Nintendo has now officially confirmed that the Wii U will not offer any DVD or Blu-ray disc playback. Despite talk of DVD playback being included, Nintendo claims that consumers already have other devices to handle such playback, so there is no reason to go through the expense of adding it.
While DVD and Blu-ray playback are apparently off the table, sources tell us that streaming is still likely for the device, with expected support from streaming providers such as Netflix and Hulu Plus. It is suspected that in order to deliver the same kind of experience that other platforms already have, Nintendo will have to offer some streaming support. It is unknown if Nintendo will offer movie streaming though their own market place offerings.
So far, neither Netflix nor Hulu have commented publicly about supporting the Wii U, but we suspect that they will announce it at some point. Currently, Netflix does support streaming on the Wii platform with the use of a bootable disc to access Netflix. Currently, Hulu does not offer Hulu Plus on the Wii platform.
Already have other devices to handle that
David Stellmack
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view itLatest from David Stellmack