US, April 12, 2007 - Ever since the revealing of the Nintendo DS system, people constantly poked at the headphone jack and wondered why the heck there was an extra little square next to the usual eighth-inch port. It wasn't a mystery that it would be used for an external microphone peripheral, since it pretty much looked identical to headphone/mic jacks used on voice recorders for years.
But it's taken Nintendo of America more than two years to "officially" address this port on its Nintendo DS handheld. Oh, sure, there have been third-party headsets that provided both output and input audio function, but this is Nintendo, people. When Pokemon Diamond and Pearl hits the scene on April 22nd, the company will also release the aptly branded "Nintendo DS Headset" for one of the key functions of the Pokemon experience: voice chat with friends over the internet.
Once you break through the impenetrable shield that is the plastic shell preventing retail theft, you're left with a pretty barebones cardboard box housing the Nintendo DS Headset.
Inside, you get the actual device in a poly bag, and a "how to wear/how to plug it in" instruction card in English, French, and Spanish languages.
The unit itself is a rather simplistic device, not nearly as ergonomically designed as hands-free headsets made for mobile phones, more made for the wear and tear of the younger crowd.
The build is similar to the wireless headset made by Microsoft for the Xbox 360, but where Microsoft added the comfort of bendable rubber for the ear and foam padding for the ear canal, Nintendo simply went all plastic and no padding. Oh, and there's a wire, too.
The "C" piece fits over the ear, which places the "speaker" of the headset over the ear canal. The microphone juts towards the mouth, which can be adjusted up and down by a physical swivel that locks in the extremes, but stays in place anywhere between them. Further adjustments can be made to the actual microphone boom by bending it like a wire.
Like any hands-free set it takes a little bit of adjusting to get it to sit both comfortably and snugly on the ear. It can go on either ear, but the logo's position on the device tells us that it's meant for the left ear first. If you want it on the right ear, you'll have to deal with the Nintendo DS logo being upside down.
Since the device plugs into the headphone jack, ALL Nintendo DS sounds come through the earpiece. Since it's a mono and unpowered "speaker" this thing's not made to be a replacement for a real headphone set, and because it doesn't cover over your ear it doesn't do a good job of blocking out external sounds. But you can still hear the Nintendo DS audio through it in normal conditions...just don't expect to hear anyone if you're in loud locations like an airport.
When it's plugged in, the Nintendo DS system microphone becomes disabled and all sounds recorded will be through the headset's mic. We tested it with a few of the microphone-compatible games like Metroid Prime Hunters, Diddy Kong Racing, and Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam, and the recording quality is about the same if you were speaking right into the system's mic. If anything, it felt so good to finally talk using the DS without bringing the unit all the way up to your mouth, or hunching over to speak into the unit like an idiot.
The device will work with any game that uses the microphone on the system -- on the package it promotes Pokemon Diamond/Pearl, Nintendogs, Brain Age, and Metroid Prime Hunters, but any game that features "blowing" or voice recording will work. It will not let you voice chat in games that don't have that feature, so don't expect miracles.
The DS Lite headset will ship in late April for $14.99. It's meant as a supplement to the Pokemon experience...you can still chat over the internet without it. This just adds an extra level of convenience.
Submitted by Azza123
13/04/2007
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