Interesting praise from ars technica this afternoon about the Wii Speak microphone.

All this voice chat was happening courtesy of the USB “Wii Speak” microphone, placed on top of the sensor bar of the demo Wii. What was impressive was that, in a loud room filled with the sounds of many people enjoying their demos, the speaker was able to pick up my voice from around ten feet away as I talked to Mario in a normal speaking voice. I had a comfortable conversation with Martinet, and we had no problems hearing each other or understanding what the other person was saying, even in these less-than-ideal circumstances. In other words, the Wii Speak speaker is a pretty nifty piece of tech.

The Mario voice was provided by none other than Charles Martinet, the voice of Mario, who was hidden away in another room. It’s another Wii accessory, sure, but it works as advertised.