Unused "audio translator" revealed in Wiimote

It looks like those early rumors of various voice capabilities in the Wiimote may not have been too far off the mark after all, as a recent CNN/Fortune feature has now revealed that the remote actually contains some of the necessary hardware, although it's so far gone unused. Specifically, the Wiimote packs a $2 chip described as an "audio translator," which CNN says "converts analog data such as human speech into a digital data stream." That would obviously also require a microphone, one of which has already been announced, although that one (designed for use with EA's forthcoming Boogie game) will apparently connect directly to the Wii's USB port, not the Wiimote itself. Still, given what Nintendo's apparently spent on this particular capability, it doesn't seem likely that it'll go unused for too much longer.

[Via Joystiq]

[cmonkey @ Jun 1st 2007 6:19PM]

I doubt Nintendo spent $2 on a simple ADC. It probably cost much less in bulk quantities.

[akijikan @ Jun 1st 2007 6:23PM]

CNN broke this? imagine that

[Puddlglum @ Jun 1st 2007 6:25PM]

Detects the sound of breaking glass and plays the "Game over man, Game over" clip.

[Matthew Pearce @ Jun 1st 2007 6:28PM]

CNN is jumping to conclusions.

It is a generic analog-to-digital converter used to read the gyroscope data. The manufacturer meerly *suggests* that one could use it with a microphone input.

Nintendo doesn't throw in random components that they don't need.

[idioth @ Jun 1st 2007 6:29PM]

it's an audio DECODER, not an audio ENCODER. it converts digital audio data from the console into the analog audio signal for the internal speaker.

[William @ Jun 1st 2007 7:26PM]

you're absolutely right, good spot

[Kyle @ Jun 1st 2007 7:13PM]

Actually, Nintendo does throw in components that it doesn't use. Take the first NES for example. On the bottom, there was a port on the bottom of the console that was always called the mystery expansion. As it turns out there are plenty of rumors that had to do with: a modem expansion in 1991 having to do with the lottery, hard-disk expansion, and some kind of multi-player gig. Who knows? Maybe Nintendo would decide to actually use this in later games or applications.

[Reginald @ Jun 2nd 2007 2:56AM]

...Also the Super NES had an unused expansion port on the bottom that was supposedly for a CD-ROM that was being developed by Sony (which led to the PSX).

[Kyle @ Jun 2nd 2007 12:46PM]

Yes, I came across this on wikipedia a while back. It's astounding.

[some person @ Jun 1st 2007 7:50PM]

Expect a microphone attachment sometime soon :P

[TeddyN @ Jun 1st 2007 7:56PM]

It would make sense to have something like this... After all, so does the DS.

[Tom @ Jun 1st 2007 8:22PM]

It translates Glorbloxian to English so that we can have bigger and better nuclear wars with space aliens.

[Phour ZwanZig @ Jun 1st 2007 9:36PM]

And to add to what Kyle said..

My SNES, I just went and looked at it, has an extra.. but i think it got used with some gameboy player.. Cant remember for sure if it attached to the SNES or was a Cart. form..

but my GameCube(which i just sold) had 3 ports if I remember correctly, 1 was for a network adapter and the other 2 are serial connections(label'd 1 & 2)

And they arent the only ones.. I can think back to many things that get extras that end up never gettin used.. Like the iLink on the PS2.. Not sure but I dont think it ever made it to the PStwo..


Just thought Id add that..

[Matthew Pearce @ Jun 1st 2007 11:01PM]

All of the ports on Nintendo systems have uses, most people just aren't aware of some of them.

On the NES, the port attached to the Famicom Disk Drive.

On the SNES, the port attached to the Broadcast Satellaview and the unreleased CD add-on.

On the N64, the port attached to the DD64.

On the GameCube, one port was for the modem, one for the Game Boy Player, and the other is used for development purposes (I believe JTAG is accessible from it as well).

Leaving unused components on a board is different than leaving externally accessible ports for future expansions anyway.

[Aaron @ Jun 2nd 2007 9:41AM]

I wouldn't quite call them "uses" if we never got to, you know, use them. With the exception of the GameCube add-ons, none of that stuff made it to the US. Considering two of those boxes were entirely different shapes than their Japanese counterparts, I've always wondered why they left the ports on there...

[Matthew Pearce @ Jun 1st 2007 11:02PM]

And the iLink on the PS2 can be used for networking consoles together.

[O B McCracken @ Jun 1st 2007 11:28PM]

I would like to see a second source confirm this. It could be true but for all the hardcore modders to not find this and CNN to find it, is a bit convenient.
Anyway...If it is true, expect an OEM version of the mic soon :D

[G-Bot @ Jun 1st 2007 11:55PM]

It is used for sucking more money out of people's wallets. It connects directly to a cellular response unit, that will make lame excuses to your boss automatically while you are Wii-fishing or whatever in the hell this POS is used for.

[Matthew Pearce @ Jun 2nd 2007 8:22PM]

@Aaron: You were using them as an argument to say that Nintendo does leave useless components in their systems. They clearly do have uses in certain situations. Why does it matter whether they were useful to you? They were all used at some point, and were therefore not "useless".

[anescient @ Jun 2nd 2007 11:32AM]

It's just part of the speaker circuit.
CNN is about as useful an information source as that guy at the office that -almost- finished college.

[hashedz @ Jun 12th 2007 10:21AM]

You mean that dope smoking, booze swilling a$$hole.
The guy who totally knows all that goes on around him, and plays the office politics game to his full advantage.
In other words, your boss?

[Matt @ Jun 2nd 2007 5:18PM]

Nintendo needs to make the Wii compatible with BlueTooth headsets. No need for wires, right?

[Aaron @ Jun 3rd 2007 12:31AM]

The North American and Japanese versions of the NES and SNES looked a lot different, even the cartridges, so I would consider them to be different machines. It's not like you could take your American SNES and bring it on over to Japan and plug in those Super Famicom accessories, so no, in no situation were those ports used. That does make them useless. I don't fault them for leaving their options open, but seriously -- they were never used.