So Nintendo finally announced a microphone peripheral, sort of. It’s about damn time if you ask me. Any online play up to now has been completely pointless since, without communicating with your opponent, your gaming experience is no different than playing against the computer. Actually, it’s worse when you consider lag and dropped connections.
In a way this is huge for me. I’m a multiplayer guy. I’ve never, ever been the type to sit in a room by myself and play an offline single-player game for any real length of time. Gaming is a social activity to me. Since my wife doesn’t play, I’ve been waiting for a way to game with my friends from across town or across the country (Xbox had this technology in 2002 . . . I’m just flabbergasted that Wii didn’t launch with it.)
On the other hand, I don’t know if it’ll be backwards compatible with games that are already out. It would instantly quadruple my gameplay time and opinion of Mario Kart Wii . . . if they implement it. Being Nintendo, who knows.
And, perhaps worst, it’s not a headset. It’s a speakerphone-type device that sits on top of your tv. Speakerphones traditionally don’t work very well in the first place, and my tv is a good ~12 feet from my couch. I can’t imagine the sound from the game is not going to go straight into the speaker and wreak havoc. Also, what if other people in the house are sleeping or otherwise need quiet? It sounds like a noisy affair.
So, this could be the best news to come out of E3, or another so close, could’a been a contender shovelware flop. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Wii online play was never intended to have strong interaction functionality. There’s a reason MMOs have the disclaimer “Game experience may change during play,” and are reluctant to give an age rating. By limiting the potential interaction with strangers, Nintendo can promise a family-friendly experience most of the time.
I agree that it takes something away from the multiplayer experience, of course, although I was never that keen on voice chat myself.
But Wii has the same disclaimer. I’m not excited about going into a random room full of 12 year olds and listening to them call each other fags. I’m excited about calling my buddies and having a game without the need for them to be sitting in the same room.
I actually really like the Wii Speak concept, and think Ill prefer it to wearing a headset, which can both be easily lost and/or broken (i’ve stepped on my Xbox Live headset god knows how many times).
Plus it will make for a more social experience, with everyone in the room being able to speak – a really clever idea, imo. Of course, this all depends on how it works, but Nintendo’s usually not one to release subpar accessories (thoug supporting them is another matter)