Headphones, dude. Headphones trump the Wii speaker thingy.
Are we going to get in an endless list of things one has over the other? I can see why people would want 360. I just suggested 360 to a friend over a Wii about a month ago. I’m not threatened by what you value. 
Come again? The speaker, despite being admittedly low quality, essentially acts as a sixth speaker in a 5.1 setup. It allows the game to further immerse you (when done well) with sounds emitting from the actual object you’re carrying. I’ve found it has been used pretty cleverly a few times, and is a small, but unique aspect to the Wii Hardware. Sega actually made great use of the speaker (and rumble) in Samba De Amigo–it felt and sounded like I was shaking an actual maraca. And Silent Hill: Silent Memories is essentially transforming the Wiimote into the radio of past games, emitting the static sound not from a ‘static’ (heh) speaker, but from the controller (aka your radio) itself.
That’s fine. I’m not intending to threaten. I’m using headphones for gaming exclusively and I’m never going back to speakers (unless they’re surround speakers). It’s not even close.
You do know that I’m talking about the speaker in the Wii-Remote and not Wii Speak?
What do headphones have to do with that? Just something to list that one machine has over the other?
No, because the 360 and PS3 don’t come with headphones. They’re extra curricular. Also, I presume you could hook headphones up to a Wii, but I haven’t tried.
I understand that you’re talking about the speaker in the controller itself. It’s nice, but I headphones are more useful.
Edited to add: I don’t even know what Wii Talk is.
… LOUNE, the speaker in the wiimote is considerably different from headphones. For example, when playing Guitar Hero, the wiimote speaker makes the squelch noise, not the speaker on the TV. It adds to immersiveness. Or in Twilight Princess, when you shoot an arrow, it goes thwip, not the TV.
The positioning of a new channel of sound opens up a lot of gameplay. You, uhm… really sound like a bit of a fool for saying what you’re saying, because it becomes really apparent you have no idea what you’re talking about.
Ditto. Headphones allow you to hear sounds and things going on that you wouldn’t normally hear in the game. I like the speaker on the Wii remote, but I greatly prefer playing with headphones and it’s not even close.
What do headphones allow you to hear that you normally wouldn’t?
I agree with E-Sabbath, I’m not sure you understand that you’re talking about two different things.
Either of the two that I’ve used so far (Tritton AX360 and Sennheiser 580).
What? Do you realize you’re not making any apparent sense?
My bad. When I first read it, it looked like he was asking what headphones I had used. Headphones allow me to hear the little noises in the game that go on. I can tell distance and direction easily from them and can also tell when I’m being snuck up on, or where the ambush is coming from. I’m not a big audio person by any means, but I made the plunge and have no intention of looking back. You really do get a better experience with headphones.
I would assume that a solid surround sound system might also work well, but that may keep the kid up/bother the wife or girlfriend/make the neighbors hate you.
Each has their pros and cons, but a good surround sound system will offer the same experience your headphones do–only it will allow more than one person to listen (which is the point of many Wii games). However, by using a sound system (and not speakers), you are then able to hear the Wiimote as well, which adds even more to the game–something you’re missing if you use headphones. Is it a deal breaker? Nope. But you can’t simply write it off as “headphones are better,” as it’s not even an apt comparison.
I can. I did. I like the Wii’s speaker. I’d like to see something similar in all consoles. However, the information gleaned from the Wii’s speaker is less than the information I get from headphones.
Okay, cool. If you have a good sound system though, you not only will glean the same information as you would from your headphones, but also more from the Wiimote’s speaker as well.
Again, it’s great that headphones work better for you than whatever sound system you have, but to state “headphones trump the Wii speaker thingy” as an objective truth simply couldn’t be further from the actual truth.
No. It is the truth. However, I figure it’s best if I hook them up to the Wii and see what we get.
Are you this protective over your wife? Does she ever get jealous?
Okay…
It’s a two-way street, my friend. The difference is, I’m not making objective claims about subjective things, such as “headphones trump Wii’s speaker.”
But it does. We’re comparing the information that one can glean from a speaker that’s on the Wii’s remote to the information one can get from full headphones.
Even if we compare the regular sound one would get from a television and the Wii’s speaker to headphones, you still get more information from headphones.
The Wii’s speaker is nice, and I think it adds a nice touch to games, but it’s not going to give you the same in-game information and feedback that you get from a decent paid of headphones.
An array of surround sound speakers still give you more.
I’m not even sure why this is a point to be contested.
Because you’re not getting it. The Wii Speaker provides positional feedback that headphones are **incapable ** of simulating. The sound emits from wherever the controller itself is. Hence if I shake it like a maraca (such as in Samba De Amigo), it makes a maraca-type sound which emits from the “maraca” (or the controller) itself. Headphones cannot simulate that.
And again, I’ll add that headphones can, for most practical purposes, only be used by one person at a time.
No you’re not. You’re moving the goalposts here. A wiimote in the environment of a proper surround sound system is going to give a more immersive experience than having top-of-the-line headphones on, because it adds an extra element of audio information to the experience. Ideally, excellent headphones should be offering a 5.1 experience, right? So surround sound + a wiimote would be giving 5.1.1 - with the extra .1 being an interactive speaker.
You’re comparing excellent headphones to a crappy surround (or non-surround) sound system + wiimote. It’s selective and biased.
(Plus, a PS3 wins this argument, because it offers 7.1 LPCM. 
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