Nintendo plans to block resale of Wii Speak peripheral @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on November 13, 2008

News: Weak sauce Nintendo, weak sauce.

The MTV Multiplayer blog (which is really turning into a treasure trove of great game news) has discovered that Nintendo's Wii Speak peripheral needs to be activated with a one-time use code found in the box. What this means is that the Wii Speak cannot be resold as the activation code cannot be transferred.

The Wii Speak peripheral is a peripheral that is a combination microphone and speaker that adds voice chat to the Nintendo Wii and selected games (right now, Animal Crossing: City Folk is the only supported game). Inside the Wii Speak box is a "Wii Download Ticket Number" that can be used to download the Wii Speak Channel. According to the article, the fine print of the Wii Speak's documentation states "The Wii Download Ticket Number cannot be replaced by Nintendo or your retailer if it is lost or stolen." So basically, this also means that if Nintendo forgets to pack the code in with your Wii Speak, you're out of luck.

This also means that Wii Speak owners will not be able to bring the peripheral to their friend's house without lugging their Wii console along as the standalone Wii Speak Channel cannot be downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel.

Nintendo has been doing a lot of things right in the last few years, but this Wii Speak business is just inexcusable. If you want to let them know just how much this bothers you, here is the contact information for Nintendo of America.