Nintendo Launches Wii Fit In U.S.

Games
Nintendo Launches Wii Fit In U.S.
By Eli Green
May 19, 2008 - 23:00

Hello, and welcome back for another week of fresh gaming news. For all of our Canadian readers, we hope you had a wonderful Victoria Day long weekend. Of course, as long as there is still news, we'll still be around to cover it. And with that, let's get into this week's gaming news.

Wii Fit launches

Nintendo announced the launch of its new fitness game today, Wii Fit . Packaged with the Wii Balance Board, which precisely measures users' weight, shifts in movement and balance, Wii Fit contains over 40 engaging activities in areas like yoga, aerobics, strength training and balance exercises, as well as a number of small mini games. The Wii Balance Board is able to calculate a user's Body Mass Index (BMI) and is used in the majority of the exercises in Wii Fit . It can also be used in some other games, including We Ski and Electronic Arts' recently announced Skate It . Prior to the North American release, Wii Fit had already sold more than 2 million copies in Japan, and had already sold out its pre-orders at some retailers.

Skiing mini game.

“ Wii Fit will get you moving whether you’ve been playing video games for years or this is your first time,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “ Wii Fit is easy for anyone to try and is yet another example of how Nintendo continues to expand the world of video games to new audiences.”

Wii is the first video game system ever included in the President’s Challenge, a program of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports that encourages all Americans to make physical activity a part of their daily lives. Wii Fit builds on that honor by encouraging people to keep their bodies moving.

Nintendo launched the game today at a special event in Central Park, giving people a chance to try out the game, and using the event to double as a celebration for National

Physical Fitness and Sports Month. There were Wii Fit trainers on hand to help event attendees try their hands, and feet, at the new game The company took the opportunity to educate attendees about fitness and good health, and ran a fundraiser in support of the American Heart Association. Wii Fit was made available today, exclusively at the Nintendo World store in New York, and will be releasing in stores North America on May 21^st . Wii Fit is available for $89.99 USD and CAD and is rated E for Everyone.

WiiWare and competitive eating

Tomorrow, May 20^th , will see two Major League Eating professional eaters promoting a new WiiWare game by attempting to break a watermelon eating record. Major League Eating's Tim “Eater X” Janus, the newly crowned sushi eating champion of the world, and Crazy Legs Conti will be facing off in a six minute watermelon consumption battle. It will apparently also be the first ever watermelon eating contest to feature both real and virtual watermelon, as the whole event, dubbed the Major League Eating: The Game WiiWare Watermelon Showdown, is in promotion of Major League Eating's new WiiWare title, Major League Eating: The Game .

The event is taking place tomorrow, from noon to 3 p.m. at the Nintendo World store in New York, at 10 Rockefeller Center.