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Wii Sports is best-selling game of all time, according to VGChartz
We're automatically skeptical of any reports coming out of an organization who uses the letter "Z" to pluralize, but we find it difficult not to believe in a recent finding from VGChartz (sigh), who claim that Wii Sports has surpassed Super Mario Bros. as the best-selling video game of all time. After compiling last week's software sales, they've concluded that Wii Sports has barely crept past the 40.24 million mark that kept SMB on top of the pile for a bajillion years.Of course, its worth noting that both games were bundled with their respective platforms (except in Japan and South Korea, whose Wiis were Sports-less), greatly boosting their sales. We wouldn't be surprised if the report proves to be accurate -- nor would we be shocked if Nintendo is currently looking for the highest, broadest rooftop from which they can proclaim their latest sales triumph.
Everlast boxing gloves: Float like a butterfly, look like a chump
Boxing manufacturer Everlast has revealed that it will be joining the burgeoning Wiimote/Nunchuk add-on market, starting with these $30 synthetic leather boxing gloves. Why? Because it's the end times, that's why.Still, The New York Times seems impressed. "The gloves give you some sense of being in the ring," lies the once-respected newspaper. Obviously, we don't have to tell Wii Fanboy readers that this is tat, but, y'know, inform your relatives/friends or something, before you find yourself wearing these Christmas morning.%Gallery-33381%[Via Go Nintendo]
Nintendo UK wheels out the celebs ...
... with mixed results. But let's start with the good ones: Patrick Stewart will be back this Christmas to sell the DS and Brain Training to Brits (as he was last year), and he'll be doing it alongside Julie Walters. Hurray! The rest of Nintendo's celebrity line-up will be quite obscure to Americans, but when they produce lifestyle photography as brilliant as this, who the hell cares? They include: Girls Aloud. British girl pop group, and actually a pretty big name in Blighty. Most famous member is one Cheryl Cole, who seems lovely and sincere on X Factor, though isn't quite as pleasant if you meet her in a nightclub toilet. Fern Britton, once-cuddly, now gastric-band-wearing TV presenter, will be advertising Cooking Guide. Ronan Keating, one-fifth of Irish boyband Boyzone. Incidentally, in the process of writing this post, we discovered Boyzone were reforming. Ugh. Anyway, Ronan will be promoting Big Brain Academy. Jamie and Louise Redknapp, slightly thick but good-looking soccer pundit and his former pop star wife. Will join forces with their extended family to push Mario Kart Wii, Wii Sports, and Super Smash Bros.: Brawl. That's a lot of responsibility on the Redknapps' shoulders! We hope they're up to it. And going by Nintendo's current record in the UK, they'll probably do really well. Best of luck to all of them.
Wii systems getting rooms at Marriott hotels
Nintendo has announced a new deal with Marriott, through which hotel guests will be able to opt for rooms with special Wii systems loaded with 20 games. The program is only available in six locations right now during the pilot test of the program. Currently, guests must pay an extra charge for the Wii, access to which lasts for the duration of the trip. The preloaded games include Mario Kart Wii, Super Mario Galaxy, Wii Sports, and even Wii Fit, suggesting that the system comes with a Balance Board or is really boring. We're glad to see the tradition of weird hotel Nintendo systems continuing -- we've wanted to steal one of those LodgeNet controllers for years.
Wii Warm Up: The perfect introduction
We recently asked you if they were still playing and today we'd like to ask you what got them playing? What was the perfect game to use to introduce someone to the Wii? The bundled Wii Sports? Or do you think there's another game that better presents what the Wii is all about and what kind of fun one can have with the console? When introducing someone to the Wii in your life, what game did you use?
Wii Sports Boxing workout equivalent to the real thing?
You know as well as we do that, with some games, you can really break a sweat while playing Wii. Some student researchers from Cleveland University have found out that, at least in Wii Sports Boxing, your workout with Wii is equivalent to that of real, traditional exercise (they aren't the first to conduct tests, though). The goal isn't to get anyone to ditch those traditional routines, mind you, but to get more people exercising. Still, the difference in calories burned is kind of small. They found that working the bag for 30 minutes only burned 28 more calories than a workout with Wii Sports Boxing over the same period of time. They hope that working out with the Wii will be a more inviting prospect. "One reason people don't exercise is because they feel like it is too strenuous. With the Wii, they get the workout, but there isn't that negative feeling," said CSU Associate Professor Ken Sparks. "Even if you can't get out and jog, you may be able to get the exercise on the Wii."[Via Go Nintendo] People have been using the Wii to exercise for awhile now. Aside from Manhattanites paying exuberant amounts of money to workout with the machine, you can also read about a Canadian gym using Wii Sports right here. Surgeons are even using it! The Wii is also a great tool for those in rehab. It can pretty much do anything.
Manhattanites pay for the privilege of being too good to buy a Wii
Can't find a Wii or Wii Fit for home workouts?? Too good to bother haunting the shops in the hope that one turns up? You can always shell out for 'em on eBay, but why give some random dude the satisfaction? If you live in Manhattan, you've got another option: drop over a hundred bucks an hour to play a little Wii Sports.Quite a few trainers seem to be jumping on the Wii workout bandwagon, but we rarely get to see more than a vague estimate of the cost of the sessions. Dorothy Evans isn't shy about trumpeting her fees, however; if you want an hour with her, it's $110, and the NYC-based fitness maven is mixing Wii Sports (on a twenty-foot screen!) in with other activities, and she calls it a full-body workout. Maybe we should be playing harder.[Via Kombo]
Nintendo: Hardcore gamers 'critically important to us'
"Absolutely the hard-core gamer crowd is critically important to us." Which would explain why so much of Nintendo's E3 press conference was taken up by spirited flailing, smiling soccer moms and the worst rendition of the Super Mario Bros. theme the world has ever been forced to endure. But Nintendo hasn't forgotten about the mythical "hardcore" gamer crowd, Cammie Dunaway tells Wired. The executive VP of sales and marketing, who insists that she's a "genuinely smiley, nice person," explains that "the Zelda and Mario teams are hard at work," possibly on something that could rival the infinitely desirable Super Mario Sluggers. "And even Super Mario Sluggers, which is certainly an expanded audience title, but what core gamer doesn't love Mario and baseball and finding out which combination of characters are going to do what kind of crazy things in the field?" she ponders.Dunaway also notes that Nintendo is committed to a variety of games, catering to casual players with titles like Cooking Navi, and exciting tougher crowds with the DS iteration of Grand Theft Auto. We mean, she must have seen it, right? "I have not looked at the product. Have you?" Well, no ... but we haven't been incorporating it into our sales pitch either.
E308: Wii Fanboy's E3 Endgame Evaluation
In the second year of the newly revamped show, Nintendo released a few much-desired games, as well as a pair of incredible peripherals, and yet, there seemed to be something missing. Much of the show's excitement came from third parties (on my Nintendo Wii?), and some found Nintendo's announcements disappointing. Whatever your reaction, we're sure we can all agree on one thing: there was a ton of news and a flood of media. Luckily, you can revisit it all right here (even the week's most outrageous story, which wasn't even from E3).We've listed a few of the show's highlights below, but for the full index of all our 2008 E3 coverage, hit the break. We still have a few items rolling in, and we'll be updating the index as that happens. Check back with us over the next few days by clicking the E3 sidebar graphic. A new Pikmin sprouts! Animal Crossing: City Folk confirmed The Conduit will use WiiSpeak Wii Sports Resort announced (and Wii MotionPlus!) Mega Man 9 feels more like a 10 Wii Fanboy bats-on with Mario Super Sluggers Animal Crossing to support keyboards, save fruit-picking time Wii Fanboy hands-on with Wii Sports Resort
Joystiq E3 hands-on: Wii Sports Resort
What Wii Sports did for the Wiimote, Wii Sports Resort does for the Wii MotionPlus. The added precision of the Wii MotionPlus gets to show off in the title and, from the three minigames we experienced, it gives an idea of how other games could benefit from the accessory.We had a chance to try out Disc Dog, Power Cruising and, our favorite, Sword Play. Nintendo says the Wii MotionPlus gives 1:1 control, but that's stretching the truth just a little. The controls certainly feel more precise than the Wiimote in its current state, but we're not exactly sure just yet if it'll fulfill gamer fantasies of precise lightsaber duels.%Gallery-27741%
Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 7/7-7/13
We're kind of glad to see Persona 4 blow away the competition in software, even if it's not a Wii game (cough -- it should be). Nothing else really sold all that well, not even the games in the top ten. Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii keep piling on copies to their ever-growing mountains, though, and remain snug in the top ten.The other big news in terms of Japanese software is the release of Resident Evil 0. Capcom's port did debut at spot six, but only sold 20k copies in its first week. This game won't come even close to being the cash cow that Resident Evil 4 was, but we're sure Capcom will still make a pretty ported penny.Hardware sales show that the Wii was stuck in third, again:You can check out Japan's software sales and rankings from last week after the break.
E308: Nintendo keynote photo tour
Click to start the tour So, we've had tons of content up for you all yesterday, because that's how we roll and we'll be damned if The Man is going to stop us! For those of you hungry for more, know that we're going to continue the flood of content, but we've also got a huge photo dump from the Nintendo E3 keynote for you. Within, you'll find all of our pics from the luxurious seats found in row 12. Missed some of the bits about how well the DS is selling? We got it in images. Want to see Shaun White's hideous Mii? We got you covered. Check it all out in our gallery below.%Gallery-27788%
E308: Wii Sports Resort bundle gets priced?
According to Gizmodo, you'll be shelling out the usual AAA Wii price when snagging Wii Sports Resort this spring. The bundle, which includes the new Wii MotionPlus adapter, will cost $49. This all came from a nameless Nintendo exec, apparently.Seeing as how the original Wii Sports fetched the same price in Japan, and was eagerly lapped up there, we wouldn't be surprised if this was the case. Nintendo can certainly get away with charging as much, because, let's face it: most of us are going to be picking it up.%Gallery-27709%
Nintendo Wii E3 2008 screenshot roundup
Well, at least grammy's pleased with Nintendo's first party lineup... (Plus: If you've got a longer attention span than Nintendo, we've got shots of two overlooked titles after the break!) %Gallery-27738% %Gallery-27739% %Gallery-27741%
E308: Wii Fanboy reacts to Nintendo's keynote [update]
[Updated: Now with JC talking about things!]With so many highlights from this year's Nintendo E3 keynote, we're finding our live chat wasn't enough to cover our thoughts and opinions on what was shown. So, below, you'll find some impressions akin to what we did last year. Enjoy.
E308: Wii Sports Resort announced [Update 1: Screens!]
To some, Wii Sports is almost synonymous with the Wii itself, so you can paint us totally unamazed to hear that there'll be a follow-up. Wii Sports Resort will launch in Spring 2009, shipping with one of those fancy new Wii MotionPlus add-ons and a special Wii Remote jacket to house your elongated Wiimote.The theme here is beach games -- perfect for people like us who don't particularly enjoy going outside, let alone baring our flesh. On stage at Nintendo's E3 press conference, we were treated to demos of games such as Disc Dog (lobbing a frisbee for your dog), Jet Ski (self-explanatory), and a sword-jousting minigame in which players attempt to knock each other off of a platform. So, who's excited?[Update 1: First screenies!]%Gallery-27709%
Wii Fanboy E308 Poll: What games series needs Wii MotionPlus?
You've had several years to complain about the missed potential for immersive applications with a Wii Remote supporting true 1:1 response; now that Nintendo has announced the Wii MotionPlus accessory, enabling games to track your movements faster and more accurately, we want to know which game series you feel would benefit the most from the new technologyAre you hoping for the most obvious pick -- compelling lightsaber duels in a Star Wars game? Or are you looking for Wii Sports 2 with support for more subtle movements? If you don't see your preferred series in our list of poll choices, make sure to leave a comment and let us know what game you think needs Wii MotionPlus!%Poll-16808%
Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 6/30-7/6
The first thing we noticed upon scanning through last week's top thirty games was that Shiren the Wanderer 3 was missing, to our disappointment. The second thing we noticed was that Tales of Symphonia dropped 100,000 copies from its debut week's sales. While the top thirty software chart definitely looks promising for the Wii at a glance, we can't really feel good about placements in light of such details. As for what Wii game topped the rest? Look up and take a guess.On the hardware front, the Wii stayed put in third behind the handhelds:Since hardware is only half the fun, though, check out the software numbers too after the break.
Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 6/16-6/22
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Well, except for the PSP, that is. Sony's handheld is still as mighty as ever. Even so, the Wii toppled all the other home consoles once again last week, reclaiming its second-place spot: The new Wii kid on the block in the charts is Mario Super Sluggers, which didn't sell as well as we thought it would, considering that it's a baseball game -- one published by Nintendo, no less. That's why we love Japanese sales so much, though. Just when we think we have the country all figured out, it goes and surprises us again.Everything else Wii related is pretty much just business as usual, but check past the break to see where the games ranked in the top thirty and how much the top tenners sold.
Wii releases in Taiwan next month
Following its recent release to Korea, Nintendo has made an official announcement that the console will now also release in Taiwan. On July 12th, gamers will be able to nab a Wii of their very own. And, even better than the Japanese, their console will come bundled with Wii Sports. Do you think sales will be as poor as Korea?
