A Nintendo representative has spoken out on the options available to upcoming Wii U gamers who want to become vocal to other players online.
Speaking to Kotaku this week, the consensus is that only specific, branded devices would work with the Wii U, and these would have to be wired to the GamePad's 3.5mm socket.
Despite a microphone and speakers present on the controller itself, the representative noted that a headset must be used for online chat rather than natively from the GamePad.
Likewise with the lack of a 3.5mm jack on the Wii U Controller Pro, gamers will need the GamePad to act as the middle man if using the Controller Pro - connecting a headset to it just for chatting purposes.
According to peripheral manufacturer PDP though, games that utilise audio over the USB port instead can use the company's wireless devices, but this is again specific to each game and whether developers would support it.
Call of Duty publisher Activision noted that regular headphones with speakers should be compatible with the GamePad, but this has still yet to be confirmed.
Finally, in-game chat and voice chat are both specific to each game and currently not a universal feature.