The Internets have been ablaze this morning with the shocking (if you’ve never played a videogame before) news that the Nintendo Wii U won’t have DVD player support. Nerds frothing with the notion that something wrong has happened have stormed Twitter with comments like “EPIC FAIL, NINTENDO!”, “you fools!”, and my personal favorite, “more like PEE-U!” (I like to imagine that last one was typed totally unironically, because it lets me hate whoever typed it even more.)
Of course, what everyone’s missing is the fact that YOU ALREADY OWN A DVD PLAYER. Probably like six of them. Probably like six of them PER TV. Which would you rather have: an entertainment device that plays every possible video medium, and also videogames, or a videogame console that doesn’t cost $600? (Sorry, PS3, but there’s a reason nobody bought you at launch.)
Logic!
I’ll grant you that Blu-ray support might’ve been nice for those who don’t have a PS3, but really? You’re going to complain that Nintendo isn’t jacking up the price of the Super Wii by including features that nobody on Planet Earth has any use for? That’s like the opposite of what we were criticizing the 3DS for.
It’s as though people just enjoy complaining, whether their complaints make any sense or not. On the Internet, no less!
Actually, the PS3 outsold the Xbox 360 at launch by roughly 400,000 units, in no small part because of its Blu-Ray functionality.
Source?
http://kotaku.com/226742/ps3-launch-outsells-xbox-360-launch
Admittedly, this is Kotaku, the worst website in the entire world. And it’s possible that sales fell off immediately afterwards. And the Blu-Ray thing is speculation on my part – at the time, it was actually among the most affordable Blu-Ray players.
Darn, I was getting all excited about crafting a wonderfully snarky response making fun of your lack-of-source, or possibly completely unreliable source. YOU RUINED MY DAY.
Kotaku’s a reliable source?
Well, I was really hoping you’d cite something like fuckxbox.com. …which apparently is an actual website.
I mistyped that and got a site which was, conclusively, not related to videogames.
Paul, I love you, but this article is dumb 🙂
A) I use my wii as a source of all media in my bedroom, and the netflix on it is terrible! Now, I have a huge dvd player on the shelf as well, that seems entirely unnecessary with a media disc reading device that’s half the size and already there.
B) No dvd and blue ray is just the icing on the cake of the crap cake that is the Wii U 😀
Bah! Kids these days! Back in MY day, I had a Super Nintendo AND a Sega Genesis hooked up to my TV, and neither of them even played VHS tapes! I’d much rather have systems that don’t play DVDs and aren’t even backward compatible if it means they’re slightly more reasonably priced; what’s a few extra components on the shelf, especially if you already own them?
IT ALREADY READS DIGITAL MEDIA DISCS. I can understand that concept of an NES not playing a betamax, I can not understand a box that reads the EXACT SAME DISK AS A DVD but wont actually play a DVD.
But you’re right. You get what you pay for. I just regret paying for it 90% of the time ;P
Ah, but it says right there in the source article that it would raise the cost on Nintendo’s end, because of “the patents related to those technologies”! I don’t want that cost trickling down to me!
…of course, if the savings don’t trickle down to me, either, then fuck them.
We bought a souped up gamecube for $200. SAVINGS!
Fool me once, shame on you Nintendo, fool me twice, shame on me 🙂
I second Paul’s opinion entirely. I own a blu-ray player which also plays games. I have no need for another one, and if I’m having to pay extra for that feature, then I’m not going to buy the system. Wii-U doesn’t need blu-ray support, what it needs are GAMES, and great ones at that! Developers actually giving the Wii-U the time of day, and not just developing shitty carnival games compilations or baby-sitter sims. Fuck DVDs and blu-rays, I want GAMES.