Again, I just can't facepalm enough at some of these dumb decisions.
Why not put in game chat? There is absolutely no reason to NOT give people the option. Just put it in there with the MUTE option. If you don't want hear anyone, just press that beautiful button and BAM, no one's talking. But if you do want to chat, you then have the option to talk with friends as well as people in the lobby you are playing against. Why does Nintendo want to decide if I should be able to talk to others or not? I can decide that for myself.
As for children and those who NEVER want to talk to anyone online, just turn off voice chat options entirely in parental controls. This was available on 360, so I can't see why it can't be present in a "next-gen" console. Nintendo seriously needs to get with the times.
