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.

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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.

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?

“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!)

Lauren Bernat swears she didn’t know her boyfriend was taping her when she was doing the “Wii Fit” hula in her underwear.

In fact, the 25 year-old Florida native, now dubbed the “Wii Fit girl,” claimed she “cried her eyes out” when she learned that her boyfriend, Giovanny Gutierrez, posted the video on YouTube. “I mean, I rolled out of bed, I was in my underwear, I just had a T-shirt on, I had my glasses on and my hair was up,” she told me following her TRL appearance yesterday afternoon. “I swear I had no idea he was [recording] it.”

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Lauren Bernat, the “Wii Fit” hula girl, has been seen doing the hula in her underwear nearly 4 million times on YouTube since May 25. Yesterday afternoon, she came to MTV’s headquarters in New York all the way from Miami, Florida with her mischievous boyfriend Giovanny Gutierrez to appear on TRL.

Check out a short clip and photos of Bernat in action during the show. And sorry, fellas — she kept her pants on. [UPDATE: Read the extended interview with "Wii Fit girl" here.]

(Videos not viewable by users logging in from Canada or the U.K.)

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I have a theory that in the world of video games, it is not yet 1983. It isn’t 1983 but it may soon be, maybe later this year, maybe some time next year.

I concocted this theory while Kotaku managing editor Brian Crecente was taking his eyes off the road from El Paso to Denver least week long enough to IM-argue with me about “Wii Fit“ and whether the game is a) a marketing innovation or b) a game design innovation.

He wound up sharing his side of things at Kotaku and mentioned that he and I disagreed ever so slightly. He mostly sees a marketing breakthrough. I see that, but I see an undeniable design achievement.

“Wii Fit” gives me reason to believe that 1983 is coming.

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Nintendo’s “Wii Fit” gives gamers a chance to turn the Wii Balance Board sideways and treat it like a snowboard, but it’s publisher Ubisoft that is backing the first game that makes such a feature its focus.

I was given a demo of the Wii version of “Shaun White Snowboarding” at a Ubisoft event in San Francisco, one of the first games I’ve seen controlled by the Balance Board.

If a player used the Wii Balance Board, they stand on the board as they would a snowboard and then lean toward the TV to go faster, lean back to brake, and tip their weight to their toes and heels to turn and carve. From what I saw, tricks could be activated with a spring of the legs, and bigger tricks could be triggered with a hula dance shake of the body.

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Since the last entry, I…

*Finished “Trauma Center: New Blood” in absurd fashion. I reached the final surgery and failed at it multiple times. I decided the game was too hard. I put the game on my game shelf, resigned that it would join “Final Fantasy X” and “Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door” as games that contain final encounters that I couldn’t overcome. A day later, I couldn’t deal with leaving the game unfinished, so I took it back off the shelf, consulted GameFAQs to deduce a better strategy. And I beat it.

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Earlier this week, we saw that many people are excited about “Wii Fit.”

Some claimed that it would be a great supplement to their exercise regimen. Others said they would use it to start exercising.

While it’s great that people would want to use “Wii Fit” to get in shape, I wanted to see what a personal trainer thought. I was too busy chatting with regular folks to speak with the celebrity trainers at the Central Park event, so I sought someone local to my neighborhood.

I met with Nathan, a certified personal trainer and an employee of the Fifth Avenue Fitness Collective, at my apartment. In the industry for two years, he works individually with private clients and teaches classes to people of all ages, levels and abilities, focusing on general strength and cardio.

We went through the different elements of the game, and he gave me an assessment for each portion. Here’s what he thought… Read more…

While there may have been a big event in Central Park celebrating the release of “Wii Fit” yesterday, there was a whole other kind of “event” going on at the Nintendo World Store.

The game was released exclusively at the store yesterday and available for purchase for both those with pre-orders and those without. Multiplayer stopped in there after we checked out the event in Central Park and snapped some pics:

Both lines (upstairs and downstairs) were about 45 minutes long. I opted to wait a few more days to pick up the game.

Photos courtesy of Jesse Angelo

Yesterday, Nintendo held a day-long “Wii Fit” launch event in New York City’s Central Park.

The press release promised that I’d see “Hundreds of consumers of all ages twisting and tilting their bodies atop the innovative Wii Balance Board.”

As I left MTV’s Time Square office at 11:30a.m. yesterday, on a somewhat rainy and overcast day, I didn’t expect to see “hundreds” of people there.

But I was wrong. Under little tents at the Merchants’ Gate area of the park, throngs of people were playing “Wii Fit,” each with a “trainer” (read: promotions company employee in “Wii Fit” garb) showing them different activities. (You can check out our photo gallery of the event.)

Although celebrity personal trainers such as Harley Pasternak and Ashley Borden were also on hand, I wanted to talk to the contorting “consumers” brave enough to slip off their shoes and try the game amidst a crazed media frenzy.

Here are a few people’s first feet-on impressions of the game:

Daryl, 47, and Tracey, 38, New York

It was hard to miss Daryl and Tracey — they were two transit authority workers wearing bright orange vests (”We’re on break!” they insisted). Read more…

It seemed like a great day to go play in Central Park. The sun was shining (for the most part), the air was crisp, and the park was brimming with people. Fortunately, Nintendo remembered to bring their Wiis along - 38 of them, hooked up to “Wii Fit” for the public to enjoy.

Nintendo celebrated this week’s release of “Wii Fit” by bringing the game to the people, and there’s no better place to find people than in Central Park. The southwestern Merchant’s Gateentrance was taken over by “Wii Fit” tents, personal trainers and many, many balance boards. It was a great opportunity for people to give the game a shot, outside, in the “fresh” New York City Air.

      

All of the balance boards that were set up at the kiosks were accompanied by a “trainer” and you could choose what you wanted to play. Most of the screens were focusing on the games that are included on the disc: soccer, hula-hoops, and the high-wire cross. A couple of set-ups showed off the yoga poses in the game.

      

As an added benefit Nintendo promised to make a donation to the American Heart Association - five dollars for every person that tried the game in the park today.Photos courtesy of Jesse Angelo