one of the top selling consoles.

What happened to change that? Is Nintendo really in trouble? and how?

Their initial Wii sales were good, but once Microsoft and Sony caught up to the motion controller craze the Wii was just an inferior and outdated console.

Add the earthquake in Japan, the tanking Japanese economy, and the fact that they haven't really progressed much in terms of product innovation and games - and now you have Nintendo in an extremely bad situation.

At this point the only reason why they've turned a profit a few times is because of the plummeting exchange rate on the Japanese Yen.

And to those who feel Blu-Ray is unnecessary, that may be true for the tech savvy who can figure out many ways to stream their content - but for the majority of users the lack of that extra feature can be a deciding factor in the sale. I remember my uncle only agreed to buy my cousins an Xbox because it could easily double as a complete media centre without any extra hassle.

It is so far behind, why waste more money, I think nintendo needs to inovate something new again first, or risk going under.

Honestly, their biggest competition right now has to be from the Xbox Kinect, I would think. I tried it briefly at christmas, and came away impressed. I would choose kinect over Wii anyday for the type of games that are being played with motions. Plus you have the ability to play higher end games with the Xbox anways. Seems like an easy choice to me.