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.
NPD Group numbers are in for January 2009, and while the overall narrative remains the same -- Nintendo leading the charge, with "Wii Fit" selling 777,000 copies -- there were signs of growth for everyone, as the industry saw 1.33 billion in sales, up from 1.18 billion in 2008. Read more...
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced in Tokyo this week the the company has sold nearly a third of a million copies of "Wii Fit" in the U.S. just last week -- one of the most extraordinary sales stats I've seen in a long time. Read more...
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.)
First month sales of Nintendo's newest Wii-branded game, the ambitious and unusual "Wii Music," released last month fell far short of the mark set by May's "Wii Fit" in its first month.
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.
Making the rounds this morning is the announcement of "EA Sports Active," a new fitness game/piece-of-software from EA shipping for the Wii next spring. The game trades in "Wii Fit"'s requirement of the balance board peripheral for mandatory use of a bundled "leg strap," a strap that wraps around one's upper thigh with a Wii nunchuck in its pouch, for tracking lower body movement.
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. Read more...
You could have another use for that "Wii Fit" balance board gathering dust underneath the sofa when "Tetris Party" arrives later this year on WiiWare.
"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.
The challenge of finding a Wii console, even more than 18 months since the system's launch has been well-chronicled. But who yet weeps for the consumer struggling to find a copy of "Wii Fit"?
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.
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?
"Wii Fit" has been out for just over a month. As we saw at the Central Park launch event, people were inspired to use the game for regular exercise.
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!)
NPD Group numbers are in for January 2009, and while the overall narrative remains the same -- Nintendo leading the charge, with "Wii Fit" selling 777,000 copies -- there were signs of growth for everyone, as the industry saw 1.33 billion in sales, up from 1.18 billion in 2008. 
First month sales of Nintendo's newest Wii-branded game, the ambitious and unusual "Wii Music," released last month fell far short of the mark set by May's "Wii Fit" in its first month.
Making the rounds this morning is the announcement of "EA Sports Active," a new fitness game/piece-of-software from EA shipping for the Wii next spring. The game trades in "Wii Fit"'s requirement of the balance board peripheral for mandatory use of a bundled "leg strap," a strap that wraps around one's upper thigh with a Wii nunchuck in its pouch, for tracking lower body movement.
You could have another use for that "Wii Fit" balance board gathering dust underneath the sofa when "Tetris Party" arrives later this year on WiiWare.
The challenge of finding a Wii console, even more than 18 months since the system's launch has been well-chronicled. But who yet weeps for the consumer struggling to find a copy of "Wii Fit"?
"Wii Fit" has been out for just over a month. As we saw at