Nintendo just announced the Wii Speak, the newest peripheral for its wildly popular console. The Wii Speak is essentially a big microphone that sits atop the sensor bar that attaches to the Wii. It allows you to have a group voice chat with anyone you're playing with, with the mic picking up the voices of everyone playing in the room.

In essence, Nintendo is finally delivering voice chat to the Wii, something that's been sorely missing since its launch. The Xbox 360 comes with headsets and voice chat is all the rage on Xbox Live. The Wii Speak is a small step in the right direction, but the Wii online experience still has a long way to go.

Via Kotaku