Wii Voice Chat Still Being Considered

[Ross101]

The Nintendo Wii is currently the only gaming system unable to give players the ability to voice chat over the internet. Though a few games have been released on the Wii featuring online play, none allow players to converse through them. It's a frustrating limitation.

During a question and answer session in a Nintendo conference call this morning, Reggie Fils-Aime addressed this issue.

According to Fils-Aime, the system is clearly capable of this function, and Nintendo is constantly adding and tweaking features of the Wii system through system updates. The issue boils down to locking down the specific technologies and getting the specific peripheral to allow voice chatting.

IGN: Voice Chat Stiil Being Considered

[<mojo>]

I think this is definately gonna happen pretty soon .
People are screaming out for headset suuport .
I saw a rumour on another forum that there is a headset with motion controls in development but there was no source provided for it .

I also think there will be certain limitations to the feature when/if it arrives . Like maybe some kind of parental controls .

[hillyjo13]

this would be great for mario kart i hope it happens imagine being able to shout at people who blue shell you! or taunting somebody just infront of you when you have a red shell ready and waiting

[Venerable(ish)Bede]

Originally Posted by hillyjo13

this would be great for mario kart i hope it happens imagine being able to shout at people who blue shell you! or taunting somebody just infront of you when you have a red shell ready and waiting

Now that would be handy. But integrate it with motion sensing and a whole world of FPS technology opens up like said above. Another add-on to buy. i remember when the Wii was the cheap option..........

[hillyjo13]

yeah true it is getting more exspensive by the day especially wiimote nunchuck combinations! quite impressed with how reasonable the zapper package was though (i think they would of sold with out links crossbow training)

[captainff]

You all seem to be focusing on the positives of multiplayer voice chat. Can someone please at least consider the negatives?

I for one do not want to be hearing you all cough, sneeze or scratch during online play. I don't want to be hearing pre-teen American boys whining because they died again (or whooping because they managed to stay alive for more than 30 seconds) in any kind of FPS. I actually don't really want to shatter the illusion that I have about my online associates (c'mon, I'm not the only one that hears voices in my head when I read others posts. Am I?)

Also with the friend code situation and Nintendo's philosophy of family friendliness, the idea of unrestricted voice chat seems at odds.

[<mojo>]

I have never been too bothered about a headset . But the option would definately be nice .
Also I would take a tremendous amount of pleasure from taunting someone while aiming a red shell at thier rear end !
It would add a lot to the fun of some games and would greatly increase the sense of immersion in other games .
However their is the potential problem of having to listen to idiots .
As I said before , I would expect parental controls

[Venerable(ish)Bede]

Originally Posted by captainff

(c'mon, I'm not the only one that hears voices in my head when I read others posts. Am I?)

Ah, I have text to voice - so no imagination required to know you all have taken helium....

Take your point though about the rosey eyed view of voice chat. Perhaps it would, however, be nice to have some middle ground to exchange post match/race comments directly after the event in the game environment ?

[N4than C]

I really hope they add this, chat makes games more fun. I agree with the controling though. It would be great to be able to talk to friends like on xbox live.

[KrazyZeldaFan]

Originally Posted by captainff

You all seem to be focusing on the positives of multiplayer voice chat. Can someone please at least consider the negatives?

I for one do not want to be hearing you all cough, sneeze or scratch during online play. I don't want to be hearing pre-teen American boys whining because they died again (or whooping because they managed to stay alive for more than 30 seconds) in any kind of FPS. I actually don't really want to shatter the illusion that I have about my online associates (c'mon, I'm not the only one that hears voices in my head when I read others posts. Am I?)

Also with the friend code situation and Nintendo's philosophy of family friendliness, the idea of unrestricted voice chat seems at odds.

I have a solution to all that you listed above during gameplay. Don't wear the headset. I really do perfer Typing than voice.