Wii getting VoIP'ed

Nintendo rolls out a VoIP phone for the Wii, with the Wii Speak hardware and a bundle with the "Animal Crossing" game expected to hit shelves in Japan on November 20.

Wii Speak is a pretty simple piece of hardware, plugging into the Wii through a USB jack on one end. There's a grey box in the middle of the cable and a microphone unit that clamps on to a video display. Wii Speak will allow discussions with up to four "rooms" between Animal Crossing users.

Initially, Nintendo managers planned to keep Wii Speak and the "Animal Crossing: City Folk" together as a bundle, but have decided to offer both the game and the WiiSpeak hardware as separate items.

According to Wikipedia, there's also a Wii Speak channel for simple chatting; the new channel will supposedly launch on November 16.  Users will be represented by their "Mii" avatar and the Mii will lip sync to their spoken words. Users will also have the ability to leave audio messages for other users and add audio comments for stored photos.

For more:
- Tech Radar picks up Wii Speak motion on their screens. Article.
- Wikipedia's most recently updated WiiSpeak entry.

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