Nintendo backflip on DVD for Wii

A Nintendo Wii games console with DVD playback will be available in the US market, but not until 2007.

Nintendo was not going to offer a DVD-playing Wii in the US market, but capitulated after receiving a lot of criticism for only developing a DVD-playing Wii for the Japanese market and not for other markets. The DVD-playing Wii will be more expensive than the standard non-DVD-playing Wii.

The DVD-playback technology for the Wii is being developed by Sonic Solutions, which is the developer of CinePlayer CE DVD Navigator, “a robust, software-based DVD playback engine that delivers broad playback compatibility on a variety of platforms”.

This development does beg the question; why didn’t Nintendo just include DVD playback in Wii from day one? Yes, we know it costs extra, but it’s something its competitors PS3 and XBox 360 have already got, and for many people it means that don’t need to have a DVD player AND a games console hooked up to the one display.

Finally, commonsense prevails.

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• Wii: how Nintendo got its groove back
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• Nintendo unveils ‘Wii U’ at E3 2011
• Nielsen games console study reveals opportunity for Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft