Does the Wiimote have a microphone? I don’t know. Nintendo has denied the possibility of a microphone attachment, but they have not explicitly stated that there will be no microphone support built into the controller. Can the Wiimote have a microphone? Yes. Here’s why.
Many argue that the Wiimote prototype seen at E3 is the final design. While this may be true, even after E3 Shigeru Miyamoto admitted, “We’re still debating on the area of how many buttons to use.” This implies that there was still room for at least some small changes in the design of the controller. However, it isn’t necessary to change the form factor of the controller much to add microphone support. Speakers and microphones aren’t all that different in their makeup, and as many sound enthusiasts will tell you, it is possible to use headphones/speakers as microphones. The quality will likely not be as good as an actual microphone, but it will get the job done. So, if Nintendo decides not to include microphone support, it won’t be because it would require another hefty controller redesign.
Next, let’s assume that the Wiimote adheres to the Bluetooth 1.2 specification, meaning the Wiimotes could reach data transfer speeds of 723.1 kbps. How much bandwith does it take to send audio? According to the Bluetooth specification, using either the continuous variable slope delta (CVSD) modulation codec or the pulse code modulation (PCM) codec [A-law or ยต-law] takes 64 kbps, or less than 9% of the available bandwidth. Of course with Bluetooth 2.0, bandwidth becomes even less of a concern, but even at 723.1 kbps it is difficult to conceive that the controller data would have such a high bandwith requirement. If Nintendo decides to not include a microphone, it won’t be because audio would take too much bandwidth.
Battery life would also be a concern if a microphone were present. Most bluetooth headsets, if used constantly, only last several hours before the need for a recharge. A controller with several hours of battery life, however, would be nearly unusable. Therefore to conserve battery life, most games that would use a microphone might first only accept audio input at certain times and second may require that a button be held while using the microphone . If the mic is only used as needed, the battery draw for using a mic may not greatly impact battery life. If Nintendo decides to not include a microphone, it won’t because of battery drain.
Having said this, I decline to speculate on whether nor not Nintendo may be planning some microphone support. However, for those who state that it is not practical to do so, I’d like to hear the reason.
July 25, 2006 at 3:41 am
Well, that pretty much does it. I will never say they can’t put one in. Well thought out!
Frankly, the idea of holding the Wiimote as a mic and singing into it appeals greatly to me for reasons I can’t quite explain. So if they do in fact put a mic in there, I hope they position it at the end of the remote and not in the middle. Just so I can hold the “mic” the right way.