Sorry “Wii Fit” fans. While the upgrades in “Wii Fit Plus” may not seem worth spending fifty more dollars on another disc, current balance board enthusiasts will not be able to download the new package’s upgrades. During a Nintendo booth tour at E3, Nintendo PR rep Kit Ellis confirmed that the new yoga and strength exercises, as well as the workout planner, in “Wii Fit Plus” will not be offered via WiiWare. He also confirmed that the current “Wii Fit” software will be completely phased out, so anyone buying a “Wii Fit” and balance board package in the few months before “Plus”’s fall release will be out of luck.

***

Nearly a million people picked up "Wii Fit" in January, reports the NPD Group. Nintendo's fitness game sold 770,000 copies last month, contributing to a healthy growth for the collective industry, with sales hitting 1.33 billion, up 13% from last January's 1.18 billion.

It was another month of Nintendo domination in hardware sales, as well, with Wii moving 679,200 pieces of hardware and DS falling close behind at 510,800 units. The other platforms were all several hundred thousand behind.

Hardware Sales -- January 2009
Wii -- 679,200 units
DS -- 510,800 units
360 -- 309,000 units
PlayStation 3 -- 203,200 units
PSP -- 172,300 units
PlayStation 2 -- 101,200 units

The situation was similar on the software side, with Nintendo seeing several older releases in the top 10 again, a feat typically unheard of in video games. "Wii Fit," however, took the crown easily.

Software Sales -- January 2009
1. Wii Fit (Wii) -- 777,000
2. Wii Play w/ remote (Wii) -- 415,000
3. Mario Kart w/ wheel (Wii) -- 292,000
4. Left 4 Dead (360) -- 243,000
5. Call of Duty: World at War (360) -- 235,000
6. Skate 2 (360) -- 199,000
7. Guitar Hero: World Tour (Wii) -- 155,000
8. New Super Mario Bros. (DS) -- 135,000
9. Mario Kart DS (DS) -- 132,000
10. Lord of the Rings: Conquest (360) -- 113,000

Is there no stopping "Wii Fit," readers?

***

During a third-quarter address to investors earlier this week in Tokyo, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata produced an extraordinary chart, demonstrating the sales of "Wii Fit" over the last several weeks in the U.S. and Japan.

Here's his explanation for the incredible data the chart shows:

In general, December is the month when the largest number of software is sold in a year, and software which launch at the end of a year show a significant decline in sales at the start of the new year. In the case of typical Nintendo titles, January sales are often 20 to 30% of the preceding December sales. Wii Fit, however, is clearly showing exceptional sales transitions. Last week in the U.S., more than 300,000 Wii Fit software were sold, which is an unbelievable figure with the year-end sales season already over. When we compare the 4 weeks in this January with the same 4 weeks in December 2008, American sales level of Wii Fit in January is more than 75% of December and Europe is keeping more than 40% pace.

As of the end of 2008, Nintendo already shipped more than 14 million Wii Fit. We are still expecting growth in Wii Fit Sales. Also, such other titles like Mario Kart Wii are showing continuous strength in sales in 2009.

Throw two shoes at President George Bush, as a reporter did in Iraq this weekend, and he will dodge them. How do you think one learns such a skill?

Can you think of anything that trains people to dodge shoes? Anything? Mr. President, show us your "Wii Fit."

In the U.S., the day after Thanksgiving is known as "Black Friday." It's one of the busiest shopping days of the year because most people have the day off from work and many retailers offer doorbuster deals.

The above photo shows a father and his two daughters playing the Wii at a Nintendo kiosk set up at the Stoneridge Mall in Pleasanton, California. I found the picture when I searched the Getty Images database, a supplier of stock photos. This one, and the photo below the jump, were the only video game-related pictures I found taken during Black Friday when I searched for "Wii." Various combos of Xbox 360 and PS3 didn't turn up any Black Friday pics.

Perhaps this is because the Wii was the most sought-after console during the holiday shopping weekend. eBay reported that it sold 3,171 Wiis and 1,059 copies of "Wii Fit" on its site. (Or maybe there weren't enough Xbox 360 bundles to go around -- there was one video of a gaggle of shoppers accosting a stack of them at a Wal-mart.)

Did you try your luck for a cheap console at the store or online over the weekend? If so, did you run into any problems or was it smooth shopping?

(And make the jump to see Santa Claus behind the Wii wheel.)

[Photo Credit: Getty Images]

Related Posts:
Let Us Help You With Your Holiday Shopping
GameStop Promises Huge Stores, More Games, Special Drums And No Fear Of 'Burnout'

But Nintendo is not expressing concern yet.

"You'll see in [the NPD sales] that it did about somewhere [like] 65 or 66,000 based on our internal numbers for the two weeks that was reported," Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo's executive vice president of sales and marketing, told Multiplayer in an interview at the New York Grand Hyatt yesterday.

By comparison, NPD reported that "Wii Fit" sold more than 687,000 copies in its first month of sale.

These aren't blockbuster numbers, but Dunaway offered an explanation for the game's performance:

"We're predicting that it's going to be an evergreen title. And if you look at titles like 'Brain Age,' it's about the same as what 'Brain Age' did during it's first few weeks and went on to sell 2.5 million copies. 'Wii Fit' certainly had a larger launch than that. But I think that people are starting to understand 'Wii Music.'"

"We're predicting that it's going to be an evergreen title."

In general, Nintendo hardware and software is hot. The Wii sold more than 800,000 units in October. "Wii Play" sold 282,000 copies, according to NPD. "Mario Kart Wii" sold 290,000. And "Wii Fit" tallied another 487,000 units that month. Those games do have legs, having each been on the market for months. (The new "Guitar Hero" for Wii also performed well, selling more than 183,000 units and easily outselling "Wii Music" despite coming out two weeks later.)

"Wii Music," which has received harsher reviews from critics from the average Nintendo title, could just be a harder sell. "People have a box in their head of what music genre games are all about," Dunaway said. "And we're doing something that is a complete departure from that. As people start to experience that and tell other people about it, I have no doubt that 'Wii Music' is going to be a long-selling, top-selling game for us."

Dunaway expressed a personal goal for selling the game: "I feel as EVP of sales and marketing, [it is] both a responsibility and a real opportunity and privilege to take this game that is so unique and so much from the heart of Mr. [Shigeru] Miyamoto, and make sure that people are exposed to it and understand it." To that end, Dunaway said Nintendo has been showcasing "Wii Music" with local musicians around the country and is working with schools and an organization representing 100,000 music educators in America to integrate the game into a music education curriculum.

So if anyone compares "Wii Fit" launch sales to "Wii Music" sales and deem the latter a failure, they'd be wrong? "They'd be off-base to say that," Dunaway said. "Very few of our titles are launch-and-move-on these days. Certainly something like 'Wii Music,' we have a long-term commitment to."

Related Posts:
‘Guitar Hero: World Tour’ Sells More On Wii Than On Any Other Platform
One-On-One With Miyamoto: ‘Wii Music’ DLC, Negative Reviews, And How ‘Mario’ Fans Benefit
One-On-One With Shigeru Miyamoto: From ‘Wii Music’ To Bowser To… MotionPlus?

EA is pushing that this game (product?) will give gamers a 30-day fitness goal, chopped into customized 20-minute workouts, differentiating it from "Wii Fit," which forces the player to make their own workout routine. EA is also promoting that the game has more of a heart-rate-pumping western approach to exercise, a differentiation from the yoga, push-ups and light jogging offerings of "Wii Fit."

But the hot-selling "Wii Fit" was really charming. Does "EA Sports Active" need to be charming? Does it need a cute balance board and some Mii support rather than the endorsement of fitness guru Bob Greene? We shall see.

More screenshots of the new peripheral in action and a fact-sheet info-dump below.

And from the official EA fact sheet...

Key Features
• Active Fitness Made Fun & Easy— 20 minute circuits feature variety and familiar activities that target upper body, lower body as well as cardio. Start off with a run, followed by bicep curls and get your heart beating with some cardio boxing. Get fit and have fun in minutes a day!
• Benefit of a Trainer in a Box—Your trainer will be the focal point of the experience guiding you towards your own version of personal achievement. Feedback will be given throughout your workout, keeping you on track to reach your fitness goals.
• 30 Day Challenge—The game will track your progress as you embark on a 30 Day Challenge and tailor 20 minute workouts to your level of fitness. Circuits will change as you progress each day, and EA SPORTS Active will track calories, intensity and progress throughout your journey.
• New Way to Play— Slip the Nunchuk into the specially designed leg strap and hold the Wii Remote in your hand to track your movements from both your upper and lower body. A resistance band is also included to increase the intensity of exercises such as bicep curls and shoulder presses.
• Get Fit with Friends and Family—Two players can work out together while having their individual calories and workout scores tracked. Using split screens, you both can complete your own customized workout and do them together.
• Workout Your Way— Circuits can be customized to your interest and fitness level. Choose your duration, intensity level & set your own goals for calories burned and workout score.
• Wii Balance Board Compatibility—Get more out of your EA SPORTS Active workout using a Wii Balance Board with added functionality and physical benefits for many of exercises.

"Tetris Party" aims to provide "the ultimate 'Tetris' workout," joked Tetris Online VP of marketing Casey Pelkey to MTV Multiplayer at Nintendo's fall summit last week.

Incorporating the balance board into "Tetris Party" wasn't originally part of the plan for Tetris Online or developer Hudson Soft., but "Wii Fit"'s success started planting ideas in their head.

"We knew that the balance board was going to be a success for Nintendo," said Pelkey. "So when we first started to talk to Hudson about the concept, they loved the idea. Initially, we knew that controlling the tetrimino was the obvious solution, but we were trying to think 'How do we take exercise to the next level? How do we actually make it the ultimate 'Tetris' workout?'"

Right now, the balance board allows for basic "Tetris" controls. You lean left to move pieces to the left, you lean right for the opposite effect. Moving forward, however, drops the pieces faster -- but so does leaning backwards. Squatting rotates the pieces. It doesn't take long for someone to look like a complete loon.

"The natural tendency when you lean forward and it starts to drop faster is instantly to lean backwards to stop it," he said. "Well, that also makes it drop! So, you're working your core! And when you're trying to shift, well, you don't want to shift too much. … You have to be really precise in the middle, so your core movement is really interesting."

The companies behind the game had a different idea for the balance board at first, one they ended up ditching in favor of the simpler approach described above.

"Originally, it started by walking on the balance board, like stepping," explained Pelkey. "Stepping would advance the actual tetrimino blocks. If you stopped, it would basically pause things and limit your view [of the next pieces]. So we quickly found it worked, but it added a dimension that would basically confuse gameplay with this idea of always having to walk. We didn't want to add any monotonous action to it."

As development winds down on "Tetris Party," Pelkey said late nights are prone to fits of laughter, as people jump on the balance board and try to survive.

"It's quite the workout and we've been testing that mode with different people and seeing from an endurance standpoint, where can people go with it," he said. "There's no doubt that people are breaking a sweat on it and so that's kind of been our tagline -- break a sweat with the Wii balance board on 'Tetris.'"

You might not have ever wanted to sweat with "Tetris," but...now you can.

Related Posts
My #5 Nintendo Fall Summit Game — ‘Tetris Party’
‘Tetris’ License Holders Want You To Win One Million Dollars Playing Competitive ‘Tetris’
Where In The World Is ‘Tetris DS’ — Why Games Are Discontinued

***

Have a hot tip? Is there a topic that Multiplayer should be covering and isn't? Will you play "Tetris Party" with the balance board? Drop me an e-mail.

Nintendo's exercise game appears to be in very short supply.

Exhibit A: A mom walks up to me on the street, desperate to track down "Wii Fit" (possibly wants the one I'm holding?). She tells me she's looked in so many stores and can't find a copy.

Exhibit B: GameStop.com doesn't even sell "Wii Fit" as a standalone game right now. Plus, stores I've visited in New York City over the last month never have it. Neither does Amazon.

Exhibit C: An MTV on-air veteran was recently struggling to procure a store-bought copy of "Wii Fit' for a birthday party and had to borrow my copy.

Exhibit D: No online retailer within Google's very wide reach has it in stock for regular retail price.

What could the folks at Nintendo tell me about this shortage, why it exists and when shoppers can expect to find it in stores again?

This is the statement I received last night from a Nintendo spokesperson:

"Nintendo had a substantial supply nationwide for launch, though some stores saw spot shortages due to unprecedented demand for this unique product. The consumer response to 'Wii Fit' at launch was historically exceptional when compared with peripheral-based video game products. We are providing retailers with a constant supply of 'Wii Fit,' so you should see a regular supply of 'Wii Fit' on store shelves as we move through the summer and into the holidays."

According to the NPD sales tracking group, "Wii Fit" sold more than 369,600 copies in the U.S. in July. How did those people find them?

But have people kept using it? Out of the four-person team at Multiplayer, only 50% of us are still playing "Wii Fit" a few times a week since the launch.

What about you?

(And explain why or why not in the comments section!)