Nintendo Wii Fanboy

If British accents annoy you, do not click this link. This one. Right here. It will take you to the Feel Great Britain website, where group after group of chortling, crumpet-eating British lads and lasses have a go at Wii Fit. The site is designed to complement to upcoming Feel Great Britain tour, running through July and August.

Nintendo aren't just sitting back and letting Wii Fit sell itself (which it does quite nicely, thanks). It's good to see they understand that exercising is an ongoing activity, and they are willing to actively support the product during the months ahead. If you happen to be British and haven't balanced your way to fitness yet, check out the website for official tour dates.

Nintendo is bringing Wii Fit to the people, to convince the few UK residents who have yet to preorder the thing that they're disgusting sacks they could benefit from a fun exercise program. The Wii Fit tour is traveling to populous locations like universities and shopping centers from this week through June to get random strangers up and leaning. "If you loved the energetic nature of Wii Sports you'll love Wii Fit, which makes it easy for everyone to experience a fun and interactive way to exercise which launches across the UK on 25th April 2008," the press release states (weirdly). They're right -- playing it at one of these events is going to be a lot easier than trying to find the thing in a store.

The tour starts this week at Mall Galleries in Bristol, where Wii Fit will be on display from the 18th to the 20th. The full list of dates and locations is after the break.

Now this is the sort of marketing Nintendo needs to be spending money on -- it's a Wii mall tour!

Don't take this the wrong way. After all, we love the ads. We're full of ad love. But the best footage we've seen of how the Wii works isn't in the polished ads. It's not any of the Red Steel guys or the kids throwing down with Bleach. No, the best of what we've seen is tucked away in the Wii experience videos, because they showcase the vast oceans of fun that the Wii can provide. How to communicate that to the masses of nongamers? Let them get their hands on a Wiimote. Perhaps this mall tour can do a little more of what the kiosks are supposed to do. And if you're near a Westfield mall between November 15th and January 13th, maybe you can see it in action. Take a nongamer friend and put a Wiimote in their hand. It'll work, because peer pressure is what friends do best.

Full list of mall tour locations after the jump. We do not have specific dates for each location yet, but we'll guess they go in order. So if you're around Arcadia, CA, start making some calls!

Yes, these Fusion Tour events have been going for several weeks now, I know. And you've probably read plenty of impressions, too. But not from Nintendo Wii Fanboy, you didn't, so grab a mug of hot cocoa and your favorite fuzzy slippers. It's time to read.

I, like most of you, had never played with the Wii before tonight. I was unable to attend E3, and despite my posting nigh every single day on the strange little machine, I had no idea if it could actually fulfill my every expectation. Would I have to convince myself that the controls would work, as opposed to just knowing that they would? It was almost nervewracking ... waiting to see if all that I work on and write about would be somehow validated.

One of our readers from the Detroit area recently attended the Nintendo Fusion Tour there and, like the class A reader he is, caught a whole bunch of the show on film, including play time with the Wii. Of course he did, we aren't a music blog after all!

So head on into the post to see the embedded videos, presented after the break.

[Thanks Ali!]

One tech-savvy attendee of Nintendo's Fusion Tour decided to snap up some footage of a few of the available games at the event. In playing Excite Truck, Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam, and Wii Boxing, they've filmed themselves playing plenty for you to gawk at, fine reader.

As always, videos are embedded into the post, after the break.

[Via Go Nintendo]

Truth be told, if you're headed off to one of the Nintendo Fusion Tour in numerous locations around the country, you're probably not heading there for the music. Hawthorne Heights and Relient K may excite the plebian youth, but not seasoned and impossibly articulate gamers such as ourselves. No, we are drawn to higher forms of art and diversion. Like, you know, pretending to hula hoop to earn a green checkmark on a bright screen.

In any case, the NFT kicked off with its opening act in Columbus, Ohio last night, and we've got some early impressions of the event. Wii and DS units galore, but nothing Earth-shattering, save perhaps for the mysterious disappearance of the glowing blue light from the propietary slot-loading DVD drive. It's a rather disturbing absence, as that remains on the coolest aesthetic features of the console. Is it gone for good? Read the full impressions after the jump.

As gamers, you're probably only concerned with music composed by Nobuo Uematsu or Michiru Yamane, when in fact there is a whole world of alternatives, good alternatives out there. So do yourself a bit of good, go out into that wide world (watch out for bears) and discover things for yourself. Oh, and while you're out there, why not attend a concert and play with the Wii. Some of the bands playing in the Nintendo Fusion Tour 2006 are Hawthorne Heights, Relient K, Emery, and The Plain White T's.

There's no mention as to what capacity the Wii's presence will be in at the show, but something is better than nothing, eh? For those who did not get to try the console at the yearly Electronic Entertainment Expo, this is a good chance to give it a spin before it launches.

[Via Codename Revolution]