Customer Reviews

Official Wii Speak Microphone

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

I love the wii speak microphone. You can hear everyone in the room clearly. The quality is great. And it's nice that you don't need a headset, which can become uncomfortable and you can only hear one person talking. Talking is much easier to communicate with someone. Typing with the wiimote becomes tedious and is less fun then actually speaking to someone. If you get a keyboard to help speed up your typing, which runs for about $40 or $50 compared to $30 for the mic or $20 if you buy the bundle with Animal Crossing, It's still not as efficient and fun as the microphone. Having a keyboard is just another "controller" you have to worry about. You can't play and talk at the same time like you can with the mic.

If you are going to get animal crossing anyways, I highly recommend the mic. If you have no interest in the game, I would wait to see what the wii speak channel is like, since it's not even up yet. So buying it without animal crossings is useless at this point. And also if you aren't going to buy AC then I would wait to see what other games are compatible with it. Hopefully Nintendo will fully embrace the mic. It will add a lot more playing value to games if it does.

We purchased this to use with Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. As many other reviewers have stated, this item is completely worthless for this purpose. We have tried various settings, moving of objects, eliminating any possible sound conflicts, moving our furniture and people placement in the room, screaming and soft-talking...NOTHING results in this item functioning, even remotely, to its purpose. I believe this item is not a viable product. It should never have been put on the market. Do not buy this product...save yourself the headache.

I bought this to use with the Jeopardy game. It was a total waste of money. The game has a very difficult time understanding what you're saying. You have to speak painfully slow and very loud, there can't be ANY background noise, and you usually have to repeat yourself many times. I tried several different setups and it never got any better.

Plus, the game is multiple choice when using the Wii Speak, regardless of difficulty level. This kind-of defeats the purpose of using the Wii Speak on Jeopardy in the first place. I was hoping to be able to call out the answers without multiple choice prompts, but it would be impossible since it usually can't even tell what you're saying when there are only 3 choices.

I don't know how well it works with other games, but don't bother if you're thinking about getting it for Jeopardy.

A must have for anyone that owns Wii Animal Crossing. Great sound quality, large audio range and extremely easy to install (Wii USB port). You must be able to connect to WiFi in order to use this. It allows you to talk with friends and players from all over the world right from your living room with no need for a mic and headset.

Besides Animal Crossing series, Wii Speak Channel will allow up to 4 different location users to connect with each other even without the Animal Crossing software. You are provided with a Wii Download Ticket with a unique number. The ticket, which can be redeemed via the Wii Shop Channel, will enable the user to download the Wii Speak Channel free of charge to a single Wii console. Via the Wii Speak Channel, you will be able to use your Mii and leave voice messages to your friends, share photos and have normal conversation just like if you were on the phone.

I can't wait to see what other games Nintendo Wii will come up with to work with the Wii speak.

I just received my Wii Speak microphone today. I hooked it up, which just consisted of plugging it into one of the usb slots on the back of the Wii, and immediatly went on Animal Crossing City Folk and began chatting with some of my friends. It's so much fun to get to hear what some of the people sound like, espicially those who may be from a different country. I played the game for 2 weeks without the microphone and it was nowhere near as much fun. It was a pain to always have to type in what I wanted to say with the remote and in the limited space they give you to type in. It's so nice to just be able to talk and keep playing. It really added to the experience of the game and made it even more fun. I would highly recommend this item to anybody who thinks they are going to play the game over wifi. The only downfall I've found so far is if somebody has their television turned up too loud, you get some echo and it sometimes sounds like they are talking through a tin can. Most of the time though, it was plenty loud enough and very clear.

I am usually quite thorough about researching products before I buy them. I was excited about the Wheel of Fortune game I received for Christmas, but a little frustrated with using the remote to select letters. The WoF game packaging recommended Wii Speak and I was dying to get it and try it out to improve the game play. The Wii Speak seemed kind of expensive so I checked out a few websites and compared prices a bit, finally deciding to buy through Amazon Marketplace.

Got it today (super fast shipping), hooked it up and we tried to use it....how disappointing!! We had to shout at the mic in order for it to register. Then the letters we called out weren't recognized properly, then the game presents the letters it "thought" you said, which is hit or miss at best. Forget about having it recognize actual words! We sat within 6 feet of the microphone, well within the recommended 3-9', but it still failed miserably.

After our experience, I did some additional research online and found that Nintendo has "reduced availablilty" of this product, now recommend using 3rd party products and they intend to pull the Wii Speak off the market "unless consumer demand improves". I wish I had the option of returning this item, I would do so in a heartbeat! Incidentally, today I noticed that both Best Buy and Walmart have removed this item, and now Amazon only has it available through the marketplace resellers. Hindsight is 20/20 on this one! Don't waste your money!

I can't speak for myself on this one. My kids have been playing with the Wiispeak since I set it up for them a few days ago. They have several friends they run around on City Folk with and yak yak yak. They even play with it when they aren't playing Animal Crossing. They leave messages for their friends and stuff like that. There is a chat room they can get in and talk. Perfect for tweeners I would assume as you could let them talk to their friends and not tie up your phone! Works perfect.

I purchased the microphone so my daughter could really play Wheel of Fortune like she saw on tv. It was truly a pathetic experience. After the first two rounds we stopped and removed the microphone. It repeatedly gave us the message it didn't understand us or the wrong letter was chosen. We tried speaking normally and we also yelled. We sat on the couch some feet away and we stood right in front of the microphone. It was very frustrating. It may be great for around the world conversations but it is awful if you want to play a game.

We bought this to use with Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. The device was easy to install, but really hasn't added that much to the game. When a voice command is not understood (frequent), you are presented a multiple choice list of what the Wii thinks you might have said. The use of the wii speak really slows down the play of a game. We find that we do most commands with the paddles and only occasionally speak to the microphone.

I am only giving this item one star because there is nothing less available to give it. I purchased the unit for Wheel of Fortune. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS FOLKS! You have to scream at the tv for it to work and any letters that sound alike cause "issues" for the device and it can't interpret what you said. So let's see...that includes b, c, d, e, g, p, t, v, and z. Then it places letters in on it's own. "Yes, there are three G's". Well that's great, but I said H. I had laryngitis from yelling at the screen. Can't emphasize enough, don't waste your money on this item.