We’re still trying to confirm whether this is also the case in the UK. But reports from the US are that Nintendo has effectively locked access to its Wii Speak Channel to purchasers of new Nintendo Wii Speak peripherals only, nobbling the secondhand market in the accessory.
“A pamphlet packaged with the peripheral includes a ‘Wii Download Ticket Number’, to be used for downloading the Wii Speak Channel. This code ‘cannot be replaced by Nintendo or your retailer if it is lost or stolen’, says MTV Multiplayer blog’s Stephen Totilo.
“A Nintendo rep clarified that the channel won’t be able to be downloaded through any other means. You won’t be able to get it off the Wii Shopping Channel manually, nor would you be able to buy it. Essentially, the Wii Speak Channel will be available to new purchasers of the Wii Speak mic and that’s it.”
The peripheral, an omnidirectional microphone placed next to your TV that lets you do voice-over-IP Internet chat from your room of Wii gamers to any other Wii with a Wii Speak. It is due out in December in the UK with Animal Crossing: Let’s Go To The City. Totilo believes that chat in-game will not be restricted by the code, but only non-game chat in the Wii Speak Channel.
Games companies are becoming increasingly upset over the market in secondhand games and are seeking to restrict it in various ways. Despite being in a much worse financial state, the music industry, books etc. haven’t sought any such similar measures. And all the measures the games industry have tried so far, barring Steam’s successful PC service, have met with heavy resistance.
Animal Crossing: Let’s Go To The City with Wii Speak out 5 Dec | £60 | Nintendo
clowns.