DVD Playback for the Wii?

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jones
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DVD Playback for the Wii?

Post by jones » Tue Nov 14, 2006 9:31 am

Could it be?

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6161611.ht ... ws;title;4

Perhaps, Nintendo has listened and is trying to make amends, although they may alienate many early adopters with this move if it turns out to be true. I guess wii'll have to wait until Nintendo makes a statement regarding this to be sure.

Very interesting nonetheless.

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Post by bicostp » Tue Nov 14, 2006 11:15 am

If the optical drive is just a standard DVD drive, is this simply a change in the firmware?

I think this may turn off some potential buyers, at least until the "updated" version comes out. Hardcore fanboys will, of course, buy the current model.

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Post by jones » Tue Nov 14, 2006 11:24 am

bicostp wrote:If the optical drive is just a standard DVD drive, is this simply a change in the firmware?

I think this may turn off some potential buyers, at least until the "updated" version comes out. Hardcore fanboys will, of course, buy the current model.
I would agree. Hopefully it is just a firmware update, but I guess we'll have to wait and see what the big N has to say about it. It's a pretty crappy move though if they are, in fact, hanging the early adopters out to dry on this.

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Post by sammy » Tue Nov 14, 2006 11:38 am

I don't understand why a DVD player is so needed. Doesn't everyone have one (at least) already?

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Post by NES_fanatic » Tue Nov 14, 2006 11:49 am

Who's buying on launch day now?

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Post by bicostp » Tue Nov 14, 2006 12:09 pm

sammy wrote:I don't understand why a DVD player is so needed. Doesn't everyone have one (at least) already?
I think that question is a lot like "Everyone has a radio why add it to an MP3 player?": If it costs basically nothing to add to the unit, and it adds functionality and convenience, why not add it? It will entice people to buy it.

Actually I think Nintendo wants to compete with the Blu-Ray and HD-DVD drives on its competitors' devices, but they didn't use either next generation format, so they stuck with traditional DVD playback.

I don't see any reason not to add a DVD player, especially if it's just software (and since it says Sonic Solutions was contracted to develop it, I'm prety sure it's just code).

Maybe they'll be smart and offer the DVD playback as a download for the older models, or maybe they will follow their current trend and release a smaller Wii that you have to buy to get it.

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Post by benheck » Tue Nov 14, 2006 12:14 pm

I've read the GC and now the Wii spin the disc backwards as a form of copy protection. Maybe that messes up DVD playback.

Still, it is the inevitable "Nintendo Incrementalism" where they sell you something crippled only to release something better later on.

Granted technology improves pretty fast, but couldn't they have made a DS lite in 2004? Or a GBA SP in 2001? Probably. Thus, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize the Wii COULD play DVD's right now. But doesn't.
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Post by atari2600a » Tue Nov 14, 2006 1:20 pm

I think I said the same thing but someone here said that GC discs are just encrypted...

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Post by gamer2 » Tue Nov 14, 2006 3:27 pm

Why should they stick with just DVD, they could really take the market if they offered HD-DVD playback out of the box.
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Post by CronoTriggerfan » Tue Nov 14, 2006 3:43 pm

benheck wrote:I've read the GC and now the Wii spin the disc backwards as a form of copy protection. Maybe that messes up DVD playback.

Still, it is the inevitable "Nintendo Incrementalism" where they sell you something crippled only to release something better later on.

Granted technology improves pretty fast, but couldn't they have made a DS lite in 2004? Or a GBA SP in 2001? Probably. Thus, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize the Wii COULD play DVD's right now. But doesn't.
I'm pretty sure the DVD directional spin is just an old wise tale, like the rumor that GC discs were burned from the outside instead of the inside to throw off homebrewers.

As far as Nintendo's marketing strategy, I hate taking it up the ass as much as the next guy; but hey, that's corporationism. If they know they can make money off of a product because the consumer will pay for it, why not? Overpricing is how people make their money, kind of like charging $3,500 for an Xbox360 laptop... >.>

Honestly, though, who doesn't own a DVD player in nearly every room of their house? I know I do, in addition to my PC, the 3 laptops my family owns, and 2 portable DVD players. Sure, it would be nice if the Wii had DVD playback, but just you wait; It's gonna be some $30 firmware update for it to play DVDs, and unless you're a hobo, then I think it's a fair asking price.

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Post by Sparkfist » Tue Nov 14, 2006 3:50 pm

Yeah this was a few weeks ago that I read they [Nintendo] were going to offer DVD play back on the Wii. I don't remember the article but it's funny that they said adding DVD play back is a pointless thing now. The only people that could use it would be kids that have their own TVs and want to watch something like Blue's Clues after playing Mario Party X.

As for what Ben said about the disc spinning, really that's a trivial thing. All that's need is to have firmware that can look at the disc and help the system figure out if it's a Wii disc, GC disc or a video DVD. Not an impossible thing to do.

As for Nintendo's release of what's new/better. Well they could have do those things five years before they were released, the problem is cost and production numbers. Nintendo didn't do the GBA SP earlier because they hadn't found a means of keeping the power used by a backlite screen down and yet keep the play time up over ten hours. I'm not going to argue on the DS Lite though, that just seems like a flat out money grabbing tactic.

And if Nintendo hasn't changed too much, I would have to say I'd expect something in the way of a Nintendo USB hard drive, Nintendo Wii Media Player, and (oh yeah Ben's favorite) newer versions of older accessories like GBA player.
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Post by lifeisbetterwithketchup » Tue Nov 14, 2006 4:30 pm

atari2600a wrote:I think I said the same thing but someone here said that GC discs are just encrypted...
The main thing that protects Gamecube discs is a little barcode on the inside of the disc (between the hole and the readable part). I believe the discs are also encrypted, but they don't spin backwards or outside-in.
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Post by sammy » Tue Nov 14, 2006 4:52 pm

I don't think it would make any sense at all including HD-DVD if the Wii doesn't even output 480i... They should just upgrade the whole system to HD if they were to include HD-DVD.

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Post by joevennix » Tue Nov 14, 2006 5:48 pm

Speaking of HD DVDs, did anyone see that the new XB360 HD-DVD add on is driverless-ly compatible with Vista (XP requires a few updates)? That's pretty cool, I'll say. It works on OS X, too, but the system can't read the disk, as there is no HD-DVD compatible software for macs (yet). Too bad it's only a reader though.
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Post by Triton » Tue Nov 14, 2006 5:55 pm

Who's buying on launch day now?
about 99% of the people who were before, honestly dvd playback with the wii is the LAST thing i am concerned about, in our house we have three computers that have dvd drives and 3 dvd players! i dont need nor want another dvd player! also i dont see how not including an EXTRA, NON ESSENTIAL FEATURE is crippled. thats like saying that you wont be able to use your hand if you lose a pinky or something like that

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