Nintendo Wii Fanboy

We were thinking about the confirmation yesterday that Wii Fit would be setting you back $90. That's a pretty hefty sum, if you ask us. Is it too hefty for you all, though? We've made a poll here for you to weigh in.

Following today's confirmation that the path to a more fit and healthy you with Nintendo's Wii Fit will cost you the hefty sum of $90 comes news that Amazon has opened up preorders for the bundle. When? Like, right now.

So for those of you who find the idea of parting with such a large amount of money irrelevant compared to the exercise the title will offer, then you might want to head on over and check out the page on Amazon. If you don't want to get it there, let us know where you plan on picking it up!



[Thanks, Justin!]

The Wii is further branching out into new areas of therapy, as we find out that not only is the console helping wounded troops and those who have suffered strokes and the like, but also to aid those in controlling their Parkinson's. When our obsession becomes less of a box to kill boredom and more a box to heal human life, you can bet that makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

It's all part of a Medical College of Georgia study to see if the Nintendo Wii can aid in the occupational therapy of those with Parkinson's. So, while it isn't a full-fledged commitment to the treating the disease through Wii, it's an acknowledgment that the Wii has helped others and could be something to help more folks in the future.

"We're hoping to show a slowing of the progression of the disease and a decrease in medication while increasing function. If we can teach patients to exercise and do functional activities, maybe we can have them take less medications," says Dr. Ben Herz, assistant professor of occupational therapy in the School of Allied Health Sciences and one half of the main team behind this study. "Because the Wii is interactive and you have to do certain functional movements to be successful," he goes on to say, "it's an effective modality for working with Parkinson's patients," says Dr. Herz. "One of the therapists uses the Wii for timing and loosening up, and the other uses it for coordination and balance issues."

[Via Go Nintendo]

We're sure all our readers out there are gearing up for the forthcoming Wii Fit and the plethora of exercise accessories that are sure to follow. In the spirit of that, you can now purchase a quirky "Wii"-branded pedometer to track your fitness goals in a more traditional way.

Although it appears a little light on features, the Sports "Gage" Pedometer for Wii Gamers is as inexpensive as it looks at only $6.98, though why it comes shaped like a dog bone is beyond us. The vendor and producer also seem unable to agree on the proper spelling of the word Gage... or is it Guage? (For the record, it's Gauge) But don't let little details like that discourage you!

A word of caution, however: the ever-so-slight alteration of the trademarked Wii logo (and complete absence of the word "Nintendo" from its packaging) likely indicates this to be an unlicensed product without any approval from the big N, so don't be fooled that this is any kind of official companion to Wii Fit's balance board. But for such a low price, it might still be of interest to Wii-oriented gyms out there.

This exotic wrist strap claims to make use of bio-ceramics, a composite of lead-free minerals, to douse your arm with far infrared rays and help with blood circulation. Though "far infrared rays" might sound sinister if you're not familiar with them and their uses, they are supposedly quite healthy.

You can't see far infrared rays in the sun's light, but you can feel their warmth absorbed into your skin. In addition to their blood circulation benefits, these miracle beams are also said to naturally reduce inflammation, decrease pain, and revitalize skin cells. All that for only 780 yen (approximately $6.33)!

In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Nintendo confirmed that they do in fact plan to release Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3 Corruption, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl by the end of this year, as well as pretty much every Nintendo game announced for the Wii. This corroborates an IGN report to the same effect, and is also totally, totally rad. Here's the full list of Nintendo's planned 2007 releases. Donkey Kong Taru Jet Race is slated for June 28, and the rest are all "2007":

• Donkey Kong Taru Jet Race
• Wii Health Pack
• Disaster: Day of Crisis
• Mario Party 8
• Project H.A.M.M.E.R.
  
• Wii Music
• Super Mario Galaxy
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl
• Battalion Wars II
• Forever Blue
• Mario Strikers Charged
• Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
• Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games

Keep checking with us for news of the inevitable delays of about half of these. Seriously, that's a lot of first-party Nintendo games for just half a year or so. Aw, we just made ourselves sad with our own skepticism. Still, if half of this stuff does get released in Japan this year, it'll be great news and do a pretty good job of ending any drought that may or may not be happening.

Update: fixed some italics and formatting.

Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative.

Some of the games we cover in this feature are worth talking about just because of their concepts. Zombie Nation, about a giant flying head, for example. Bronkie the Bronchiasaurus might be the ultimate conceptually-interesting game, at least to us, since it is one of the most bizarre and incongruous things ever to appear on a console. Bronkie is an educational side-scrolling platformer for the SNES about an anthropomorphic dinosaur with asthma.

While we cannot say we subscribe to Men's Health magazine, someone over at Infendo apparently does as they caught a mention of Nintendo's newest console in the "Ask the Girl Next Door" column of the most recent issue. Turns out, one reader is looking to get his girlfriend into gaming and upon asking how he can accomplish this task, receives the following response:

"Calling her over to watch you pistol whip a hooker in GTA or solve the riddle of the moon druids in Myst IV is not the way. Maybe you should buy that new Nintendo system with the stupid name, Wii. It was designed to suck video-dissing women into the virtual world. Personally, I'm addicted to Rockstar's Table Tennis and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory."

It's pretty easy to just name-check games, so we don't put much stock in her credibility as a gamer, however a mentioning of the Wii is easily accepted and encouraged.

[Via Infendo]