Yes, you will be able to chat with others on Wii U. That being said, the console’s way of handling this is a bit odd.
In-game voice chat functionality works for “select games”, according to Nintendo. Assassin’s Creed III, Call of Duty Black Ops II and Mass Effect 3 should be included in this.
Now, even though the GamePad features a microphone, you can’t use that for voice chat. You’ll need a third-party solution from Turtle Beach or Mad Catz (Tritton) in order for this to work. Players will need to plug in a headset into the GamePad’s headphone jack.
But let’s say you’re interested in Black Ops II. Furthermore, let’s say that you’d prefer to play with the Pro Controller. What happens then?
Basically, the headset will still need to be plugged into the GamePad even though you’re not using it. It may be possible that you can use a standard set of headphones with a mic to use in conjunction with the GamePad, but this hasn’t been confirmed.
According to Turtle Beach, its own product is wired:
“The Wii U supports Bluetooth and can pair with its own accessories, but the officially licensed headsets we produce and offer are wired and designed for use directly with the [GamePad] tablet.”
Nintendo vaguely commented on the possibility of wireless headsets sometime in the future. It seems as though it could happen through a Bluetooth connection or between a headset and a signal connected plugged into a USB port. For now though, wireless solutions aren’t available.
Finally, here are a few additional tidbits about voice chat on Wii U:
– No universal support for in-game voice chat
– Game-by-game support for in-game chat
– The GamePad mic will not, by default, work as an input for in-game voice chat
– The Wii U will support wired headsets (and possibly mic-enabled headphones), but only through the Wii U GamePad
– No news yet about whether wireless headsets can or will be supported
Capcom will be bringing the 3DS version of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate to the eShop next month. The game will be available on December 6 for 3,400 yen.
Nintendo has issued a statement regarding the situation surrounding Foxconn’s employment of children.
The electronics maker admitted yesterday that it “had found some interns at a plant in Yantai, in northeastern Shandong province”, who “were under the legal working age of 16.”
Here’s the statement in full:
“Nintendo is in communication with Foxconn and is investigating the matter. We take our responsibilities as a global company very seriously and are committed to an ethical policy on sourcing, manufacture and labor. In order to ensure the continued fulfillment of our social responsibility throughout our supply chain, we established the Nintendo CSR Procurement Guidelines in July 2008. We require that all production partners, including Foxconn, comply with these Guidelines, which are based on relevant laws, international standards and guidelines. If we were to find that any of our production partners did not meet our guidelines, we would require them to modify their practices according to Nintendo’s policy. For more information about Nintendo’s Corporate Social Responsibility report, please visit http://www.nintendo.co.jp/csr/en/index.html.”
A number of UK retailers are charging more for multiplatform titles on Wii U – mainly when it comes to product from Activision, THQ, Ubisoft.
GAME, Play.com, and Amazon are among the list of sites that are asking for at least £10 more for titles such as Assassin’s Creed III, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and 007 Legends. In one specific case, GAME is asking for an extra £18 over the Xbox 360 version with purchases of Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two.
Zavvi is one of the few retailers keeping pricing similar between consoles. Most of the Wii U’s games that haven’t been out on other platforms for awhile are seeing prices similar to the Xbox 360 versions.
All of this may seem a bit alarming, but there’s no need to worry. IHS Screen Digest games analysis head Piers Harding-Rolls, told CVG, “you can understand why this is happening, and historically you do see this practice with games for new consoles”.
“The higher Wii U games prices are a function of several factors. One is the wholesale price of the games, which you would expect to be relatively higher than the platforms that have been on the market for quite some time. These prices are also driven by the fact that publishers want to protect the long-term positioning of their games, so with new consoles it can be higher. Another major factor is the retailers’ margin. The question is, where do they feel they can position the pricing of the Wii U games? It’s a new platform on the market, so retailers are looking at how much a premium they can price their games at. There are other cost factors. It may be more costly to produce these games, there may be bigger licensing costs to pay to Nintendo at this stage in the cycle.”
You never know where you’ll find the voice of Mario. In this case, Charles Martinet just so happened to appear on an Australian news channel.
Martinet was ready to head home following his appearance at the Australian EB Expo. But strangely, Melbourne Airport came across a “suspicious package”, and Martinet (as well as other passengers) saw his flight delay as the situation was investigated. It was fortunately nothing but a false alarm.
Channel Seven News did stop by to ask a few folks for their thoughts. As it turns out, Martinet appeared on the segment for a tiny bit.
Martinet’s appearance comes early on in the video above, and it’s not very long, so watch closely.
Martinet also wrote the following about the video:
“I did a whole bunch in Mario voice! But they just used the one sentence… I said ‘Australia is numba one!!!!’… the reporter and camera guy were great… but I think their producer just wanted a short thing. Too bad!”
This week’s Nintendo Download includes the following featured content:
Nintendo eShop
- Nintendo 3DS™ Hits Available for Download – Super Mario 3D Land™, The Legend of Zelda™: Ocarina of Time™ 3D, Star Fox 64™ 3D and Mario Kart™ 7 are now available for purchase from the Nintendo eShop at a price of $39.99 each. Select Nintendo 3DS software that is currently available at retail stores will become available in the Nintendo eShop in the future. (For Nintendo 3DS)
- Style Savvy™: Trendsetters – Complete the looks of men and women in your town with your very own full-scale fashion shop. Choose from more than 12,000 clothing items and accessories spanning 19 different brands. Style Savvy: Trendsetters will be available at retail stores and in the Nintendo eShop on Oct. 22. (For Nintendo 3DS)
- Sparkle Snapshots™ 3D – Use your Nintendo 3DS system’s cameras and this software’s easy-to-use camera settings to take 2D pictures, and then personalize your shots any way you want with layers of stickers, ribbons, pens and other 3D effects. (For Nintendo 3DS)
- Moshi Monsters™ Moshlings™ Theme Park (demo version) – Your Monsterific adventure awaits. Help rebuild the theme park and find the lost moshlings. (For Nintendo 3DS)
