Courtesy of 'Sonic' too. Oho!

As was reported a few weeks ago, an upgraded version of the Wii, complete with DVD playback, is in development. More information on the upgrade hit the wires this morning, with the announcement that 'would you believe they're actually named' Sonic Solutions will power the new version of the console, with their "Hollywood-trusted" CinePlayer CE DVD Navigator, due to arrive in Japan in the second half of 2007.

"To be involved in Nintendo's ground-breaking gaming console is extremely gratifying and a testament to the efficiency, flexibility and dependability of Sonic's technology," said Jim Taylor, senior vice president and general manager of Sonic's Advanced Technology Group. "Game consoles represent a fresh market and platform where we can introduce a new audience of potentially millions to the quality of our brand and the power of our digital media applications."

Whether this new feature will be built into a new version of the hardware, of come via a software upgrade, isn't completely clear yet, although this reporter is putting his bets on the first. News of a Western release hasn't been made public, but once it does expect it on the site.