Nintendo drops more Wii Speak details

by Griffin McElroy on Nov 8th 2008 11:30AM

We've been anxiously anticipating Nintendo's next big peripheral since it was unveiled at their mind-blowing E3 2008 showcase -- a groundbreaking, futuristic device that actually allows you to speak with your online gaming cohorts. However, we've had a lot of questions concerning the price and release date of the cutting edge technology known as Wii Speak (and its companion software, the Wii Speak Channel) -- questions that were recently answered in a press release from the money-printing company.

You can get your hands on Nintendo's talkin' puck on Nov. 16, either bundled with Animal Crossing: City Folk for $69.99, or by its lonesome for $29.99. The accessory comes with a coupon which allows you to download the Wii Speak Channel for free (we're unclear whether City Folk includes said coupon), which will be available for download sometime in December -- and yes, you can only chat with those whose unwieldy friend codes you've already acquired. Sure, it's a minor inconvenience -- but considering the social gaming revolution this peripheral will initiate, it's a hoop we're certain you'll be willing to jump through.

Source

Tags: nintendo, online, Wii, wii-speak, wii-speak-channel

Reader Comments (82)

What an awkward means of communication, but where would the Wii be without unneeded awkwardness.

I'm not aware of the unneeded awkwardness you speak of.

Keep in mind that I don't want this device, but I fail to see how it is more awkward than a headset. We use technology like this all the time at work so that everyone in the meeting can hear and have the ability to talk. It's actually very convenient.

Aside from Wii Sports, and a few other bright spots, motion controls have, for the most part, been rather unfulfilling. For example, shaking the Wiimote up to jump in De Blob, a favourite game of mine, is in no way immersive or intuitive, it's plain awkward. There are other example but I don't have the will to type much today. Plus, there's always the chance you'll pull up a list.

Nimblewick: certainly can't argue with that logic. You're probably onto something. I'll wait and see before complaining again.

"but where would the Wii be without unneeded awkwardness?"

Just where you'd be without an ostentatiously recondite vocabulary

If the sound is output by the TV, it can cause problems whilst playing games. I use my PS Eye for voice chat, and I often have difficulty hearing what other people are saying over the background music and general game noises.

(Try it yourselves to see what I mean: set your headset to input, and your TV to output.)

I'd imagine Wii Speak will have the same problems.

@Fatass:

Perhaps if you read a book once in a while you wouldn't find such long words as "awkwardness" so inscrutable.

I think Fatass was referring to past deeds.

@Hyams

I thought the Wii Speak would have the same problem too. I'm pretty sure it will come with some sort of noise cancellation though. The people at Nintendo can't be that dumb.

@Titanium_Orchid: Well, they did release the Wii

ZING!

I was joking, folks. No offense to Lord Bowser, but check out his post history.

So...does this mean Animal Crossing: City Folk is a $20 game, or that the mic isn't worth all that much?

I'd enjoy it if were that Animal Crossing didn't suck, rather than this being a microphone made of gold and candy. Oh my, yes.

$70 - $30 = $20? Great, now you'll be telling me 2+2=5.

...*goes to listen to some Radiohead*

How large values of two are we talking about?

+a billion for the radiohead reference.

Did they drop the details that it was a useles POS and no one effing wants it?

I feel ill at ease with your self censorship and poor spelling. I just thought it'd be better to declare that.

"...and no one effing wants it?"

you mean besides the large number of people who want it?

POS? Isn't that Parents over shoulder?! WTF?!

Boy, joystiq sounds bitter.

That was laced with so much sarcasm that if anyone reading it were allergic to sarcasm, the would now be dead.

Let me make it clear that I personally love sarcasm and all that crap about it being it the lowest form of wit is a load of bull.

Sarcasm rules....

Well, that one's reported.

Reported

you know sarcasm is the worse form of wit

You're so funny.

I still fail to see how this is going to be effective. Is it going to naturally cancel out the sounds coming through the speakers, so that it only transmits voice data? If my buddy is blasting away at someone, I don't want to hear the sound of his shotgun or rocket launcher being sent through my speakers unless I am near him in the map.

I didn't know you could play halo 3 on the wii!

For that matter, how do any conference phones cancel out the voices that are coming through it? I would think it would just be one long feedback, but somehow they do it.

I'll wait to see how well it works, but for now I'll just assume that it does.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echo_cancellation

I think that is what you describe; Acoustic Echo Cancellation.

So i have to yell at my tv area? No thanks. Nintendo has no clue how online gaming works, its a miracle their website looks so nice.

These things are usually pretty sensitive, so you shouldn't have to yell unless you are sitting really far away from it.

Has nobody asked the obvious question of "will any USB mic work"?

I was just wondering if any usb mic will work with this?

USB mics are recognized by computers as sound cards, not standard HUD devices. Something tells me a sound card for a Windows/Mac machine will not work.

I recently bought a battery powered mic, and I explicitly ruled out getting a USB mic because of the compatibility problems people tend to have with them.

there're noise cancelling headphones, so i don't see how it couldn't cancel out the sounds coming from the console since the machine knew what sound wave it's putting out, the program should be smart enough to generate a reverse polarity sound wave.

Basically, this does what head sets have done in the xbox for years now, right? I am not being sarcastic, just curious as I know next to nothing about the wii, other than you shake and wave your hand at the TV to play.

Basically. The first time Nintendo implemented voice chat was in a very primitive use of the DS microphone for Metroid Prime Hunters, then two years later built a bluetooth headset for Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. They've been much slower adapting that technology for Wii, as a continuance of their utter apathy towards online play

There's no Bluetooth headset for the DS, man. Just a wired one. DS doesn't even have Bluetooth built-in.

You DO know what Bluetooth is, right? :S

Oh, and said headset works for any DS games that uses the microphone. Even the Ace Attorney games.

WTF is up with all the cables and adapters for this device? Isn't the Wii a bluetooth enabled device?
So use the goddamn wireless features of the system instead of all the clutter.

Anyways, me and my friends also have 360's, which will soon will have 8 player private chat, so I rather use that instead.

Most likely the same reason the 360 doesn't have wifi.

You mean so they can sell a proprietary $50 adapter? (Although I use an ethernet-over-power-line cable instead)

yup, $

Probably won't pick it up until The Conduit drops, as i only have minimal interest in Animal Crossing

The reason why it isn't a headset is because It's trying to help further the idea of "We" since it means that a whole roomful of people could talk across, much like a conference call.

It certainly isn't ideal for competitive multiplayer, But it works well for the "social interaction" nature of Animal Crossing

I disagree. You need to have that persons friend code to hear them, so unlike Xbox LIVE you dont have to put up with multiple people calling you gay (unless thats the type of people you play with). So even a game like World At War (if it has support) can still be a pretty relevant conversation, even with people teabagging your corpse

Nintendo arrogance is just appauling to me. $30 dollars? $30 dollars? For a microphone? A cheap one that probably costs the Plumber HIGH END $5 to make including labor.

And some of you still wonder why I HATE ALL THINGS WII.

Just pathetic, as pathetic as the pity party on right wing TV and radio.

And Reggie and pals have the nerve to say that they want to make gaming easy for everyone. Yeah, easy as long as you are willing to VASTLY OVERPAY for old rehashed technology.

I am going to call this the Nintendo TALKIE, like those 1st talkies that appeared in the early 20th century.

Way to innovate Plumberboy

$30 is definitely too high, $20 max

However, we can't know what kind of quality the mic is until it comes out, which is only a week off

I'd imagine there has to be something in there to filter out feedback noise, otherwise i too would call it a ripoff

$30 for this VS $60 for a wireless LIVE headset. Which company do you think is more full of shit?

You left the part out about the wireless headset being an OPTION and not the ONLY from of mic available.

Or did you conveniently forget about the far cheaper wired mic?

I think you did.

yes, I totally forgot about the headset I just got done taking off after gaming with my friends. But, do to the fact the Wii is for retards and I own one, I am therefore to retarded to recall what I did 2 minutes ago.

Heres the thing, theres a reason that one is $20, its pretty terrible. Why can't MS just let me pull a out any BT headset and use that? Or better yet, just remove the wired one and lower the wireless price? I may hate Sony and forever will (with the exception of the PS1), but at least with theirs its about $10 cheaper and I can sync it to any phone i have.

Wait - $30 is too much for a noise-cancelling conference microphone? Sure, they're clearly making a profit on it, and presumably like other accessories there is also a good profit margin for stores (if that's the case you'll be able to get it cheaper online), but $30 doesn't exactly break the bank.

The nunchuk price seems pretty damn excessive... this isn't so bad.

(I don't plan on getting one, but it's not because of the price.)

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Nintendo drops more Wii Speak details

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