Nintendo Wii Gets Stripped of DVD Functionality

I thought that Wii was going to have DVD functionality, but Nintendo wants to prove me wrong as they have removed this feature from their upcoming next-gen console.

When they first unveiled the Wii, they presented with great fuss its DVD functionality, and keeping a very low key on this whole issue they went behind our backs, you might say, and stripped the Wii. But don't worry, you will be able to play DVDs on your Wii sometime in 2007, as 1up.com reports.

Sonic Solutions, the company designated by Nintendo to develope DVD functionality for the Wii has confirmed that the CinePlayer CE DVD Navigator will be incorporated into a later version of the Wii, a version that will be released in the second half of 2007.

I bet this will be a big setback for the Wii in the next-gen war against the Xbox 360 and the PS3. Yeah, the Wii is a lot cheaper than the PS3 and the Xbox 360 but gamers are used to playing more than games on their consoles. It feels nice after you finish playing a game to pop-in a DVD with your favorite movie without being forced to change devices. You have to plug-in some more cables and cords, and so you waste some more time. Maybe Nintendo needs to take this issue into consideration.