Wii Speak mic “might not be the gimmick it first appeared to be”
Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 1:59pm by Jack
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.
July 16th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
thats awesome!
July 16th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
It’s jawsome!
July 16th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Yeah, very cool. I hope lots of games utilize this. I would definitely like this better than a headset. I hate playing with a headset on.
July 16th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
seee… jsut like ive been saying to everyone that will listen. its a social comunication solution not like antisocial headsets
July 16th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
So if I read this right…the sound comes out of that device as well? So it’s a dual mic/speaker?
Glad to hear it sounded ok in a room filled with noise. I was expecting the sound to come out the surround sound or TV.
July 16th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Here’s a demo of the WiiSpeak in action if anyone’s curious:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RgRriCJARvU
July 16th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Oh look, Daverage posted a rickroll variant. Hooray for lamest of internet fads!
July 16th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Don’t be jealous Sean….
July 16th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Sounds like it works exactly how it should. I don’t see how this should be a surprise to anyone.
July 16th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Except it was really funny
July 16th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
I’ll believe it when I “hear” it myself. Also, I would appreciate it if they had a headset option. My wife doesn’t want to listen to “my buds”…
July 17th, 2008 at 4:39 am
They DO have a headset option.
See: Headphones/Wireless
July 17th, 2008 at 9:48 am
I know its off-topic, but Ravi’s hair in that youtube clip was strangely hypnotizing….
July 22nd, 2008 at 4:45 pm
I just want the game,I don’t have any friends anyway.