Nintendo declines to confirm DVD Wii for US and Europe News
Wii News by Tom Bramwell
Nintendo has declined to confirm whether a new version of the Wii with DVD playback feature will go on sale outside of Japan - despite a "worldwide agreement" with tech provider Sonic.
Plans to launch the new model were first announced last month, with Nintendo suggesting it was unlikely the machine would make it to the US and Europe.
But earlier this week, digital media software company Sonic Solution confirmed that its CinePlayer CE DVD Navigator will be included in the new Wii, which is due to arrive "in the latter half of 2007".
Now a Sonic spokesperson has told our sister site GamesIndustry.biz that it has signed a "worldwide agreement" with Nintendo, stating, "In terms of the specific details of the relationship, Sonic provides an SDK, which Nintendo users to incorporate DVD playback into their system.
"As the enabler of technology in Wii, Sonic does not define the implementation. Sonic provided Nintendo with its DVD playback SDK, which will be integrated by them to their specifications."
A spokesperson for Nintendo UK said, "We have previously confirmed that an enhanced version of Wii capable of playing DVD's would launch at some point in the future in Japan.
"This release simply confirms Sonic as the partner in that venture and that the new version of Wii will come to market in the second half of 2007. It does not confirm where it will launch. We are simply not making any further region specific announcements at this time."
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Comments: 1-39 of 39 in total
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chupachups
16/11/06 @ 09:39
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Of course they'll decline to confirm it, they don't want people waiting to buy the DVD edition instead of the first non-DVD edition.
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Der_tolle_Emil
16/11/06 @ 09:48
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@Super_Zee: I always wondered that too. The hardware for reading DVDs is already there, there's simply a decoder missing but the Wii has more than enough processing power to playback DVDs via Software. But I don't really need DVD playback with my Wii, I have a DVD player, I have a PC hooked up to my TV, I have a 360 - and I never used the TV or the 360 to playback DVDs, just my DVD player. So I could not care less about DVD playback with the Wii - and I bet 98% of Americans and Europeans do not care either because they already have a DVD player or any other device that plays DVDs.
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the_sas_man
16/11/06 @ 10:00
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That pathetic - that's like creating an all American football tournament and calling it a world superbowl...
oh wait... |
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dvds through a console? you don't care much in image quality then. i wouldn't dream of using a console to watch dvds on....
plasma £1600 5.1speakers £1600 amp £1600 dvd player to watch my movies on, ill just use a console with shit or no scaling. fair enough if its a one box xmas solution for some kid out there who hasn't already got a dvd player or just can't bare to use another plug :P |
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JetSetWilly
16/11/06 @ 10:09
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Whilst I take the point that DVD players are dirt cheap, space under my TV is at a premium. So DVD playback in the Wii is nice to have from my point of view. I certainly hope it's a software solution that can be incorporated into the current unit cos I don't want it so much that I'd shell out for more hardware.
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SeesThroughAll
16/11/06 @ 10:32
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Let me guess what happens: Nintendo goes do negotiations to Philips on their back, and Sonic releases their own console the following year.
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Ah who cares whether Nintendo add DVD playback to the Wii, it's only ever going to be 480p/576p anyway.
Buy an Xbox 360 and you can watch upscaled DVDs via VGA upto a resolution of 1920x1080. OK so it's not as good as having HD-DVD or Blu-ray but it's certainly an improvement over RGB SCART that's for sure. |
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Der_tolle_Emil
16/11/06 @ 10:54
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Darren: The Wii output resolution is the highest resolution the DVD codec supports. So the resolution does not pose any quality loss.
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chupachups
16/11/06 @ 11:19
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"Does anybody care - bar the japanese?"
They shouldn't care, but you know what gamers are like, if there's a new model with similar or even identical functionality but a new case they somehow feel like they're being "forced" into buying the new model. How many existing PS2 owners rushed out to get the slimline PS2 despite it being technically identical to the original PS2? It's not like it saved any space either because it was a toploading instead of front-loading model, so you had to allow even more room for it than you did with the original.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 16/11/06 @ 11:21
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el_pollo_diablo
16/11/06 @ 12:03
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Sky is not only expensive and rubbish, but you really don't want to be giving money to Rupert Murdoch.
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Nintendo fanboys say:
Who cares, Wii is for gaming only. Everybody else say: What the hell? I am not buying Wii before it's properly beefed up. Look what happened to early adopters of DS. DS Lite is much better. Who knows what else they'll include in the Wii Plus. ps. The new Wii just might output HD as well. Wait and see.
Edited 2 times,
most recently on 16/11/06 @ 12:09
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JetSetWilly
16/11/06 @ 12:10
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Look what happens to any early adopter of a technology. Ever bought a mobile phone?
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chupachups
16/11/06 @ 12:18
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"What the hell? I am not buying Wii before it's properly beefed up. Look what happened to early adopters of DS. DS Lite is much better. Who knows what else they'll include in the Wii Plus. "
Exactly, that's exactly what a lot of people will think when they find out there's a new Wii model on the way. Some people are like this, you get people who buy a new iPod or phone every six months not because it has any extra features but just because they want the latest model which looks slightly different. It's not logical, it's not rational, but some people worry that they have last year's model instead of this year's, even when there's no practical difference. And you can bet that 99.999% of people who wait for the DVD Wii will already have a perfectly good DVD player at home, and their wait is completely pointless. "The new Wii just might output HD as well. Wait and see." No, because that would require much faster processors and it would also require games developers to spend far more on graphics. The point of the Wii is that it's cheap and meant for the kind of people who don't care about HD.
Edited 4 times,
most recently on 16/11/06 @ 12:23
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Muddtallica
16/11/06 @ 13:57
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Stoooooopid.
This is an idea that is pointless, bordering on the harmful. Their reasoning for excluding DVD playback in the first place was valid; ie, no-one needs it now, and it would just bump up the price for no real reason. Why now try and backtrack in a really half-assed way? What's the benefit of confusing punters on the eve of launch by saying there MIGHT be a newer model on the way, even if (or perhaps especially if) that new model's advantages are negligible? The best course of action now would be to do what they did with the Panasonic DVD GCN; just release it in Japan without a great deal of fanfare, and just don't mention it to the West. Nevertheless, not very smart, Nintendo. |
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AaronTurner
17/11/06 @ 08:03
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Isn't the point that if it plays DVDs then you can get rid of your other player and have one less piece of hardware in the room? It's not about whether you own one or not already.
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Comments: 1-39 of 39 in total
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