Topic: Skype For Wii U

Wii U Chat might be good but skype would be much better with the function of IM you can message anyone anywhere in the world instantly and also you can video chat using the camera and mic. If you put credit on your account it is easy to call any number around the world

I would imagine that since Microsoft owns Skype, and Microsoft is a direct competitor in the console market, I doubt it'll come to the Wii U.

skype is available on the psvita

Since Microsoft doesn't have a handheld gaming presence, they have no quarrel. Kinda why some games by Rare (who are owned by Microsoft) are on the GBA and DS, yet absent on Nintendo/Sony home consoles since their acquisition.

sign the petition at change.org . search for "bring skype to wii u"

the link is: http://www.change.org/petitions/microsoft-bring-skype-to-wii-u

skype makes money for microsoft and that is all skype is a way to make money

Skype is on Andriod and iOS.............

I'm sure they don't really care that much about what devices run Skype other than wanting MORE devices to run Skype so they can maintain their market dominance in that space. Their biggest competitors on this are Google and Facebook not Nintendo or Sony.

Exactly. Microsoft hasn't really ruled out support on other platforms... In essence they chose this for Skype, so it's a perfectly feasable option for those that want to be able to talk to their Skype contacts via Wii U, but that's about all you'll get out of it.

Actually that is probably why they wouldn't put it on Nintendo Sony systems.

It makes sense that Microsoft would leverage Skype on all mobile platforms as they want to keep Skype the market leader in the communications space even though there are great alternatives like Ovvo or Google+.

On consoles and the set top box market having Skype as an exclusive does far more good than harm. Skype being on every major mobile device will cement that its popular despite what platform the user uses (apple,microsoft , or Google). However having it be Xbox exclusive and integrating Skype deeply with the Xbox OS (they have done it for windows 8/phone) gives them a very important selling point.

Why buy the next Nintendo or Sony consoles when you can only get Skype on the xbox.

Skype is on Vita.

Skype runs independently of Microsoft. It was acquired to integrate better with Microsoft systems, but the Skype company continues to operate as it did before the acquisition.

You can have tight integration and have that as one of the big selling points without making it exclusive. For example you could allow the use of Skype in game only on the MS console or unify the friends list and Skype contacts in some way. Maybe add an extra feature only on XBox like 3D Skype or something. They can do lots of things like that if they really wanted to but it doesn't require making it MS exclusive

Why use something other than Skype if Skype is on everything? If people really want to use Skype on their TV they'll do it without a console anyway so I don't see it as being the reason you'd buy Nintendo/Sony over MS anyway.

Ok, I think many of you have cleared up the confusion. I was thinking Skype was completely ran by Microsoft after the acquisition, but that isn't the case.

As far as Skype on the Wii U, I wouldn't mind that. In fact, I kinda wish Skype was on the 3DS too.

Ehh, no offense, but lots of people always brings up features of Skype for in-game use that it's simply incapable of because you you stated, the friends lists aren't unified (aside from the features being outside the service itself) and even if that were the case, they'd probably end up doing exactly what they've already done with Skype and MSN/WIndows Live/Essentials, (whichever you wanna call it it) which is simply allowing the linking of accts so when you log intto Skype you're logging into services; both Skype and Windows Live contacts show up in the same list, and without a (img) picture are identified separately as a Skype or Windows Live user. They're just not running the same service, as thus would be the only way I see this happening; Skype and Windows Live service would have to have that same seemingless mergence together, much in the sense as how XBox Live and GFW Live work. The other 2 factors you have to consider is that 1, voice chat and party chat are kinda already a thing on Xbox Live, and 2 the majority of people who wanna be seen and those that don't, which is why I'm not so sure that same cam chat option ever really gained much steam on XBox Live or PSN. Of course it could possibly work differently in Nintendo's favor. In their case the only other way i could see this happening, and again you'd miost likely only be talking with Skype contacts doing so, is if the GamePad (or maybe the console itself) were able to run more than 1 thing at a time, and have little icons somewhere along the edges showing what's active, which is pretty much what XBox Live suers want to, and I'd suspect PSN as well, whichd epends if the hardware is up to par to handle the task.

This post isn't specifically Skype-related, it's more IM in general

I read that the Wii U chat uses the same engine/services as Google+.

I'd like to imagine that it therefore wouldn't be too much of a stretch to see Google+ on the Gamepad.

Hihghly unlike. The browser you're referring to is Google Chrome (as is also used on Androidd evices), not +; Plus is more or less is Google's socialization service, so you can kinda call it the Google version of GFaceBook. Wii and 3DS I believe run Opera. Just recently found the browser engine Wii U uses is NetFront Browser NX v2.1.

Google+ is available as a plug-in for any major browser that runs under Windows, and quite possibly OSX and Linux browsers as well.
Not so sure about iOS and Windows 8 RT but Google does like to keep up appearances

Thanks for the Wii U browser info too, mate.
That was on my list of things to find out.

@DaveGX
Saw you wall of text, read it.... have no idea what you were trying to say

Not sure where you got that Google= is a browser plug-in because I just tried doing a search for it, and Google themselves don't make an official plug-in of Google+; What it is is you can either go to Google.com where your username has a + next to it, or just add the /+ directory to it when you go to it.

What I was explaining before is that Skype and Windows Live are separate services, and asking in-game functionality is outside of Skype's functionality. MS has already updated Skype so that when you log-in you can link that acct with whichever Live service you use (Messenger, Hotmail, Outlook), and basically what you're getting is your Live contacts added into your Skype contacts lists rather than those contacts being identiified as Skype contacts; You'll recgnize this by their img picture showing a Windows Live icon and Skype uses with the Skype 1 So yeah, Skype and Wndows Live services would have to be merged together seemless, otherwise chat and party chat via headsets and aready exist and I'm honestly not sure the majority of users even use Video Kinect, leaving the only other factor being how many people actually want to be seen while playing their game. The only way it could work is what alot of people want, a way to log in other services and maybe have background use of them or soemthing like that.

@DaveGX
Well they could do something similar to what most a lot of web services do with your social media accounts. Allow you to link the accounts and then automatically have all of your contacts together. So when you login with your Windows Live whatever you'll suddenly have a populated friends list. Then do things like show which of your Skype/Messenger contacts are in the middle of playing a game, what game they're playing and so on.

Well the same is true of the Wii U's video chat I would assume and will be true of any service that has such a limited use. Which is why I think Skype integration is the only way people are going to seriously use video chat on these consoles. The main advantage of Skype being that everybody who's interested in video chat already uses it and that pretty much everything with screen/mic/camera/internet which does Skype. With proprietary video chat services you have to be near a device that supports it when the other person who has the same supported device makes the call.