Nintendo has made it official, Wii U games will be on a proprietary disc that is not Blu-ray or DVD.
The confirmation comes via Nintendo president Satoru Iwata following a week of confusion and speculation as to exactly what Wii U games would be published on.
In explaining the move, Iwata says:
We feel that enough people already have devices that are capable of playing DVDs and Blu-ray, such that it didn’t warrant the cost involved to build that functionality into the Wii U console because of the patents related to those technologies.
Furthermore, the Wii U will go “social,” says Iwata (via TR):
After examining the penetration and adoption rate of social networking services like Facebook, etc, we’ve come to the conclusion that we are no longer in a period where we cannot have any connection at all with social networking services.
Rather, I think we’ve come to an era where it’s important to consider how the social graph of the social networking services can work in conjunction with something like a video game platform.
Result for: conjunction
Although unconfirmed, multiple sources are reporting that Apple will launch its Mac app store next week, on December 13th.
The Mac app store will give third-party developers a chance to create low-cost apps for Mac users, basically becoming a desktop version of the iOS App Store.
One source says “Apple is targeting a Monday, December 13 launch of the Mac App Store,” although CEO Steve Jobs has reportedly pushed for an earlier launch date.
Other sources claim Apple will use this month to launch iOS 4.3, which will bring the addition of subscription-billing APIs, and “The Daily,” a cheap, iPad-only newspaper created in conjunction with News Corp.
iOS 4.3 should also bring an update to AirPlay.
Result for: conjunction
According to multiple reports today, HTC is set to launch their Google Chrome OS tablet on Black Friday, in conjunction with Google and Verizon.
Dubbed the HTC Chrome, the tablet will be the first real competitor to the Apple iPad, which has sold 3.5 million units already since its launch in April.
The reports say the Chrome will use a Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, have a 1280×720 multitouch display, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of SSD memory, a front-facing camera, GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G and of course, Chrome OS as the operating system.
Says one source: “Expect it to be every bit as geek-tastic as the Nexus One.”
Perhaps more importantly, is price. Sources believe the tablet will sell for as cheap as $99, as long as you sign up for a two-year Verizon data contract.
