The image you see on the left is the mic that came with the PS2 game, The X Factor Sing.
As I mentioned in a previous post, the Wiimote has an audio translator chip inside which enables certain audio such as the human voice to be converted into data that can be read by whatever software is running at the time. It was said that the upcoming title from EA, Boogie was going to have a mic to use in the game, what wasn’t said that the mic was going to be exactly the same as the ‘X Factor’ mic, but with an EA sticker on it.
Now, the mic you see on the right (click either image for a bigger version) is the proposed mic that will be used on the Wii to play Boogie. Note the similarities between the two, in fact, you could say it was the same mic.
No, I haven’t ‘Photoshopped’ anything, the mic on the left is a photo taken by me as I own The X Factor Sing for the PlayStation 2 (if you have Action Replay MAX, you’ll find my save with all the vids unlocked in the Online Database) and that was the mic bundled with it. The mic in the little pic on the right is from Revogamers (Spanish site dedicated to Wii news) and I’m wondering just how many other things EA are going to be ripping off with this game!
That character is so based on Spongebob’s best friend, Patrick Star. As much as EA would no doubt deny it, the mic and certain aspects of the game are taken from elsewhere and I wouldn’t be too surprised if they tried to claim the mic as their own design. It may seem like I’m ‘anti-EA’, I’m not, I’m one of those that actually like their games (flame me all you like, I don’t care 🙂 ), what I am saying is that surely the mic featured isn’t the final product? If the mic is the same as the one used with PS2 games (and apparently, a guy on Cubed³ says it plugs into a USB port), then people that already have the mic will be able to use it on the Wii?! If it does, and judging by the screenshots it seems it will do since you need to use the nunchuck for the dancing part, then the audio translator will still go unused.
I don’t know, but with Mental Gamers coming back very soon, I’ll be back into the swing of things by keeping up with all the latest news and even getting in touch with EA to see if I can find out more!