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New Wii Speak Details

Rob Crossley's picture

By Rob Crossley

November 10, 2008

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Nintendo has revealed further details of its upcoming Wii Speak microphone peripheral.

The microphone, which is designed to pick up sounds from a room of people instead of being strapped to a single player, will be released in the US from Nov 16. The Microphone can either be bought bundled with Animal Crossing City Folk for $69.99, or sold separately for $29.99.

Players will be able to use Wii Speak through City Folk from the day the game ships but, if Nintendo’s press release is accurate, there’s no real use for the Wii Speak microphone outside of Animal Crossing until December, when the Speak Channel launches separately.

In line with all of Nintendo’s online communication services, chat is only possible for players who have exchanged and accepted each other’s friend codes.

“The Wii Speak accessory comes with a code that lets users download the Wii Speak Channel from the Wii Shop Channel at no charge,” says the release, casting slight concerns on whether the service will be free for all. If not, it would give Nintendo some influence over future pre-owned sales as well as potential third-party offerings. 

Update: Nintendo has confirmed the the Wii Speak units will come with a one-time activation code that will not be replaced. Meaning that the item will be, in most cases, useless on the preowned market. It also means that, unless Nintendo changes its policy, third-party microphones cannot be used with the Wii Speak channel.

Belcaw's picture
On November 13th Belcaw said:

This is just stupid. For the same reasons I avoid purchasing downloadable games, I will avoid Wii Speak. This restriction is like restricting my controllers to only work on a single console. How am I going to be able to bring the fun to my friends' house? Sure I could bring my whole system along with me as well, but I just want to bring my game, an extra controller, and my Wii Speak to my parents house to show them what it's all about. As it is, this will never happen and they'll never be interested enough to get it.

Way to go to kill your sales Nintendo. Not only are you going to lose the sales from the people we would have shared this device with, but you've already lost the initial sale from myself and many others because of your silly restrictions on use.

NickgamertagO1's picture
On November 10th NickgamertagO1 said:

CoD: WaW is going to be online-enabled on the Wii? And if so, people actually buy Wii-ports of 360/PS3 FPSs? It seems the inferiority of the product would prevent it from being sold to the audience that typically plays FPS (especially online). That's great if there are at least some FPSs that have online multiplayer on the Wii for those people who own Wiis and don't also own a 360 or PS3. But I can't help but think that for people who enjoy those type of games, that the 360/PS3 would be a better purchase for them considering the Wii ports are inferior in every way with just added Wii-control functionality. Not trying to flame, its the truth.

Sabrewulf's picture
On November 10th Sabrewulf said:

This will be great if you could use with COD: World at War for example until I get banned for swearing too much...