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Posts with tag wii-speak

Amazon opens WiiSpeak preorders

Posted Sep 10th 2008 3:34PM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: News, Nintendo Wi-Fi, Peripherals


WiiSpeak isn't the kind of thing we can imagine selling in Wii Fit quantities, but it's getting hard to tell nowadays. Maybe the microphone add-on and Animal Crossing: City Folk will be overshadowed by the other big first-party release of November, and supplies will be plentiful, but why take the risk? You can now preorder your own WiiSpeak at Amazon, and rest assured that you'll be able to bitch behind Nook's back with your Wii Friends from day one. Hang around now, and you may be confined to the keyboard.

[Update: Removed potentially confusing comment]

Gallery: Animal Crossing: City Folk


[Via Punch Jump]

Wii Warm Up: Who's getting WiiSpeak?

Posted Sep 10th 2008 8:00AM by David Hinkle
Filed under: Wii Warm Up


With the buzz around a $69.99 Animal Crossing bundle that will include the peripheral, we were just wondering how many of you are actually looking to pick up the device? Can't wait to chat with your friends while fishing or digging holes? Could care less about WiiSpeak? Or are you planning on getting it for The Conduit?

Deceptively new scans of Animal Crossing

Posted Sep 3rd 2008 1:38PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: Imports, Screens


The problem with showing new images of Animal Crossing: City Folk is that, unless the screens happen to feature the new city environment, what you see ends up looking pretty much exactly like the original Crossing. Only subtle clues point to the newness, such as the lack of hats, the different clock, and, oh yeah, two player characters onscreen together. It's still very important, and it's still really exciting, it just -- happens to look a lot like Animal Crossing!

We wouldn't want it any other way. We're ready to start it all again -- picking fruit, paying off Tom Nook, meeting new neighbors, filling our catalog, pulling weeds, the whole thing. This time, we'll be able to enjoy the game over some friendly conversation!

Latest Nintendo Power dishes out new Animal Crossing details, including DS-to-Wii functionality

Posted Aug 22nd 2008 11:55AM by David Hinkle
Filed under: News


For many, Animal Crossing: City Folk looks a lot like the original GameCube game, both from a presentation standpoint and included features. Sure, Animal Crossing: City Folk has some new stuff, but none of it is really that innovative or indicative of the franchise going into any kind of new direction. It's basically the equivalent to treading water. But, it turns out that popular opinion may not be justified, as some new details regarding the game can be found in the upcoming issue of Nintendo Power.

First of all, those of you who spent time with Animal Crossing: Wild World on the DS, you can transfer your avatar over to the new game. Another cool DS-to-Wii feature will allow you to "take your travel data and download it to your DS." We've no idea what that will entail exactly, but it sounds promising.

As for the Wii game, the holiday-themed events will be returning. Jingle the Reindeer will be back for Toy Day and a new character, Zipper T. Bunny, will make an appearance for Bunny Day. Sound promising!

Gallery: Animal Crossing: City Folk

Continue reading Latest Nintendo Power dishes out new Animal Crossing details, including DS-to-Wii functionality

MotionPlus to be 'very affordable,' Wii add-ons curtailed for now

Posted Aug 4th 2008 1:48PM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: News, Interviews, Peripherals


The Wii has long been heralded as the cheapest console out there, but that claim soon weakens if you want to own every add-on that is available for the platform. Nintendo seems to recognize that Wii ownership is getting increasingly pricey, and now company bossman Satoru Iwata has said: no more add-ons!

Okay, so he didn't quite make that promise. But Iwata has told the Wall Street Journal that "most of the ideas for accessories that we had initially come up with are out now." If you can hear sighing, that'll be our wallets, though don't get comfy right away: Iwata has warned that Nintendo might think up more, presumably once the company's bank balance has dipped below the danger level of one trillion-gazillion* dollars.

Iwata also confirmed that Nintendo would try and make the Wii MotionPlus "very affordable," an attainable goal considering that the add-on is apparently cheap to make. There will also be games that can only be played with a MotionPlus plugged in -- beginning, we'd assume, with Wii Sports Resort.

* Possibly not a real number.

Gallery: Wii Sports Resort


[Via Edge; thanks, supa_s!]

E308: Wii Fanboy's E3 Endgame Evaluation

Posted Jul 19th 2008 11:10PM by Alisha Karabinus
Filed under: Meta


In the second year of the newly revamped show, Nintendo released a few much-desired games, as well as a pair of incredible peripherals, and yet, there seemed to be something missing. Much of the show's excitement came from third parties (on my Nintendo Wii?), and some found Nintendo's announcements disappointing. Whatever your reaction, we're sure we can all agree on one thing: there was a ton of news and a flood of media. Luckily, you can revisit it all right here (even the week's most outrageous story, which wasn't even from E3).

We've listed a few of the show's highlights below, but for the full index of all our 2008 E3 coverage, hit the break. We still have a few items rolling in, and we'll be updating the index as that happens. Check back with us over the next few days by clicking the E3 sidebar graphic.


A new Pikmin sprouts!
Animal Crossing: City Folk confirmed
The Conduit will use WiiSpeak
Wii Sports Resort announced (and Wii MotionPlus!)
Mega Man 9 feels more like a 10
Wii Fanboy bats-on with Mario Super Sluggers
Animal Crossing to support keyboards, save fruit-picking time
Wii Fanboy hands-on with Wii Sports Resort

Continue reading E308: Wii Fanboy's E3 Endgame Evaluation

E308: Live highlights from Nintendo's private conference

Posted Jul 16th 2008 9:03PM by Candace Savino
Filed under: News

Did yesterday's Nintendo keynote leave you wanting more? Well, pipe down already -- you're getting more. The company is holding a private conference, and our very own JC Fletcher is invited to the party. Since you can't be there, we'll be posting JC's highlights right here, live. We hope your F5 buttons and refresh fingers are ready, because the word on the street is that something big is going to be revealed. Of course, that could just be disgruntled fans' hopes evolving into a rumor, but we'd like to believe that's not the case. We'd hate to be disappointed by the big N two days in a row, after all.

If we hear something big (or not so big), don't worry, you'll be the first to know (well, uh, after us).

Update: So far it looks like the same stuff from the keynote. Katsuya Eguchi takes the floor.

Continue reading E308: Live highlights from Nintendo's private conference

E308: WiiSpeak to be sold separately for $29.99

Posted Jul 15th 2008 7:15PM by Eric Caoili
Filed under: News



We hope you didn't get your hopes up by thinking that the Wii's newly revealed "room-to-room" microphone peripheral, WiiSpeak, would be bundled with copies of Animal Crossing: City Folk! No, Nintendo loves making money much too much, and they have to pay for that 800-foot wire somehow.

According to a press release put out by Nintendo earlier today, the WiiSpeak microphone will be sold separately for $29.99. You could buy a DS game for that kind of cash! Maybe even two DS games, if you follow our sales posts!

If that price point is too rich for your blood, you need not worry about missing out on City Folk's voice communication features, as we're sure several dozen Chinese accessory manufacturers will step up and release a slew of cheaper, ridiculously shaped microphone solutions soon enough.

For comparison, Microsoft's MSRP for its official Xbox 360 Wireless Headset is $59.99, and Sony's official Bluetooth PS3 Headset (bundled with SOCOM: Confrontation) is rumored to be $49.99 as a standalone product. Of course, both of those accessories boast more advanced technology than WiiSpeak, and both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 have much cheaper third-party solutions.

[Thanks, Kongo!]

E308: WiiSpeak brings yet another power brick to the table?

Posted Jul 15th 2008 6:30PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: Peripherals


When the WiiSpeak peripheral was unveiled for Animal Crossing: City Folk, we were happy to finally get voice chat on our Wii. But, a curious slide at the conclusion of Nintendo's E3 keynote showed the device has a very peculiar brick-like adapter that the USB end's cable plugs into. Now, we're assuming this is just a power brick, but you know what your school teachers told you about assuming!

At least one thing is certain: the thing has enough cable to wrap around Nintendo HQ many times over.

E308: Wii Fanboy reacts to Nintendo's keynote [update]

Posted Jul 15th 2008 6:00PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: Features, Meta


[Updated: Now with JC talking about things!]

With so many highlights from this year's Nintendo E3 keynote, we're finding our live chat wasn't enough to cover our thoughts and opinions on what was shown. So, below, you'll find some impressions akin to what we did last year. Enjoy.

Continue reading E308: Wii Fanboy reacts to Nintendo's keynote [update]

E308: Highlights from Nintendo's keynote

Posted Jul 15th 2008 1:50PM by Alisha Karabinus
Filed under: News


This year's Nintendo conference at E3 felt much too short, but was packed with some really great announcements ... like Wii Speak! But in case you missed the show, or simply prefer an abridged version, here are the highlights. Read our live reactions here, or check out Joystiq's live blog if you're feeling adventurous.
  • Shaun White Snowboarding demonstration (with Shaun White!), and a lot of stuff we already knew about the Ubisoft title, such as release window and the fact that it uses the Balance Board. Unsurprisingly, no mention of the abhorrent graphics.
  • Animal Crossing: City Folk! With multiplayer, auctions, Mii masks, and voice chat.
  • Wii Speak: megatonik peripheral that adds voice chat to the Wii.
  • Wii Sports Resort takes you to the beach ... with Wii MotionPlus.
  • Wii Music to release this year, with Balance Board support and a metric ton of instruments.
No Zelda, no Kid Icarus, no Pikmin ... how sad. But we did get voice chat, and it's hard to complain about that addition.

E308: WiiSpeak peripheral coming

Posted Jul 15th 2008 12:40PM by Candace Savino
Filed under: News, Peripherals

Voice chat, here we come. It looks like Reggie wasn't just dangling carrots when he talked about the feature coming to the Wii at some point.

In Nintendo's expected announcement of Animal Crossing Wii, the company added something unexpected: players will be able to use a peripheral known as WiiSpeak to communicate (non-locally, of course) during the game.

The video demonstration briefly showed four players playing Animal Crossing on the Wii while "WiiSpeaking" to each other. We think it's about time that Nintendo got on the voice chat train, and we'll let you know more about the peripheral and how it works as details arise.

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