Nintendo issued a fairly terse press release earlier today, announcing that it has prevailed in a US patent lawsuit for the "third consecutive time this year." That particular case concerned Nintendo's Wii Balance Board accessory and Wii Fit and Wii Fit Plus software, which a company called IA Labs said infringed on one of its patents (No. 7,121,982); a claim that was dismissed by the Maryland District Court judge in the case. IA Labs was also more or less dismissed as a company by Nintendo's senior vice president of legal and general counsel Rick Flamm, who said that "we vigorously defend patent lawsuits when we firmly believe that we have not infringed another party's patent," and that "we refuse to succumb to patent trolls." The company's full statement can be found after the break.

You know, we've been pretty skeptical about the whole "fit" part of the "Wii Fit" phenomenon, and for good reason: as studies have shown, the health benefits of gaming, whether you're sitting, standing, or faux-bowling, are minimal at best. Still, for a number of consumers at home and abroad, the game conjures up notions of leading an active lifestyle. So perhaps it is no surprise, as the Telegraph reports, that Britain's National Health Service is using it to promote its Change4Life initiative -- even going so far as to allow the company to append the Change4Life logo on its upcoming Wii Fit Plus release. And how about those who cry foul -- specifically, those who point out that the deal includes Nintendo shelling out money to help promote the NHS-funded program. See how one might get the idea that this is a "pay to play" affair? To the government's credit, it does stress that it's endorsing an exercise, not a video game system. "Active video games, where kids need to jump up and down or dance about as part of the game, are a great way to get kids moving," a spokesperson said. Rob Saunders, the British spokesman for Nintendo, had this to say: "If you are worried about your bingo wings or your flabby bum, the game will give you specific exercises to target those areas." Bingo wings? Flabby bums? Why didn't you say so in the first place?

[Via Yahoo]

The Wii Fit Plus game may not be bringing any new hardware with it, but it looks like there's a few surprises in the game itself, not the least of which a new Segway mini-game that's been developed in partnership with Segway itself. As you can no doubt guess, that'll make use of the Wii Balance Board and Wii Remote to simulate what it's like to ride on a Segway, with none of the embarrassment or potential pitfalls associated with actually riding one in public. Amazingly, however, they look to have passed up the opportunity for a Segway Polo game and instead opted for a simple balloon-popping game that also involves a "mole-like creature."

Wii Fit not cutting the fat fast enough? Don't sweat it, the house of Mario is getting ready to make your weight loss competitive. According to Japan's Nikkei business daily, Nintendo will be launching its Wii Fit plus in autumn that will let users compete with friends and family over the Internet to "lose weight and other activities" -- the latter presumably hinting at cruel taunting Miis with the ability to point and laugh at the fatties. The new balance board is said to feature more precise measurements to better hone your sense of embarrassment and shame. E3 kicks off next week where we'll undoubtedly hear more if the rumor is true.