Wii Speak – Speaker Phone

Nintendo’s press coverage is on the move, currently they’ve demonstrated Wii Speak which will allow voice chat on your Nintendo Wii console. Although the Xbox 360 has had voice chat since its day one release, Nintendo is bringing it in a new unique way: community chat.

Basically, the device which will go on top of the Wii sensor bar will allow everyone in the room to talk to everyone in the room on another Wii. Where you need a headset on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this will give the entire room a chance to chat along.

Having a speaker phone style behavior is neat, but what about when everyone is asleep and you want to play a network game with a buddy? Will the device pickup a whisper across the room? Perhaps a speaker attachment will be announced later, but for now… you’re going to be conference calling with everyone in the game room.

(Thanks, Kotaku)

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A Nintendo WiFi Router for The DS and Wii… Really?A Nintendo WiFi Router for The DS and Wii… Really?

In a slightly odd move, Nintendo has released a WiFi Router in Japan marketed to streamline the process of getting your Wii Online. What?

First, we’re not exactly sure who’s having a problem connecting their Wii to the network, it’s a fairly simple process executed by most popular WiFi routers on the market. We have never seen reports of Linksys, Netgear or the Apple Airport having any issues with connecting Wii consoles to the Internet, like the plans offered by compareyourbusinesscosts.co.uk/, for playing games.

In many gamers minds, the process could be streamlined by removing Wii codes and providing a community style interface on the Wii over creating a hardware platform for network connectivity. It is supposed to serve as a router or as a bridge to connect to a pre-existing router in your network, we’re guessing to provide the “WiFi” access.

Many consumer grade routers, today, have WiFi built into them; what does the Wii‘s router providing which we don’t already have? Maybe special flow-control to understand the Wii protocols better, much like an “Xbox Live Compatible” router may have? Not really sure at this point.

(Thanks, 1up)

Episode 253: Future GenerationEpisode 253: Future Generation

This week, Paul is still not available, which is unfortunate, since the Gaming Flashback is the classic DuckTales for the NES. There’s also a bunch of scintillating news items including:

  • Pachter: Nintendo “Blew It” With Wii U, “In Disarray”
  • Bethesda hiring talent for Xbox 720, PlayStation 4 game
  • EA reveals Mass Effect 3 preorders well ahead of Mass Effect 2‘s
  • Pachter: Next generation Sony and Microsoft consoles will have 4GB SKU
  • Sony filed patent For Kinect-like motion device
  • PSN Minis not working on Vita

We also reveal the winner of the Pixie Diamonds contest.

Red Steel 2 and Wii Motion PlusRed Steel 2 and Wii Motion Plus

In an “unexpected” move, Ubisoft has opted to utilize the 1:1 accuracy of the Wii Motion Plus add-on device for the Wii remote in their next Red Steel sequel, currently called Red Steel 2. It may be most gamers consider this an unexpected move because they thought the series would be dead after the first launch title.

Red Steel was plagued with motion issues, making it a very unexceptable demonstration of the Wii control scheme. Luckily other titles arrived to show off how the controls were supposed to work; Ubisoft tried to make a hit FPS title using innovative control methods but came up a bit short.

This time, they’re hoping to redeem themselves by having the additional resolution of the new controller device, risking their reputation for a second time on Nintendo’s hardware.

“What was missing was the preciseness of the sabre,” Corre said of the first game, “and with this new device, I think it will change the experience.” (1up)

Although many gamers missed the first Red Steel experience because word about the horrid controls hit the streets quickly, this might be a chance to try the series one final time before giving up on it. In Ubisoft’s defense, the US market is very finicky about their first person shooters which helps explain higher reviews in Europe for the original title.

The games controls were tweaked after E3 2006 when people found it lack luster in performance and ability to mimick the users real moves when sword fighting. Ubisoft said it was because they received the Wii controller prototypes one month before the expo.

Will Ubisoft get the Wii Motion Plus in time to put out a highly polished game showing off Nintendo’s new hardware or will this be a second strike against the franchise? Only time will tell.