Anyone hoping to play their DVDs or Blu-ray discs should hold onto their current players or purchase one alongside their brand-new Wii U. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has confirmed that the new console won’t have any DVD or Blu-ray playback.
“Wii U does not have DVD or Blu-ray playback capabilities,” said Iwata at an E3 analyst Q&A. “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.”
It’s shame, as many consumers use their consoles for things other than playing games, but at least the Wii won’t be completely out in the cold when it comes to video playback. Iwata previously confirmed to AllThingsD that Netflix would be making a return appearance on the new console, and we'd assume that this time it will be in HD, since the Wii U console itself supports 1080p.
