Published in Gaming

Voice chat only on selected titles for Wii U

by on19 October 2012

Wii U

No Nintendo-branded headset available yet

While we have been told that the Wii U from Nintendo will support in-game voice chat, what we didn’t know is that there are a few gotchas. The biggest news surrounding voice chat on the Wii U is that it is not universal, and only “selected games” will office voice chat support.

Now what “selected games” means is anyone’s guess, but we can tell you that games with significant multiplayer online will likely offer voice chat; and if the game is also available on the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, then it will offer voice chat support.

As of right now, Nintendo does not offer a Nintendo factory branded headset. Only third party companies are offering compatible headsets, which means that you are going to have to pick one up that is manufactured by Mad Catz or Turtle Beach. No headsets are wireless yet, and you can’t plug them into the Wii U Pro Controller. What this means is you have to plug the wired headset into the Wii U Game Pad controller, even if you are playing the game with the Pro Controller. The Wii U offers no headset port to plug the headset into, but this is a possibility of something that might get added later; and Nintendo may even opt to offer a wireless headset at some point in the future, but not today.

By the way, the default mic on the Game Pad will not work as an input for voice game chat by default. It is on a title by title basis as to what games even get voice chat support. Right now, the only way to connect a mic is by using the mic port on the Game Pad. It’s hard to say what the future may hold for voice chat in the platform.

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