Wii Speak Will Speak No More

Nintendo finally axing under-used accessory

Dec 2 2010, 8:49pm CST | by Mark Raby

After it pretty much stopped being used by anyone, Nintendo has said it will extremely scale back availability of the Wii Speak peripheral and is instead encouraging gamers to use third-party products.

Wii Speak was to be Nintendo's version of the standard online chat headsets widely used on the PS3 and Xbox 360. Nintendo argued that online play should be an entire living room experience, so Wii Speak was designed to sit on top of the TV and capture sound from the entire room. It came bundled with Animal Crossing: City Folk.

Of course, it quickly became obvious that such a set-up was only conducive to, well, Animal Crossing: City Folk. Pretty much no other games got extra value from it. Nintendo even began encouraging developers of more typical online games to use a third-party headset instead of Wii Speak.

Now, the company will reportedly widely scale back on shipments of the device, making it available to "limited retail locations" only, and will add new stock "if consumer demand increases" but not under any other circumstance.

This just further highlights how backwards Nintendo is when it comes to online gaming. To chat with someone in most Wii games, you need to meet up with them in real life (or online somewhere else), exchange friend codes, arrange via some other method when to go online, and then use the Wii Remote's controls to enter messages. On the 360/PS3, you can basically just hop onto a game, make a friend, and then start sending invites no matter what other game he or she is playing. But that's a discussion for another day.

Via GameSpot

Updates

Padres victims of Santana gem in 9-0 loss at Mets

Source: San Diego Local News 1

New York Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy (28) tags out San Diego Padres' Blake Tekotte (9) before throwing out Chris Denorfia for a double play during the ninth inning of a baseball game May 26, 2012, in ...
Full article at: San Diego Local News 1 More like this 11 minutes ago

Letters to Insight, May 27

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

Dear San Francisco: Has anyone told you lately what an amazing city you are? Or that the people that inhabit you are your pulse? If I were musically inclined, I'd write a song for you. And I would set the rhythm and ...
Full article at: San Francisco Chronicle More like this 41 minutes ago

Lenovo adds sharpens its Edge with Ivy Bridge

Source: Gadget Guy

More computers are on the way from the professional computer brand Lenovo, and they’re bringing a burst of Intel’s speed in spades. Two new machines have been announced from Lenovo, the same company that last year brought us the T ...
Full article at: Gadget Guy More like this 52 minutes ago

where to buy

Buy from Amazon

Don't miss ...

Gaming

New Xbox to be unveiled at E3 2012?

Mark Raby
Based in New York City, Mark follows the consumer electronics industry like a hawk. A published book author, he has a particular affinity for 3D technology and video games, and as such will surely be in the market for a new pair of glasses soon. Mark can be contacted directly at mark@i4u.com.