Nintendo Fights Used Sales with New-only Wii Speak Channel

Nintendo's voice chat accessory Wii Speak releases on November 16 alongside the village life sim Animal Crossing: City Folk, but the Wii Speak Channel, the software that allows voice chat without playing any game in particular, won't be available to gamers who buy the accessory used.

MTV Multiplayer received a press copy of the latest Animal Crossing, bundled with the voice chat peripheral, and found that attached was a Wii Download Ticket Number, a 16-digit code to be used to download the Wii Speak Channel.

The code "cannot be replaced by Nintendo or your retailer if it is lost or stolen," meaning that there will be one download code for every new Wii Speak microphone.

A Nintendo representative confirmed to MTV that the Wii Speak Channel won't be available in the Wii Shop Channel for purchase. While in-game voice chat for supported games will still work on a used device, it does mean that one of the accessory's major functions will be restricted to those who buy the hardware new.

While Nintendo has not stated its intentions, the move reflects a subtle jab at the used games trade, which is controversial for leaving game companies' potential profits in the hands of retailers. Publishers and developers have started to fight back by new-copies-only DLC and they may be at work on more radical methods.