Nintendo Screws Up Voice Chat On The Wii U

Posted on Thursday, October 18 @ 11:09:41 Eastern by Anthony Severino

Let me preface this article: I'm buying a Wii U at launch. I see a lot of potential with the GamePad, I think Nintendo TVii is genius, and I honestly cannot wait to play classic Nintendo franchises in HD. And although I don't plan to spend much time playing online multiplayer on it, it pains me to see that Nintendo has already hurt the Wii U's online gaming potential, by making voice chat a real pain in the ass.

The newest, most exciting thing about the Wii U is the touchscreen-enabled GamePad. It's got a lot of tech in the one controller, including NFC, motion sensors, a microphone, and speakers. Except you can't use that built-in mic for voice chat.

The Wii U itself does support voice chat on select games like Call of Duty: Black Ops II and Assassin's Creed III; even the Wii U Deluxe set doesn't include a headset, so you're left to use officially licensed headsets that work through the GamePad's headphone jack.

This Controller is No Pro

The option is there, but here's the problem: The Pro Controller—which was designed specifically for games like Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed—doesn't have a headphone jack like the GamePad does. So if you want to voice chat, you're stuck using the GamePad, which admittedly takes some getting used to to play Black Ops II. It's possible to use the GamePad, and it does have its own set of advantages, but it's not exactly ideal for the hardest of hardcore Black Ops II players.

Those same "Pro" players who'd be better suited to play Black Ops II on the Pro Controller are probably going to play their Black Ops II on the Xbox 360 or PS3 and not the Wii U anyway, but the step forward Nintendo took with the Wii U by allowing for local splitscreen-less multiplayer, just took a giant step back by making voice chat a chore.

It's Time to Cut the Cord

Wireless headsets are possible in theory, either through the console's built-in Bluetooth or via a USB port, but the option isn't available at the moment. Even these first-run officially-licensed headsets only work via the GamePad's headphone jack. What's worse, Nintendo's lack of clarity on everything ensures confusion will ensue.

I know that Nintendo has never really embraced online gaming, but I truly thought that was going to change with the Wii U. And while it still very well may, my faith in them has been challenged by this voice chat blunder.

[Source]

Related Games: Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (Wii U)

Tags: Nintendo, Wii U

Comments

whytenoiz
Joined: Feb 2011

Posted: Oct 18th, 2012 at 12:01 pm
I feel your pain, but honestly, Nintendo has always been the single player-consistently awesome market, and close to that with local multiplayer. The most fun memories for me and I am sure many other gamers where you have people come over and screw around with Mario Party or any other simplistic yet solid local multiplayer games (Lookin at you Smash Bros). XBox and Playstation will probably always have the edge on the loner online gamers, but even in lieu of these few disappointing points of Wii U online multiplayer, I am sure, as you said in the article, Nintendo will address it, or if not, make up for it in its continued consistency of quality games.

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tinymhg
Joined: Jun 2011

Posted: Oct 18th, 2012 at 1:26 pm
Friend Codes. (That tells the tale.)

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ShadeTail
Joined: Nov 2006

Posted: Oct 18th, 2012 at 1:44 pm
So basically, you have to do in-game voice chat pretty much exactly the same way as the other consoles have been doing it.

...What's the problem here?

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Anthony_Severino
Joined: Oct 2010

Posted: Oct 18th, 2012 at 3:35 pm
Such a Nintendo fanboy.

Most in-game voice chat is done by pairing a headset with the console. This is 2012, not 2005 and 2006 when the others launched. And they got it right even back then. Nintendo should have a better handle on something so simple, yet so vital to the online multiplayer space.

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TheJx4
Joined: Jun 2011

Posted: Oct 18th, 2012 at 1:45 pm
So..............what is the bluetooth for? Did I miss something? The controller I assume...

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Jonathan_Leack
Joined: Jan 2012

Posted: Oct 18th, 2012 at 3:55 pm
Mega fail.

Nintendo < Logic < PC

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ShadeTail
Joined: Nov 2006

Posted: Oct 18th, 2012 at 6:48 pm
Again, they're doing it exactly the same way. And you have a problem with this? Apparently, it's OK with other systems, but not OK with Nintendo. That makes *you* the fanboy here. Unlike you, I don't hate on systems for dumb reasons.

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cyberjim2000
Joined: Feb 2010

Posted: Oct 18th, 2012 at 9:19 pm
To be honest, I don't see a problem with this unless you're in a clan. Guess to have the full Call of Duty experience you need to have a kid scream in your ears calling you a noob.

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THEundying27
Joined: Sep 2012

Posted: Oct 18th, 2012 at 10:37 pm
It nevers fails when a disagreement breaks out over a console or a game someone always gets called a ____ fanboy and someone else will chime in and praise the pc. super mega fail

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OdiousLupous
Joined: Jul 2011

Posted: Oct 19th, 2012 at 2:12 pm
This prevents me from comment replies, what sorcery?

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