Wii U to Not Play GameCube, DVD, or Blu-Ray

During CES 2012, the Game Guys over at news10.net were able to get an interview with Nintendo of America’s Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Cindy Gordon. Among the questions they ask, many focus on the backward capability and movie-disc playback of the system. According to Gordon, it looks like our assumptions were correct. As of now, it looks like the Wii U will not play GameCube, DVD, or Blu-Ray discs.

Will this be a smart move for the Big N? As of now, they have side-stepped DVDs, but instead offered things like Netflix and [soon] Hulu Plus. With the digital distribution era upon us, is it smart for Nintendo to keep this mindset with their next home console? On top of that, will many GameCube fans be upset? Many years have passed since GameCube, and your Wii does still play those games. Granted, that is unless you have recently purchased your Wii, which now does not support GameCube games/controllers.

Check out the video interview below. 

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New Funimation Evangelion 2.22 Product Type Bluray Disc Japanese Animation Video Domestic Dts-Es 6.1

Cast: View Cast For Evangelion-2.22 You Can (Not) Advance-Movie. Crew: Art Director:Hiroshi Kato, Art Director:Tatsuya Kushida, Cinematographer:Tohru Fukushi, Composer (Music Score):Shiro Sagisu, Director:Hideaki Anno, Director:Kazuya Tsurumaki, Director:Masayuki, Screenwriter:Hideaki AnnoExtras: Ws/Blu-Ray Nr Evangelion-2.22 You Can (Not) Advance-Movie Clr Dvd-Blu Ray. Evangelion 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance is the second installment in a film series known as the "Rebuild of Evangelion" that reinterprets the story first told in the critically acclaimed anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. Covering the material from the episodes 6-12 of the series, this film is the first to introduce new content and characters that did not appear in the original series -- namely, Unit-05 pilot Mari Illustrious Makinami. The British girl mans an Eva with a drastically new design, and adds still more drama to the life of Shinji, who is coping with having to share a living space with both Asuka and Misato. Meanwhile, all of the pilots soon find themselves embroiled with a battle with the Eighth Angel. The group show a sense of teamwork that they've never had before, but soon, NERV's American branch is destroyed in an experiment while testing the new Unit-03, which is taken to Tokyo-3 for testing. Asuka pilots the Eva, but it's soon reclassified as the Ninth Angel, and Shinji is ordered by his father to attack it. Shinji can't bear to do so while Asuka is inside, causing a break in his will that might cause him to leave the program for good. ~ Cammila Albertson, Rovi.

Price: $55.47

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Army of Shadows: The Criterion Collection [Blu-ray]

Who would've guessed that the best film of 2006 would be a 37-year-old thriller about the French Resistance during World War II? Hailed as a masterpiece by an overwhelming majority of reputable critics, Jean-Pierre Melville's Army of Shadows wasn't officially released in America until 2006 (hence its appearance on many of that year's top-ten lists), but its reputation as a French classic was already well-established throughout Europe. Fully restored in 2004 and released in the U.S. by Rialto Pictures, it represents the gold standard of films about the French Resistance, based upon Joseph Kessel's 1943 novel and imbued with personal touches by Melville, an Alsatian Jew whose own involvement in the Resistance qualifies Army of Shadows as a semi-autobiographical exercise in somber nostalgia, as indicated by an opening quote echoing Melville's ironic belief that memories of Nazi occupation needn't always be traumatic.

Having lived through this history, Melville doesn't treat it lightly; in Army of Shadows, the threat of death hangs over every scene like a shroud. Unfolding with flawless precision, the plot begins in 1942 and focuses on a small, secretive band of Resistance fighters led by Gerbier (Lino Ventura), whose intuitive sense of danger lends additional suspense to the film's dark, atmospheric study of grace under pressure. While working in the classical tradition of the Hollywood films he admired, Melville breaks from convention with lengthy, deliberately paced scenes in which tension builds to a subtle yet almost unbearable intensity. With the possible exception of a brief and wryly humorous scene involving Resistance leader (and future Prime Minister) Gen. Charles de Gaulle, every scene in Army of Shadows supports Melville's predominant themes of solitude and futility. Melville's visually and thematically bleak outlook may prove challenging for some, but Army of Shadows is remarkably beautiful in its own way, and it gains power with each additional viewing through flawless development of memorable characters played by a first-rate cast. Especially memorable is Simone Signoret as Gerbier's boldly pragmatic ally Mathilde, a woman in a war of men, with a tragic vulnerability that ultimately decides her fate. As intellectually stimulating as it is thrilling to experience, Army of Shadows represents the triumphant zenith of Melville's posthumous recognition as a world-class auteur. Thanks to the Criterion Collection, this masterpiece can now be widely appreciated, along with Criterion's previous DVD releases of Melville's earlier classics Bob Le Flambeur, Le Samourai, and Le Cercle Rouge. --Jeff Shannon

Price: $39.95

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