Wii Fit Plus hits shops tomorrow

Along with all the original Wii Fit features, there are fifteen new balance-board exercises, and six new strength and yoga programmes. You can now also customise your fitness routines to make your at-home training regime even easier and there's even a calorie counter which makes reaching your targets more measurable.

Wii to target "Halo-audience"

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Not content with outselling both the Xbox 360 and the PS3, Nintendo America boss Reggie Fils-Aime has claimed that the Wii can, and will, begin to attract even more users including more hard-core gamers as well as people that don’t currently play video games at all.

The Wii has blossomed in the casual market, which didn’t really even exist before its launch, but Fils-Aime believes that it can also more than hold its own it terms of attractiveness to more regular gamers.

He believes that titles such as The Conduit and Dead Space Extraction will be enough to win over the “Halo-audience” and titles like Wii Fit Plus will be enough to convince non-gamers into becoming Wii owners.

Fils-Aime said: “We’re not going to be satisfied just picking up that existing gamer. We have to reach beyond and get that consumer who doesn’t game. That’s the only way we’ll be able to continue growing as a company and as an industry.”

With the huge success the Wii has enjoyed since its launch, it would be foolish to write-off Fils-Aime’s claims. The Wii has continued to shock and impress the gaming industry and it isn’t really that hard to envisage the console becoming even more popular.

Wii-Dum, Wii-Step & Wii-Skab – Nintendo controllers beginning to border the ridiculous

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With the Wii Fit proving to be bigger than Jesus right now, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise to see more Nintendo controller accessories thrust into the market, but somehow it is, especially when we’re talking dumbbells, a step and a skateboard.

You can fit the WiiMote straight into the 1.7lb WiDums and use them to tone your triceps in WiiFit, Jillian Michaels, Golds Gym Cardio, EA Sports Active and Fitness Ultimatum 2005. What fun they all sound like. In three months time, they also double as very handy paperweights.

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The unfortunately named WiSkab attaches directly to the Balance Board and allows you to tilt and pump in all kinds of directions as if you were gliding on wheels or snow. It’s the size of a full size skate deck and will work with Skate it, Shaun White Snowboarding and We Ski and Snowboard.

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Last of all is the Aerobic Step which raises you Balance Board up to a height of 4″ for an authentic step class experience. It’ll support up to 350lbs, so provided you can get yourself up to stand on the thing, then it’ll work for you. It comes with rubber pegs to stop you sliding around the floor and, like the other two, it ships from CTA Digital from 29th May. No word on the pricing just yet but I’d plump for around the £30/40 mark.

Zara on EA Sports Active:

Susi on Wii Fit:

SHINY VIDEO REVIEW: EA Sports Active for the Wii

With the Wii Fit the best selling product in the galaxy, and the next three beyond right now, it’s not a huge surprise to the likes of EA jumping on the diamond encrusted bandwagon with their version of home exercise. Ladies, gentlemen and Shiny Shiny’s Zara Rabinowicz, meet EA Sports Active…

There are 26 cardiovascular exercises to bore yourself senseless/knacker yourself out with and provided you’ve already got the Wiimote and Nunchuck you can pick it up from EA for £50 from 19th May or for £35 with free delivery if you go shopping here instead.

Tech Digest Podcast #2

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Here’s the second podcast from the team at Tech Digest. This week, we got stuck in to Twitter being bought by Google, Conficker’s no-show, and whether or not it’s reasonable for networks to get upset about Skype on the iPhone.

In the middle section, Dan extolled the joys of the Kaleidescape home cinema system, while I tried to convince him to use a couple of services that boost your Twitter experience – Mr Tweet and Topify.

Lastly, we talked about about the death of some poor guy while using Wii fit, and the end of Microsoft’s Encarta encyclopedia. I miss mindmaze so terribly 🙁

A small round of applause to the venerable Andy Merret, a.k.a. the Tech Trumpet, for coming up with some jingles for the start and end of the podcast. They’re rather good, aren’t they? Thanks Andy!

Download the podcast directly here, or subscribe via this URL.

As ever, if you have any comments, topics that you’d like us to talk about, or general abuse, throw it our way by sending us a tweet at @techdigest or emailing [email protected].

Man dies using Wii Fit – port and kebab diet possibly to blame

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A 25-year-old scout leader from Yarmouth died while using his Wii Fit making this the first balance board related death in history, or at least the first I’ve heard of.

Tim Eves was found by his girlfreind and flatmate in March slumped on the floor presumably with the machine still running and encouraging him to pick up the pace and not to be such a slow coach.

Mr Eves had just got back from holiday in Lisbon celebrating his mother’s birthday and it was she to whom Mr Eves last spoke moments before his death. She said:

“We spoke to him on the phone when he was playing on the Wii machine. He told us he had just ordered himself a kebab and was sitting there with a glass of port.”

“But a little while after he had put the phone down, he collapsed for no reason. It was completely out of the blue.”

The body is currently undergoing a post-mortem but for the while it is being treated as Sudden Adult Death Syndrome, which is, of course, a fancy way of saying that they haven’t got a clue.

It seems unlikely the Wii was to blame. Personally, I’d look to the diet of port and kebabs. It might also be worth noting that according to his mum, Mr Eves had only ordered the kebab and not yet eaten it. That puts the the delivery man right in the frame for me. I’m sure I’ve dished out enough drunken abuse in kebab shops over the years for someone to decide that enough is enough. Apparently, I’m not alone.

(via Telegraph)

Wii Fit add on to bring real live medical advice to the comfort of your own console

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Now it’s not just the gym that needs to worry about what Mario and his pals are up to in your home. Yes, medical practioners of the world need now fear for their jobs, or more likely the ones in private healthcare better start saving, because Nintendo is planning an add on for the Wii Fit apparently called the “Check-Up”.

NEC, Hitachi and Panasonic have got it in development and what it does is to forward on the results from your Wii Fit activities to a medical professional…