Wii Fit News, Wii Fit Games and other cool stuff for WiiFit

Since it was picked up by more than a million consumers in Japan, we have been impatiently waiting for news on WiiFit’s release Everywhere Else. Our dumbbells, caked in dust after our last workout in 1999, have been brought out of retirement, and the leotard has just arrived back from the cleaners. We are ready to become fine, chiselled specimens.

Except … we’ll have to wait a bit first. Until either April (if you’re in North America) or June (for those in a PAL region), to be precise. An April release date in North America is actually quite a pleasant surprise. Not only does it mean we can continue living our gluttonous lifestyles for at least another couple of months, but it’s also a little sooner than we initially expected.

courtesy of nintendowiifanboy.com
by Chris Greenhough

Wii Fit News

We’ve all worked up a sweat while playing the Wii, whether it be during sessions of WarioWare: Smooth Moves or Wii Sports (or any of the other numerous titles that ask you to get physical). We figured we were just unhealthy and that any normal person with any kind of regular physical activity in their life would just laugh as our doughy physique cried “mercy” after just minutes of throwing down in Wii Sports: Boxing.

Canadian students from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia decided that they wanted to see how a workout with the Wii compares to more conventional exercises. These students could care less about scientific research apparently (or don’t read Wii Fanboy, either of which being a crime against humanity), as took matters into their own hands and came up with an exercise scheme. Their conclusion, much like that of the scientists mentioned previously, was that although the Wii certainly did increase cardiovascular activity, it in no way was intense enough for them.

Hopefully, whenever WiiFit releases, the Wii will be a more viable solution for serious health nuts. Until that day, we’ll just keep having fun with our low impact sessions of Wii Sports.

courtesy of nintendowiifanboy.com
by David Hinkle

Wii Fit News

Boogie may have snared mixed reviews, but that apparently isn’t keeping EA from considering a follow-up to the music title. Word is that not only might we see a sequel to the karaoke/dance game, but it may employ the balance board as a dance mat.

The first Boogie came packaged with a microphone, but the balance board could really increase the immersion factor for such a title. While this is still very much a rumor for now, and may depend on how well WiiFit does out of the gate, we’ll keep an ear to the ground and see if anything else develops.

courtesy of nintendowiifanboy.com
by Alisha Karabinus

Wii Fit News

Just like it is everywhere else in the world, the Wii is a huge hit in its home territory of Japan. How big? Today, Famitsu.com reported that the console has, as of January 20, topped the five million sold mark.

In all, the system sold 5,019,337 units from its launch on December 2, 2006 to January 20, 2008. This figure comes from Enterbrain, Famitsu’s publisher and also a major game industry sales tracking firm.

It took the Wii sixty weeks to reach the five million mark. While a bit behind the DS’s fifty-six week record, the Wii did beat the PlayStation 2’s sixty-six weeks.

Four Wii titles have topped the one million mark. The best selling Wii game so far is Wii Sports with, according to the latest numbers issued by Enterbrain today, 2,663,938 units. Trailing behind it are Wii Play (2,139,084 units), Mario Party 8 (1,153,648) and the hard-to-find WiiFit (1,113,626).

The Wii’s fifth best selling game, Super Mario Galaxy, is at 843,961 units and continues to place high on the weekly sales charts.

courtesy IGN.com

by Anoop Gantayat

Wii Fit News

Sales for all systems predictably tumbled last week as Japan’s holiday shopping season came to an end. That’s not all that dropped, though; the Wii also slipped to third place, while the PSP claimed the second spot. Although the hardware sales reflect Japan’s portable-mania, the software sales once again scream Nintendo.

Since we already knew about Wii Fit’s million accomplishment, there wasn’t much surprise in the software charts. Super Mario Galaxy, however, finally fell out of the top ten as it makes it way toward the million mark.

Hardware:
• DS: 103,000
• PSP: 84,000
• Wii: 82,000
• PS3: 34,000
• PS2: 15,000
• Xbox 360: 5,500

Software:
1. WiiFit (Wii) — 93,000 (1,005,000)
2. Mario Party DS (DS) — 52,000 (1,493,000)
3. Wii Sports (Wii) — 41,000 (2,633,000)
4. Wii Play (Wii) — 26,000 (2,120,000)
5. Professor Layton 2 (DS) — 23,000 (697,000)
6. Final Fantasy IV (DS) — 20,000 (547,000)
7. Monster Hunter Portable 2 (PSP) — 20,000 (1,551,000)
8. Mario & Sonic at Beijing Olympics (Wii) — 20,000 (457,000)
9. Mario Kart DS (DS) — 19,000 (2,783,000)
10. Rune Factory 2 (DS) — 18,000 (74,000)
11. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) — 18,000 (827,000)
12. Mario Party 8 (Wii) — 16,000 (1,138,000)
13. Dragon Quest IV (DS) — 16,000 (1,139,000)
14. Star Ocean First Departure (PSP) — 14,000 (175,000)
15. Winning Eleven (PS2) — 13,000 (595,000)
16. New Super Mario Bros. (DS) — 13,000 (5,051,000)
17. Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS) — 12,000 (4,554,000)
18. Call of Duty 4 (PS3) — 11,000 (50,000)
19. Professor Layton (DS) — 11,000 (803,000)
20. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon (DS) — 11,000 (1,313,000)

courtesy of nintendowiifanboy.com
by Candice Savino

Wii Fit News

For the demanding digital athlete

Did you import WiiFit over the holidays? Do you find your knees aching after a few days of heavy digital workouts? Or maybe your feet don’t agree with the cold of your hard wood floor, so you haven’t been using the title regularly.

Hori has the solution to complete your WiiFit experience. The peripheral maker announced today the WiiFit Mat.

Officially licensed by Nintendo, this green mat is meant to be placed beneath WiiFit’s balance board. At 4mm thickness, it helps absorb the shocks from a heavy workout. And with 1,830mm of length to work with, you’ll never again have to directly touch the floor!

The WiiFit Mat will be released to Japan in late February at a cost of 3,280 yen.

courtesy IGN.com

by Anoop Gantayat

Wii Fit Accessories, Wii Fit News

1UP, like some other sites on the Internet, put an article up about WiiFit’s mega-awesome performance in Japan. It includes the requisite Photoshop suggesting that Shigeru Miyamoto is flush with wealth, of course. But their writeup of the news has a little something extra: a release date. If the information casually dropped in the post is accurate, we will be stepping onto and off of things as soon as May 20th.

We’re confused and frightened by the lack of any official release information regarding this game. Nintendo hasn’t even announced a year for the North American release. WiiFit is kind of the “next big thing” in expanded-audience Wii gaming, and thus we assume that they plan to, you know, sell it. We find a potential release date soothing. And why would 1UP just pull a date out of nowhere like that? The specificity lends credibility to the claim. Anyway, May seems as good a time as any!

courtesy of nintendowiifanboy.com

by JC Fletcher

Wii Fit News

The Wii got a huge boost in hardware sales thanks to the New Years holiday, which is known to be big for consumerism in Japan. All system sales increased, in fact, but the gap between the Wii and PSP widened as the Wii sold almost 80,000 more units than it did the previous week.

The bump in hardware sales also affected software sales, helping Nintendo regain its domination in the charts. The top twelve games were for Nintendo systems, with a lot of those games either having the words
“Wii” or “Mario” in their titles. Wii Sports and Wii Playcontinue to bully newer titles out of the top ten, while WiiFit nears the million mark (and according to some trackers, already reached it as of today). Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles also shows some legs by barely making the top thirty, selling 21,000 copies last week for a total of 234,000.

It will be interesting to see whether Super Mario Galaxy can hang in the top ten, but regardless, it seems that the game will hit one million sales relatively soon. Also, expect a huge drop in sales all around next week, as holiday spending in Japan finally comes to an end.

The hardware and software numbers are listed for your viewing pleasure.

Hardware:

* DS: 312,000
* Wii: 243,000
* PSP: 189,000
* PS3: 70,000
* PS2: 35,000
* Xbox 360: 13,000

Software:

1.Mario Party DS (DS) 208,000 (1,441,000)
2.Wii Sports (Wii) 127,000 (2,592,000)
3.Wii Play (Wii) 103,000 (2,093,000)
4.WiiFit (Wii) 94,000 (912,000)
5.Final Fantasy IV (DS) 80,000 (527,000)
6.Mario & Sonic at Beijing Olympics (Wii) 74,000 (438,000)
7.Dragon Quest IV (DS)— 70,000 (1,123,000)
8.Mario Kart DS (DS) 68,000 (2,764,000)
9.Mario Party 8 (Wii) 68,000 (1,122,000)
10.Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) 62,000 (810,000)
11.Professor Layton 2> (DS) 59,000 (674,000)
12.Rune Factory 2(DS)— 56,000
13.Star Ocean First Departure (PSP)— 46,000 (161,000)
14.Pokemon Mystery Dungeon (DS)— 46,000 (1,302,000)
15.Super Robot Taisen: Original Generations Gaiden (PS2)— 43,000 (242,000)

courtesy of nintendowiifanboy.com

by Candace Savino

Wii Fit News

Nintendo announced today that it has shipped one million units of WiiFit to the Japanese market. The landmark came on the 6th, making it a bit over one month after the game’s December 1 release.

A few casual surveys of retailers around Tokyo has convinced us that the fitness title and its included Balance Board peripheral have been pretty much sold out since Christmas. It seems that whatever product Nintendo manages to get onto retail shelves, consumers snap up immediately.

Platinum status for a Wii game is nothing new, as Wii Sports has already topped the two million mark in Japan. With WiiFit, however, Nintendo has managed to sell a million units of a product that retails for 8,800 yen, or 3,000 yen more than most Wii games.

Wii Fit News Release dates

Nintendo has announced a new fitness game WiiFit which is a full on exercise product set to give you more of a workout than Wii Sports, while still retaining all the fun of gaming. WiiFit will help to keep you physically fit via a dedicated peripheral - a wireless balance board which comes with the game. There are over 40 different activities, in 4 categories: aerobics, yoga, muscle conditioning and balance games. In addition, there will be various mini games including hula hooping, ski jumping and heading soccer balls.

Training

The training which includes step aerobics, muscle conditioning, yoga and balance games allows players to assign their height to a profile, to measure body mass index and Wii fitness age as well as monitor progress and record performance statistics. Advice is also given from these statistics on area’s where you need to improve and where you are strongest.

Mini Games

The hula hooping game consists of, as you’d expect, gyrating your hips with a virtual hoop onscreen and then as the game progresses, characters will throw more hoops for you to catch and rotate as many times as you can until the time runs out.

The skiing game gives you two chances to make the longest jump you can whilst keeping your balance when landing. Players can increase speed by leaning forward, the more you lean the faster you’ll go, and upon reaching the jump, you stand up straight ensuring your weight is evenly balanced for a good landing.

For the Football game you will need to balance on the board moving from side to side whilst balls are fired at you to hit back on to the field and avoiding other objects that are thrown at you at the same time.

Wii Balance Board-Essentially, a slim, white scale with built-in gyroscopic technology that very accurately measures weight and how your balance shifts as you move on it and posture. The Balance Board looks a little larger than a set of bathroom scales and contains pressure sensors that detect when the user leans, moves or jumps in time with the action on screen. Tested to withstand all players regardless of your weight, the idea is that you stand on the board and interact with the exercise task onscreen following the animated Mii character.

The calorie busting fun is expected appeal to couch potato kids as well as traditionally non-gamers, perhaps using the Nintendo WiiFit as a slimming tool which would be a move into the lifestyle category, covering the market from another angle.

WiiFit is due to be released on 25 April 2008 (UK)and is set to be yet another hot seller from Nintendo.

For more information and to find a WiiFit Stockists Prices in the UK visit: www.compareconsoleprices.co.uk

Wii Fit News