WiiFit.org

30 January 2008 - Nintendo Considering Wii Balance Board Games

courtesy IGN.com

Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto is interviewed in the latest issue of Famitsu. While the interview, which was done to commemorate the magazine reaching issue number 1000, is mostly reflection, Miyamoto did give a few hints on future plans.
First, the Balance Wii Board, the peripheral that's included with WiiFit. The magazine noted that WiiFit has been quite the success story for Nintendo so far. To this, Miyamoto responded that if the game sees success overseas as well, Nintendo may end up releasing separate titles that make use of the peripheral.
The first title to use the Balance Board as an option actually hits Japan tomorrow in the form of Bandai Namco's Family Ski. Could a certain similarly themed Nintendo franchise be next?

28 January 2008 - WiiFit dated for North America, PAL regions

courtesy of nintendowiifanboy.com

by Chris Greenhough

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.

24 January 2008 - Canadian students compare Wii to traditional exercise

courtesy of nintendowiifanboy.com
by David Hinkle

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.

24 January 2008 - Rumor: Boogie sequel to employ balance board?

courtesy of nintendowiifanboy.com
by Alisha Karabinus

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.

23 January 2008 - Another week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 1/14-1/20

courtesy of nintendowiifanboy.com

by Candice Savino

We already know that the Wii is doing well in Japan. How has the hardware and software been shaping up against other consoles and games, though? Let's take a look at last week's sales to find out.

The Wii continues to flip-flop positions with the PSP, this time ending up on the more favorable side of the coin. Regaining the second place spot with 76,000 units sold, the Wii only dropped 6,000 units from last week's numbers.

Wii software continues to do well, too -- at least concerning "Wii" and "Mario" games. WiiFit sales in Japan were even greater than DS handheld sales. Super Mario Galaxy also ended up back in the top ten, in part because of consistent sales, and in part because a few DS games lost steam.

Some other Wii games didn't make the top of the charts, like Trauma Center: New Blood (which sold 3,100 copies last week in its debut).

Hardware:
* DS: 91,000
* Wii: 76,000
* PSP: 65,000
* PS3: 32,000
* PS2: 13,000
* Xbox 360: 4,400

Software:
1. WiiFit (Wii) --- 108,000 (1,114,000)
2. Mario & Sonic at the Olympics DS (DS) --- 91,000
3. Mario Party DS (DS) --- 38,000 (1,531,000)
4. Wii Sports (Wii) --- 31,000 (2,664,000)
5. Wii Play (Wii) --- 19,000 (2,139,000)
6. Monster Hunter Portable 2 (PSP) --- 18,000 (1,569,000)
7. Professor Layton 2 (DS) --- 17,000 (714,000)
8. Mario & Sonic at the Olympics (Wii) --- 17,000 (474,000)
9. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) --- 17,000 (844,000)
10. Mario Party 8 (Wii) --- 15,000 (1,154,000)
11. Mario Kart DS (DS) --- 14,000 (2,796,000)
12. Final Fantasy IV (DS) --- 11,000 (559,000)
13. School Days LxH (PS2) --- 11,000
14. Dragon Quest IV (DS) --- 10,000 (1,150,000)
15. Professor Layton (DS) --- 10,000 (813,000)
16. New Super Mario Bros. (DS) --- 10,000 (5,0651,000)
17. Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS) --- 10,000 (4,564,000)
18. Winning Eleven (PS2) --- 9,600 (605,000)
19. Unreported
20. Rune Factory 2 (DS) --- 8,800 (83,000)

22 January 2008 - Five Million Wiis in Japan - and four going on five million sellers

courtesy IGN.com
by Anoop Gantayat

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.

16 January 2008 - Another week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 1/7-1/13

courtesy of nintendowiifanboy.com
by Candice Savino

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)

15 January 2008 - WiiFit Gets Wii Mat

For the demanding digital athlete

courtesy IGN.com

by Anoop Gantayat

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.

10 January 2008 - Rumor: WiiFit into Nintendo's release schedule for May 20th?

courtesy of nintendowiifanboy.com

by JC Fletcher

1UP, like some other sites on the Internet, put an article up about WiiFit'smega-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!

9 January 2008 - Another week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 12/31-1/6

courtesy of nintendowiifanboy.com

by Candace Savino

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)

9 January 2008 - One Million WiiFits in Japan

Cue the it prints money gifs.

by Anoop Gantayat

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.

6 January 2008 Nintendo Wii Fitness With Wii Fit --update

by Karen Bennett

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

5 January 2008  Another week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 12/24-12/31

courtesy of nintendowiifanboy.com

by Candice Savino

Normally we bring you Japanese sales charts on Wednesday, but since Japan was on vacation this week, that didn't exactly work out. It's back to work for Japan, however, which means that the sales numbers for games and hardware for the week of 12/24 were finally released.

So, how did Nintendo fare? While software sales were good, the company certainly lost its dominance in the charts. The week of 12/17 had Nintendo in nine out of ten of the top spots, while the week of 12/24 had the company in only seven. (Note: When "only seven" is a bad week, that's a good thing.)

To see what this means for the Wii (and to view the actual Famitsu sales numbers), check out the numbers below for yourself.

Most software sales (for all platforms) slowed down this week, including those for Super Mario Galaxy, which found itself slipping to the number ten spot. The top Wii game for the week was Wii Sports, which beat out its newer cousin Wii Fit by about 13,000 copies. In the end there weren't many surprises, as all the big contender games we assumed would be in the charts were, in fact, there.

As for hardware, sales dropped for the Wii by about 100,000 units this week. While this is quite a large drop, it's important to note that the sales from 12/17 were a huge jump from the week before, and not indicative of current sales trends (or sustainable sales trends). Still, the Wii finds itself with a little less breathing room, as the PSP inches closer and closer to the second place spot.

Hardware:

* DS: 195,000
* Wii:162,000
* PSP: 158,000
* PS3: 49,000
* PS2: 30,000
* Xbox 360: 9,200

Software:

1. Super Robot Taisen: Original Generations Gaiden (PS2) --- 199,000
2. Mario Party DS (DS) --- 162,000 (1,232,000)
3. Final Fantasy IV (DS) --- 138,000 (447,000)
4. Star Ocean: First Departure (PSP) --- 115,000
5. Wii Sports (Wii) --- 94,000 (2,465,000)
6. Dragon Quest IV (DS) --- 90,000 (1,053,000)
7. WiiFit (Wii) --- 81,000 (818,000)
8. Wii Play (Wii) --- 72,000 (1,991,000)
9. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (PSP) --- 71,000
10. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) --- 68,000 (748,000)
11. Professor Layton 2 (DS) --- 65,000 (615,000)
12. Mario & Sonic at Beijing Olympics (Wii) --- 56,000 (363,000)
13. Mario Party 8 (Wii) --- 46000 (1,054,000)
14. Monster Hunter Portable 2 (PSP) --- 38,000 (1,490,000)
15. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon (DS) --- 38,000 (1,257,000)