Pocket-lint reported a couple of weeks ago that a rumour had been circulating that Nintendo was considering releasing the Wii with DVD playback abilities in Japan.

Today Sonic Solutions, confirmed that Nintendo has selected their CinePlayer CE DVD Navigator software to bring DVD movie viewing to the Wii. The consoles with DVD playback will be available later in 2007, so early adopters will miss out on the added functionality.

The software is supports standard video and audio formats, as well as anamorphic widescreen video, motion menus, and multiple video angles.

The Wii, which is being released this week, currently offers no movie playback, unlike its more expensive rivals, the Xbox 360, which has a separate HD DVD player, and the PS3, which incorporates Blu-ray playback. This means, however, that the Wii is considerably cheaper than the PS3, and less expensive than the Xbox 360.

Sonic has also introduced support for Blu-ray and HD DVD, so does this mean that we may see next-generation disc playback on the Wii one day?