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windbane on 03 January 2008
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Girl Gamer Elite said:

Why would I want to watch a DVD on my Wii when I can buy a top of the line DVD player for $20?

That same DVD player put into the Wii could easily add more than $20 to the production cost of the Wii and would have significantly cut down on its lifespan just as using your PS3 as a Blu-Ray player significantly cuts down on its lifespan.

The only time putting a multimedia device in a console made sense was last generation when everyone wanted a DVD player but couldn't afford one.


I hate to break this to you, but you can play DVDs on your Wii.  All you need is a mod chip.  Nintendo just withheld the firmware to do it.  It would be nice to just have to transport the Wii instead of an additional $100 "top of the line" dvd player, since you need an upconverting one that will not be $20 unless you want a piece of junk.

As for the lifespan of the system...I've played all of my DVDs in my PS2 for years and it still works fine unless the discs are scratched.  I'm already having trouble playing scratched discs with my Wii (I rent games and people can't take care of discs).  The PS3 has no problem reading discs due to blu-ray discs being unscratchable.

Also, even if a "top of the line" dvd player cost only $20, the manufacturing costs would obviously not be nearly that.  I hope you understand how profit works.  Nintendo likes it, certainly, because they are currently getting away with ripping people off on the console while Sony loses money on their PS3 sales.

But hey, as long as no one cares about having dvd player functionality, I guess it won't matter.  Same goes for online play, no hard drive, slow copying to sd cards, terrible battery life on controllers (basically forcing you to buy Nyko Charge pack or spend hundreds on batteries over the lifespan), and lack of graphical increase from last generation.  As long as no one cares, Nitendo doesn't much either.  I'm a sucker, too, since I bought a Wii.  I'm just glad I have my PS3 for everything the Wii lacks.