Topic: Will the Wii U be able to play DVD's?

I think the ability to play DVD's (and maybe Blu-ray's) would be a necessary feature.
But can the Wii U play at least DVD's? Because the Xbox can play DVD's, and the Playstation 3 can play Blu-ray's.
Does anybody know about the Wii U's ability?

No, it cannot play DVDs.

Aww, that's disappointing
It really should play them, but i guess people will use Netflix or Hulu instead.
It's not likely, but it could come in an update.

Physical media is dead

The average homeowner has at least 1 device that can already play dvd's. If you have a PS3 u have a bluray and dvd player in one. Due to licensing fees and costs associated the Wii U doesnt have one. And tbh there is soooooooo much to do with the Wii U atm, there is no time for Dvds or blurays

since most places already has devices that can play dvds or even blurays, nintendo felt there is no need for the wiiu to be able to play them,, hell at least you can use netflix on it. and to top it off adding dvd playback would drive up costs of the console

And free up socket space that would be too convenient now.

Yeah, if they want this to be everyone's main entertainment device, they should have had DVD and Blu-ray playback. If I have to hook up my Blu-ray player, then maybe I don't have a connection to hook up the Wii U, and then maybe I'll just forget the Wii U exists and not buy any games for it.

Nope, it's still alive.

Not for long, I don't plan on buying anything in physical form

Your preferences don't represent the entire populace of 1st/2nd world countries. Physical media still counts for way more than digital across all forms of media.

Granted, I do agree with you on that it's kind of pointless for Nintendo to make Wii U a DVD player. I can't think of a single person I know that doesn't have something that can play DVDs. So in that sense, it is worth the trouble for Nintendo.

I'm sorry to inform you that there will always be a demand for a physical format. Just because you don't buy anything in physical format don't mean everyone does... You need to understand not everyone has a good inet connection or had a high usage cap and are unwilling to pay extra for overage fees.

I think they should have a media player where you can insert a usb and play movies off of it kind of like what the xbox can do

Yeah, I want the ability to watch my own DVD rips at the very least (and not just MP4s). I still have to go through my [adult swim] DVDs (or DVD, is more like it. Damn you Space Ghost for making me spend money)

Also, considering the Wii can play DVDs under certain circumstances, I'm almost positive that with an update, the Wii U could play DVDs.

Sure it will be around for a long time I plan on buying everything in physical form.

See what I did there?

If there was one thing I wanted from the Wii U that it doesn't have it wouldn't be dvd/blu-ray playback. I really couldn't care less about that feature, I already have a Blu-Ray player and I'm sure anyone with a collection of Blu-Rays they want to play does also. Kinda a given right? If I was to complain about any feature the Wii U lacks it would be a LAN port, Gigabit preferably. Should have had it. Why gigabit and not 10/100? Why not?

It can't, that's a firmware hack. Not officially supported.

Why would you want it to be a DVD player as well?
You've already got Hulu Plus, Netflix, and Amazon Video...
Not to mention most of your computers doubles as a DVD player...
AND most of us HAVE DVD Players already...

It's not like they left out something completely necessary to the system...

The fact that you can't use the GamePad to play Wii Games (both as a Classic Controller and Remote Play).

Man people these days, you want motion controls, you get it, you want 1:1 pin point precision wii remote plus, you get it, but you want a DVD player????? Is this still the early 2000's because someone slap me, I think you have to be insane to want to ask that from Nintendo. They make Video game consoles, not TVs and DVD/Blu-ray players! Trust me, they'll never add those kinds of features to their consoles, if they wanted to they would've done it by now. Besides all you NAers have Hulu, Amazon, NetFlix AND Youtube, we have jack all, count your lucky stars people.
At least you can buy DVD players cheaply today, over here you can expect to play no more than $99 NZD for a good brand DVD player, I'd just go with that personally. I know we here down under don't have all the nice technology and infrustrucutre to support it yet, but one day we'll catch up, we're not too far behind you guys, but still...