Nintendo has announced it will be releasing a new peripheral which allows users to speak to each other while on the Nintendo Wii, aptly named Wii Speak. The new peripheral has been met with confused faces however as Nintendo didnt announce or show any new system update, allowing players to use the new piece of hardware, but instead showed a video (in-game) of people talking to each other while playing.

Its unclear right now wether this is going to become a standard for the Wii to be used in conjuction with any game, or if its used with certain games in specific times. One of the best features i think of the Xbox 360’s voice communications is i can speak to a friend while doing something else entirely and i think if Nintendo doesnt have similar functionality, a lot of gamers will think they’ve dropped the ball.

While Wii Speak doesnt yet have a price or date for the UK, we can say it sits ontop of the sensor bar and connects via the USB ports at the back of the Wii (finally the USB ports have a use!). Check back here later for more information as it comes.