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Wii Fit helps improve balance in seniors
As though demand for the Wii and Wii Fit wasn't going to be high enough during this year's holiday, another practical use for Nintendo's console has been discovered: helping to rehabilitate people, particularly seniors, after falls, and helping to improve balance in order to avoid falls. Brett Sears, a physical therapist with Capital Region Physical Therapy in New York, has been using Wii Fit in this way over the past four months, and his patients seem to enjoy the new method of training.It's not the first time we've seen the Wii used in this way, nor the first time we've heard about using Wii Fit for rehabilitation, and we're going to guess it's not going to be the last, either.[Via GoNintendo]
Homemade Balance Board -- with more board
Sure, the Wii Balance Board is great, but you can't stomp on it. Also, it doesn't look nearly enough like a big piece of plywood. That's where the "Swiitboard" comes in. This "homebrewed" Balance Board alternative couldn't be simpler: it's a board, on some foam, with a Wiimote cable-tied to it. But the real draw of this project, besides the availability of its parts in stores, is that you can actually run on the thing. Creator "frits" developed this for higher-impact exercise than the Wiimote allows, along with some custom software that tracks the motions of the tied-on Wiimote.See also: Wii Fanboy Interview: Johnny Lee, Revolutionary: Balance Boarder%Gallery-23865%[Via Engadget]
SwiitBoard: the sweeter way to get fit on the Wii
The Wii Fit's slab of a peripheral is called a Balance Board for good reason: it's fine if a little yoga and pilates action is all you need to keep in shape, but, sturdy as it is, jumping up and down is liable to form cracks before toned thighs. If you need some high impact aerobics to be rid of that spare tire you'll have to go custom, like the SwiitBoard from a cardio-loving Wii aficionado called frits. It's just a durable wooden plank propped up by foam blocks on either end and a Wiimote zip tied to the front. The magic happens in the software, converting the up/down impacts of jogging in place into forward motion, with left or right roll turning the avatar in the simple game he worked out (video below). It's perhaps a bit crude, but would you rather have a board that looks good or a bod that looks good? Yeah, we'd pick gadget aesthetics too. If you want your own, frits will sell you the software for €10 -- money that will fund another of his projects: a site that fights global warming via pictures of scantily clad, eco-minded ladies.[Via Hack A Day]
GameStop repeats itself: Wii shortages likely
Yes, we posted about this before, but as the giant boulder that is the holiday season ominously thunders towards us, we may as well say it again: GameStop will probably have some major Wii shortages in the near future.Chief financial officer David Carlson admitted in a conference call that the hardware "may be well out of stock by the holiday season," echoing another executive's recent claim that the 'Stop's inventory would be empty by the first week of December. He added that both Wii Fit and Guitar Hero: World Tour were "in very, very short supply" and "out of stock in many cases" respectively.Obviously, plenty of other places sell Wiis, but if a major name like GameStop is running out of the things, you can bet they won't be alone. Unless you want to end up like Johnny and Orlando up there, get your skates on.%Gallery-24459%
Man conducts symphony with Balance Board and Wiimote
Paul Henry Smith is one smart dude. He has created the Fauxharmonic Orchestra, a simulation of a real orchestra, brought to you by the Wiimote, Balance Board, and his brain. We're not classical buffs by any means, but what we're hearing (and seeing) is pretty impressive. We have on criticism, though. It looks like Paul is wearing his shoes in the video. Dude, you're going to scuff your very expensive peripheral!Otherwise, kudos, Paul, on a job well done.%Gallery-23865%[Via Balance Board Blog]
GameStop: Wii supply should last until early December
Chris Kohler attended the launch event of some Warcraft game at a San Francisco branch of GameStop last night, and ended up discussing the state of Wii availability this holiday season with a company executive.To the relief of parents up and down the land, the suit echoed GameStop's assurances from September, revealing that there should be enough Nin-Tend-O Magic Motion Boxes to go round until the first week of December. As Kohler points out, that date means GameStop has enough consoles to last beyond Black Friday, a small miracle. That's still not perfect, but it's a heck of a lot better than the last two years. Alas, the executive called Wii Fit a "different story"; maybe it's time to check out some alternatives.
Family Ski: World Ski and Snowboard and Dinosaur Suit
The new followup to We Ski may improve on the reality of the snowboarding and/or skiing experience. Aside from the obviously reduced costs associated with playing a Wii game versus taking a vacation, and the sharply reduced likelihood of serious falling-off-a-mountain-related injury, Family Ski: World Ski and Snowboard allows you to play a game of snowboard tag under the supervision of a guy in a dinosaur suit. We're glad to see the silly suits return.Speaking of silliness, the new course in World Ski and Snowboard also features a gigantic donut to jump through. Also there are normal races and half-pipes and such, if you're interested in stuff like that.%Gallery-33423%
Popular Science names Wii Fit one of this year's best inventions
Popular Science is smitten with the Balance Board and Wii Fit. In their top 100 inventions of 2008 feature, they feature the bundle and talk about the components that comprise the Balance Board. Personally, we've always been big fans of the whole package, aside from the price of the thing, so we're glad to see it get some exposure in an interesting magazine.%Gallery-4745%
Wii Warm Up: Keeping up with Wii Fit?
We know that when Wii Fit first released, many of you were eager to snatch up the bundle or, at least tried to. For those of you that did score a bundle, are you keeping up with the exercises? How long did it take you to give up on the routine of using Wii Fit on a regular basis? Or did you merely pick it up for the Balance Board? And, in that case, what game are you waiting for that uses the Balance Board?
Wii Warm Up: Peripheral issues
Wii peripherals have proven a profitable business for Nintendo, and a new member, the WiiSpeak microphone, will join this rapidly growing family later this month. In our experience, these accessories mostly enhance the games they support, and that's great and all, but it has been a while since we actually perched on our Balance Boards, or waved our Wii Wheel about to Mario Kart Wii, or Zappered zombies. When was the last time you played a Wii title with something other than a naked Wiimote and Nunchuk, and what was the game?%Gallery-23865%
IGN's feet-on Shaun White Snowboarding comparison
The question has been on everybody's lips since Cammie Dunaway shed her shoes and opened Nintendo's E3 press conference with Shaun White Snowboarding: can the Balance Board provide a notable leap forward for the snowboarding genre? IGN has a comparison of the PS3/360 and Wii versions of Ubisoft's snowboarding title, but if you're too lazy to read, the short answer is: no.At least, not in Shaun White Snowboarding. While IGN concedes using the Balance Board is "great fun carving down the slopes and doing spins off jumps," it ultimately "feels like a severely pared back snowboarding experience." In fact, Shaun White on Wii didn't impress IGN much at all, tying only one category (visuals/presentation) and losing the other four. Disappointing, because we know the Balance Board has tons of potential for this kind of thing.%Gallery-29887%
Skate It on November 19
Those looking to roll down the streets of San Vanelona and perform some flips, ollies and [error: skateboarding lexicon gap] via nontraditional controllers should be pleased to note the release date of EA's Skate It for Wii and DS. Both versions are slated to arrive on November 19th in North America and November 20th in Europe.Skate It, which offers optional Balance Board control on the Wii, allows players to "make skate spots their own by moving objects like ramps, rails, and benches to fit their individual skating styles" and partake in several multiplayer challenges, including Best Trick and Best Line. There's also the ominous-sounding chance of "getting worked in Hall of Meat." Pennywise, are you in this after all?%Gallery-22651%
Rumor: EA working on fitness title, will use its own peripheral
The latest Men's Fitness magazine had an interesting story about fitness and gaming (something we call "exergaming"). Apparently, EA is working on their own Wii Fit knock-off (remember, we heard about this months ago?), complete with their own peripheral. The article states that the new game will fall under the "All-Play" brand, which is the family-friendly label they use for the Wii. This new peripheral will somehow allow players to attach the Wiimote to their body, measuring how instense they run, squat and do a variety of other exercises, says EA's executive producer Dave McCarthy. We're not subscribers to Men's Fitness, to be honest, so we don't have the article to confirm any of this, so we're marking it as a rumor. If anybody wants to send us a pic or a scan, please, feel free. We'll be sure to update the post here.
Okiraku Putter (and Balance Board) Golf
We love the idea of Arc System Works' Okiraku WiiWare game series. Rather than selling yet another sports minigame collection, Arc is selling them a la carte as $5 downloads. With that tiny commitment, even the decision about buying this casual entertainment is a casual one. And if Family Table Tennis is any indication, the games are likely not to be terrible."Casual" may not necessarily mean "simple": the next Okiraku game to come out, Okiraku Putter Golf, allows you to use the Balance Board to fine-tune your golfer's stance, in addition to using motion controls for swinging. That sounds insanely complicated!
Reggie: 3 in 10 stores will have Wii Fit this holiday season, Wii console production up
Reggie recently sat down with the LA Times to discuss the Wii and the upcoming holiday shopping season. He says that about 3 in 10 stores will be carrying the Wii Fit bundle. For those of you still trying to track down the fitness package, those aren't the best odds.As for production of Wii consoles, Reggie says that Nintendo is churning out 2.4 million units a month. Compared to 1.6 million last year, Nintendo is really trying their best to satisfy the demand consumers have for the console. Whether they actually will or not, we'll just have to wait and see.%Gallery-4745%[Via Joystiq]
VC Friday: Tetris Party drops in PAL regions
A port of casual PC title Home Sweet Home (succumb to your IKEA nesting instinct) and The Incredible Maze (succumb to possibly the worst game on WiiWare) would struggle to get noticed in most weeks, but on the day Tetris Party finally lands in Europe and Australia? Poor things don't stand a chance, cos' there ain't no party like a Tetris Party! Tetris Party -- WiiWare -- 1200 Nintendo Points Home Sweet Home -- WiiWare -- 1000 Nintendo Points The Incredible Maze -- WiiWare -- 500 Nintendo Points %Gallery-18122%
The robots are coming: Overturn hits Japanese WiiWare next month
Studio Zan is lining up a November release in Japan for Overturn, a new vehicular combat game that sees manga characters (who look oddly out of place next to the game's 3D arenas) take control of hulking great robots.Overturn has yet to be priced or confirmed for a western release, but a Game Watch preview reveals that it will come with a Story mode, local multiplayer, WiFi play for upto four players, Balance Board compatibility, and full online leaderboards. Nice. Oh, and it reminds us of Robot Wars. %Gallery-35205%
Wii Fanboy Review: The Incredible Maze
The Incredible Maze is based on a simple, solid game concept: the wooden "labyrinth" toy. You know the one: you turn dials to tilt a wooden maze so that a ball rolls to the destination point without falling into strategically-placed holes. This concept is the basis for Super Monkey Ball, Kororinpa, and even (sort of) Mercury Meltdown Revolution. The Wii Remote, which can be physically tilted to control gameplay, seems like a natural for this sort of thing.It's harder than it looks to implement good tilt control on the Wii, however. And The Incredible Maze's tilt controls take what would otherwise be a pretty benign game and ruin it.
Wii Fit set to outpace Grand Theft Auto IV -- gamer geeks weep, gnash teeth
Unafraid to incite elitist gamer geek unrest, respected video game industry analyst Michael Pachter has supported a prediction by GigaOM that Wii Fit will outsell Grand Theft Auto IV this year. Yeah, you read right: the latest entry into what is arguably the biggest hardcore video game franchise around is gonna get whooped by an exercise tool -- we're not shocked, we're just laughing. GTA4 was dominating at first, but with time interest has waned while Wii Fit and its included Balance Board peripheral have stayed hot despite supply shortages. Nintendo's hardware-focused strategy seems to be working; the Balance Board install base is approaching 12 million, or roughly 30% of all Wii owners. You can bet it'll be put to good use in future games and other, less mainstream applications even after folks have given up on losing weight and resigned themselves once more to lifelong loneliness.
Rabbids go hog wild with farm equipment
IGN has uploaded a pair of new videos showing off minigames for the upcoming Raving Rabbids TV Party. The video above focuses on the minigame Monster Tractors, which, you guessed it, has you racing around the farm on tractors. Of course, with this being a Raving Rabbids game, it's not your normal tractor race. These are some souped-up tractors of epic proportions racing about in a highly comical fashion. Man, we love those crazy little rabbids.After you check out the video above, head on past the break to see video from the Mega Balls minigame. It's, uh ... weird.%Gallery-23883%
