Beware buying your Animal Crossing/Wii Speak microphone bundle second-hand...

In what could be seen as a move to curb second-hand sales, Nintendo has locked the Wii Speak Channel to those who purchase the peripheral first-hand (either by itself or in the Animal Crossing bundle).

Every Wii Speak box contains its own unique "Wii Download Ticket Number" which must be registered to use the device, and will not be replaced by Nintendo if lost/stolen. Each code must be unique, which obviously won't be the case if you've bought Animal Crossing second-hand.

To clarify, it is believed that Animal Crossing in-game chat will not be affected, just the ability to download and use the Wii Speak Channel. Although what implications there might be for future Wii Speak enabled games is at this point unclear.