WiiBalanceBoard
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Wii Fit U hits retail January 10th, still won't work unless you use it
Come January 10th, Nintendo's tardy Wii Fit U will hit store shelves at a handful of price points and configurations -- all with the intent of making both you and your wallet lighter. If you missed out on last generation's fitness-game craze, a bundle with the software, a Wii Balance Board and Fit Meter fitness tracker will cost you $90. Just need the new game and a Fit Meter? That'll set you back $50, while individual Fit Meters go for $20 each. Luckily, if your pocketbook is already thin, The Big N is still running its trial-to-full-game-conversion promo if you download Wii Fit U from the eShop and sync a Fit Meter. That $30 discount only lasts through January though, so running to the store might be a good idea.
Appeals court upholds Nintendo victory over IA Labs in patent lawsuit
Companies that prevail in patent lawsuits can't relax until the inevitable appeal is over -- just ask Motorola. Nintendo, however, can take a momentary break. A US Court of Appeals just upheld the company's win over IA Labs, declaring that the Wii Balance Board doesn't infringe on an IA Labs patent. While the ruling isn't all that vital when the accessory is now a rarity at best, it puts IA Labs on the hook for Nintendo's $236,000 attorney bill. It also sends a warning to other companies plotting similar legal assaults, although we'd still expect lawsuits when other patent holders are hitting paydirt.
Students use Wii Balance Board for kids' physical therapy system (video)
Nintendo's kid-tested, researcher-approved Wii Balance Board has struck at the heart of the medical supply industry yet again -- this time, the Bluetooth-connected scale is being used to help physically challenged children at Shriners Hospital in Houston. Seniors at Rice University hand-machined a set of force-sensitive parallel bars and programmed a monster-shooting game called Equilibrium to get kids excited about improving their walking gait, where they can play and score points with each proper step they take. The game automatically ratchets up the difficulty as patients improve, and handrails will play a part too, with a custom three-axis sensor box able to detect how much patients rely on the parallel bars (and dock points accordingly) in an effort to improve their posture. Yep, that sounds just a wee bit more useful than the Balance Board lie detector or the Wii Fit Roomba. Video after the break.
Nike Air Maxes get a Wii Balance Board infusion
Recently Nike -- a shoe company that seems to enjoy a side dish of tech from time to time -- challenged 78 artists to "hack" its shoes and come up with something decidedly different than your typical Air Force Ones. Now, a lot of the projects were more art and less tech, but that can't be said for entrant Nick Marsh's contribution to the experiment. The designer fused the internals of a Wii Balance Board with a pair of Air Maxes to create a gaming experience that may not be nuanced, but certainly seems capable of making you break a sweat. According to Nick, games are played exactly as they would have been previously, but since you can't step of the board, you're required to lift your foot or sit down when you need to back off on the pressure. Nick finished the project in April, but it sounds like a slightly more polished version could be in the offing. Check out a quick video of the shoes in action after the break, and hit the source for a slew of pics.
Two universities adopt Wii Fit to monitor football concussions
As it turns out, there are quite a few uses for a $100 off-the-shelf computerized scale, above and beyond getting fit -- Nintendo's Wii Balance Board is now providing a mechanism by which college football teams at Ohio State University and the University of Maryland can cheaply determine whether players are suffering from concussions. Taking the place of force plate machines that can cost tens of thousands of dollars, the white plastic boards measure students' balance (using yoga poses) and coordination (in Table Tilt) before a game, to provide a frame of reference against which trainers can measure whether athletes are fit to keep playing. Though some scholars found Wii Fit didn't stack up favorably against the expensive force plates, the universities trialing the system called it "pretty decent," so the question is whether Nintendo's peripheral offers a reasonable enough benchmark for the price. We suppose the American Heart Association liked it well enough.
Wii balance board could be used in fruitless airport security effort
You know that sweeping feeling of guilt that comes over you every time you're pulled over as part of a "standard traffic stop?" Yeah, those natural emotions are about to make you look incredibly suspicious on the way to your next flight -- or it will if the FAST project is ever turned into reality. The Homeland Security-funded Future Attribute Screening Technology effort, which has already ate away at $20 million in taxpayer dollars, essentially hopes to let flyers keep all of their clothes on while forcing them to stand on a Wii balance board (or similar) and have an array of sensors watch their every reaction to a battery of questions. The problem? Every innocent person on the planet's going to start sweating and shaking just being in that kind of scenario, and only the trained terrorists of the world are apt to be able to put truth aside and fake the machine into thinking everything is cool. Oh sure, we're being a little dramatic here, but seriously -- maybe the TSA should just require a complete life history as a prerequisite to boarding.[Via Popular Science]
Nintendo moves 15 million Wii Fit units in a year, 4 remain in use
Oh c'mon, just admit it -- you rationalized that Wii Fit purchase like so: "Oh, I can't afford this, but it's totally something to make me exercise! So, I'll buy it!" Fast forward two months later, and you're struggling to find space to hide the case. All kidding aside (sort of...), you can't deny the facts, and the facts are that the Big N managed to ship 15 million Wii Fits units in just 13 months. For comparison, it took right around 2.5 years to move 50 million Wii units, so it seems this here title is well on its way to hitting the same milestone in around the same amount of time. Unfortunately, you can't lose weight by simply handing over wads of cash to Satoru Iwata -- feel free to try, though.
Wii Check-up Channel will link you to health professionals, Dr. Mario
It was inevitable we guess what with everyone plus your grandma using the Wii. Now Nintendo Japan has announced a new Wii "Check-Up" channel that acts as a health guidance system between you and health professionals. Scheduled for an April launch, the system developed in partnership with Hitachi, NEC, Panasonic and a health insurance company is said to provide 2-way communication between users and health leaders who'll provide "healthy guidance" to otherwise Cheeto-stained gamer-types. The service appears to be compatible with both Wii Fit and its Balance Board as well as NEC's mobile phone health platform for checking progress or accessing advice remotely. It also appears to be usable anonymously. We'll update you just as soon as we get all these Japanese press releases translated. [Via Akihabara News and NeoGAF]Read -- NECRead -- Nintendo
Microsoft Surface made pressure-sensitive with Wii Balance Board
So you've got a spare Microsoft Surface and Wii Balance Board laying around, whaddya do? Well, you could try stacking them on top of each other and hope that big-ass table doesn't crush your little plastic Nintendo toy, and with some code slapped on what you'd end up with is pressure-sensitive surface computing. This clever little concept was cooked up by Josh Santangelo from "Stimulant." In his demo, featured after the break, he rocks Surface from side to side while colored spots roll back and forth, using a physics engine he developed for MS Silverlight. It's a great start and we would love to see this resourceful hack put to good use -- beyond that of a totally awesome yet ridiculously expensive tilt-a-maze game, minus the maze.
Wii Balance Board used to control Roomba... for reasons unknown
For Roomba hacking extraordinaire longjie0723, it's just another day in the office. Grasping for one more way to control the circular vacuum with something video game-related, he keyed in on the Wii Balance Board. Granted, he's already had success controlling the Roomba with a Wiimote, so we assume that whipping this one up was a lesson in simplicity. We still can't really understand why this here hack is necessary, but unlike decisions made by publicly traded companies, independent DIYers don't need no logic to get their mod on. Video after the cut.[Via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]
Man uses Wii Balance Board to control robot, takes aim at Segway next
It may never garner quite the same broad appeal among DIYers as the incredibly versatile Wiimote, but it looks like the Wii Balance Board is nonetheless spurring on some hackery of its own, including being used as a navigation device for Google Earth and World of Warcraft. While those hacks are certainly impressive enough, the board has only just recently fully earned its DIY cred by being used to control a robot, which you can see in action after the break. What's more, the man responsible for that hack, Juan González, isn't about to rest on his laurels, with him now promising to create a Segway-like device that's controlled simply using the Wii Balance Board. Needless to say, we'll be keeping an eye out for any progress on that one.Read - Balance Board Blog, "Wii Balance Board used to control robot"Read - Balance Board Blog, "Man developing Wii Balance Board Segway - Robosurfing"
Revolutionary: Balance and Options
Unlike most people, when I brought Wii Fit home for the first time, I didn't head straight to my Wii and slide the disc in to play. Instead, I tore apart the packaging to get at the Balance Board, which I then attempted to "hook up" to my computer. It took a while and a change in my method of operating, but I eventually got the thing connected and working in GlovePIE. It was at that point I started realizing what the Balance Board was really capable of, and this week I'll be sharing with you a few things I've learned about this new peripheral, so that you can start scripting for it and letting your imagination run wild.
Nintendo's Wii Fit December 1st for $75 (in Japan)
Wii Fit, out in December. Great news huh? Thing is, the ¥8,800 (about $75) Wii Fit is only announced for Japan so far. The kit features the Wii Balance Board which enables gamers to interactively head soccer balls and ski jump while partaking in other activities like yoga and aerobics typically thought to be cigarette-free. But you're at home moms, so feel free to sneak a few while pulling into a Downward-Facing Dog, we won't tell.[Via Joystiq]
Joystiq tries out Wii Fit and Wii Balance Board
While we were only able to check out Wii Fit and the Wii Balance Board from a distance, our pals at Joystiq found some time to kick off their shoes and see just how much of a workout the game/device combo provides. As far as the peripheral goes, Joystiq found the Balance Board to be "a lot lighter and sturdier" than they had anticipated, and they feel that it should hold up to a lot of force. It also apparently proved to be quite responsive during the three demos they were able to try, which also provided ample opportunity for them to embarrass themselves in front of a crowd. They were slightly less impressed with the Wii Fit game itself though, finding it appealing in a Brain Age sort of way but somewhat lacking as an actual game.
Wii Warm Up: Surfin, skatin, potential heartbreakin with the balance board
Yesterday, the air was filled with wanton speculation about potential uses for the Wii Balance Board that will be packaged with Wii Fit. Now we're looking to get all those ideas down in one place -- specifically, here. We've heard some things already, like surfing, snowboarding, and skateboarding sims, and maybe for boxing games, but what else can you think of? Feel free to be both outrageous and creative. Also, are you interested in trying out something like surfing with an interface like this?
Nintendo Wii Balance Board gets you stepping in upcoming Wii Fit title
Nintendo's Wii Zapper and Wii Wheel are great and all, but what's really going to get those casual gamers flocking is this here Wii Fit game and its accompanying controller. A sort of Wii counterpart to Nintendo's brain-sharpening DS thrust, the Wii Balance Board is a Reebok Step look-alike, with dual sensors that can detect your weight and balance on each side as you exercise to the various on-screen Wii activities in Wii Fit. The board is wireless, and holds the potential of full-body games involving the Wiimote and the Wii Balance Board simultaneously. If you've had enough gaming, you can also have the Balance Board diagnose your body mass index. Or not. No word on when these two will launch, or for how much. Plenty of action shots after the break.
