Nintendo confirms Wii DVD support coming

But not in time for Christmas

Any gamers hoping to cosy-up on the sofa this Christmas and watch films with their Wii are set to be disappointed. Nintendo has confirmed that DVD playback won’t be added to the console this year.

Nintendo claims it’s postponing the release due to a need to secure enough production units in time for the Christmas rush. It broke the news on the Q&A section of its Japanese Wii website.

The addition of DVD playback functionality, either through a firmware update or by creating a second-generation Wii, has been widely discussed since well before the console’s December 2006 debut.

In November last year, software developer Sonic Solutions claimed its CinePlayer CE software would be used in the Wii as the DVD playback application. However, it said the enhanced Wii would be released by Nintendo “in the latter half of 2007”.

That timeframe was confirmed by Nintendo on its Q&A site. It appears that it did indeed plan to release a Wii that can play DVDs in the second half of 2007, but that production restraints have prevented if from doing so.

It also noted that "DVD licensing fees... are higher than expected".

"Sorry for the inconvenience, but please be patient," Nintendo told its fans.

Nintendo gave no indication of when a DVD playback-enabled Wii might actually appear.