Wii Speak Channel Arriving in December

In a press release today, Nintendo announced that the Wii Speak Channel will be made available in December, as a stand-alone chat function for the Wii Speak peripheral, set to launch as a pack-in with Animal Crossing: City Folk.  The channel "will allow friends and family members to chat with one another," and will allow entire rooms to communicate with one another, making the perfect solution for a broken speakerphone.

 

The accessory will retail at $29.99, or packed-in with Animal Crossing: City Folk for $69.99.  But what about the channel?  We can assume this won't be a freebie, based on this tidbit from the release: "The Wii Speak accessory comes with a code that lets users download the Wii Speak Channel from the Wii Shop Channel at no charge."

 

Now, how does that make sense?  If you don't own the accessory, it seems that the channel may cost a few hundred Nintendo Points.  In order to USE the channel, you have to own the accessory.  And if you own the accessory, the channel is free.  This could mean one of a few things:

 

1.  Nintendo is nice and will let third party companies develop their own microphone setup for use with the Wii, so they will still get a profit on the channel itself;

2.  There wasn't a logic-check on this press release.  In fact, the former seems like a possibility, as any company that rolls out with a possible headset for the Wii could make a good chunk of change.

The functionality of the channel itself seems a bit straightforward: enter friend codes, chat with friends, and look at each other's Miis.  But if anyone is paying for this channel, more Mii interactivity would be ideal.  We should be able to expect a plaza-like atmosphere where your Mii could walk around a bit.  But Nintendo most likely will not add too many features; they want to make money on Animal Crossing, after all.

 

For more information, read the full press release. 

How many of you will use this channel?  Or are you waiting for the voice-chat games?