When will WiiWare incorporate WiiSpeak?

I was thinking about picking up the WiiSpeak peripheral, but I'm hesitant because the only game that currently supports it is a game I will likely not play much (I may get it for my neice, who's an AC addict on DS, and I'll likely check it out for a bit). Aside from that, I know there's the WiiSpeak Channel, but I got over the thrill of VOIP long, long ago, so while that's cute, its not really Must-Try! to me.

But I do like voice chat, and it has been sorely missed on the Wii. Take a recent WiiWare title, Cue Sports, for example: lots of fun, great that it offers online multiplayer, but no way of chatting during the often long pauses between shots, or no way of even saying something as simple as "nice shot", etc. Just another in a long line of games that, while not neccesarily impaired by their lack of voice chat, would certainly benefit a great deal from incorporating it.

This got me thinking: other than Animal Crossing & The Conduit, what games are going to support WiiSpeak? I'm sure there are some, perhaps even many, but I know of only these two for sure. More specifically, as I'm sure that most wi-fi games going forward will have this functionality, I'm wondering if/how soon this feature will make its way into WiiWare titles. It took a little while, but the Balance Board finally seems to be getting more WiiWare support (Incredible Maze, Tetris Party, Snowboard Riot). I'm hoping that voice chat is being worked into existing yet-to be released games as I write this, but, I'm just wondering out loud here, how long? If anyone knows of anything leave a comment & link below, I'd love to hear about it, and haven't seen anything yet.

Something else I know little about, but am hopeful is possible, is backwards compatability of Wii/WiiWare titles with the Wii Speak device. While I do think this is possible, and may perhaps happen with a few select titles, I imagine it's a rather large undertaking. There could possibly have to be lines and lines of new code written for each game, and offered as a patch/download, and that's something not every developer or publisher would be willing to do. I wish it were as simple as just upgrading the firmware Oh, if only...

Just some rambling post musing over whether or not to buy the Wii Speak unit. I'm on the fence here, although I think I'm leaning towards waiting for more support. I would love to read some comments on this topic! Of course, if I do pick it up for some reason, I'll post impressions here soon after.

-Kimo

WiiWare kicks off 2009 with...one game?

Having finished the year off strong - in my opinion - with both Cue Sports & MaBoShi's Arcade, I thought that Nintendo was going to roar outta the gates to start the new year off on WiiWare, VC too, but instead it begins with a whimper. I was really expecting Evasive Space on Monday, the neat sci-fi infrared shooter-thingy from High Voltage Software, which is listed as Jan/09, or even Snowboard Riot, also listed as Jan/09, as Hudson just revealed the trailer and a bunch of info & screens from the game last week, along with launching the website for it, all stuff that usually foreshadows a games' release.

But out of nowhere comes the lone WiiWare release of 2009 so far - Sandy Beach from Konami. My response to this was much the same as yours I imagine, and it went something like this: Huh? Having just downloaded in the past couple weeks Fun! Fun! Minigolf, MaBoShi's Arcade, & Cue Sports, plus Super SFII for VC (finally picked up a 2nd Classic Controller on Boxing Day for only $14, so we had to give it a proper testing...), i think I'll be passing on this one, even though it has the benefits of both 1) being made by Konami, and 2) costing only 500 Wii Points.

It looks, well, interesting, but I've got more than enough on my gaming plate right now, not to mention the fridge is stuffed, and I've got food spoiling on the counter - a.k.a.: the Wii's memory is full, and I have games that I haven't even finished, or even played much, just sitting on my SD card, or waiting to be re-downloaded, so I could make room to check something new out.

Yeah, Nintendo, this "better than a hard drive" storage solution that you have in the wings for the new year can't come soon enough, this is getting really annoying to tell ya the truth - although I must admit that with the last firmware update the speed at which I can both download and transfer games between SD/Wii has improved dramatically - and it is honestly, sometimes, the deciding factor in why I don't get some games that come out; I go to buy, only to realise I'm outta room, and I just don't feel like doing any rearranging. I tell you this, even with the large amount of games I've purchased and downloaded for WiiWare (19) & VC (30+) already, I would have even more if I could just download without having to think about it. Hmmm, after reading that last sentence, maybe its a good thing after all...

Well, I may try this cute little game someday, somehow, but not for quite the long, long while I'm sure, as there's already WiiWare games I want to try that have come out ahead of this, and many yet to come out that are very eagerly anticipated (Cave Story, Animales de la Muerte, Gradius ReBirth, Swords & Soldiers, I'm looking at all of you!), or have my interest piqued (Bubble Bobble Wii (I'm a total sucker for anything Bubble Bobble), Battle Poker, LIT, even Snowboard Riot to tell ya the truth - could be a blast with the Balance Board). That's not even mentioning the unknown possibilities the VC has to offer (Kirby 3 was a totally out-of-nowhere surprise too, but not of the jaw-dropping variety), which can always be counted on to drain a few points here and there from me.

Well, here's hoping Nintendo sees fit to up the ante next week from one game per d/l service, unless they drop both a BIG WiiWare &/or VC game (like Smash Bros.). I for one am hoping for Evasive Space again, that looks like a lot of fun. That or the aforementioned Snowboard Riot, as I really want another game for the Balance Board other than Wii Fit & one mode in Tetris Party. Plus, it kind of looks like more fun than Shaun White does - a full retail game! I've got my fingers crossed...

-Kimo