You can make your favorite Nintendo Wii addict happy this holiday season for the cost of a Charlie Brown Christmas tree.
The Wii console remains expensive and (in many quarters) hard to find on store shelves. But accessories and titles for the Wii are cheap and easy to find.
Nintendo in November will begin rolling out new services and titles for the family-friendly gaming system. Nintendo has a new accessory that will help players enlarge their circle of friends in the Mii community.
The new Wii Speak Channel will bring more of the collaborative and networking experiences that Nintendo has been promising since it released the gaming console.
With Wii Speak, up to four people can chat over the Internet, after swapping their unique "friend codes." Friends can also leave voice messages for one other. They can also create audio captions for a slide show.
While you are chatting online, your Mii (that's your Wii avatar) will appear to be chatting, too. Your purchase of the new Wii Speak microphone (about $30) will come with a code, so you can download the Wii Speak Channel software from the Wii Shop Channel. (The software, once you enter the code, will be free.) Wii Speak goes live Nov. 16.
