While many people are welcoming Wii Fit into their living rooms with open arms, did anyone stop to think of the spandex-clad, headband wearing, always friendly 80’s style fitness gurus? I didn’t think so.

Wii Fit is on course to be the best selling fitness device ever. It has been and will continue outselling exercise bikes, the Gazelle, celebrity exercise DVD’s, you name it. I’m concerned that this leaves many video trainers out in the cold with only a thin layer of stretch pants to shield them from the winds of change. Don’t be surprised if “Richard Simmons: Sweating with Wii Fit” hits the shelves later this year. I’d buy it.

telegraph

Rumor has it that Super Smash Bros. Brawl is a pretty good game. Rumor also has it that the game isn’t out in Europe and Australia, much to the dismay of those Nintendo fans. Not to worry, since there’s word that the game might be arriving Down Under by June 26th.

We’re still waiting for a confirmation on this from anyone, of course, but if true, Aussies will have the game as soon as June 26th, Europeans on June 27th, and the four major regions will be happy - provided that there are no more game disc or Wii drive issues…

Vooks

In Activision’s conference call lots of things were talked about and confirmed, but three things caught my attention: Call of Duty 5 will be heading to the Wii and DS (this time developed by Treyarch, not Infinity Ward), Activision is working with Nintendo to release a Guitar Hero: On Tour bundle which will include the attachment, game and DS, and lastly, the already confirmed but wasn’t officially confirmed Guitar Hero IV has finally been confirmed. This time around Activision plans on expanding the Guitar Hero franchise by releasing it on all platforms — including the Nintendo DS — and with more peripherals.

No specific release date has been released for the yet-to-be-named Guitar Hero IV, but was given a “Holiday 2008″ label. Not too sure how they expect us to fit all these plastic instruments in our living spaces. Imagine where we’ll be in a few years. Any suggestions?

Sonic isn’t an accurate portrayal of what a Hedgehog really looks like. Many of us have probably found that out the hard way through a documentary on the National Geographic Channel or a textbook as we grew up. But what if our beloved Sonic were to look like an actual Hedgehog? Using Adobe CS3 and Wacom Intous3 Pen Tablet, computer artist Marcus Blattermann drew what he believes is Sonic the REAL Hedgehog. An amazing piece of work, but I prefer my blue, more attractive Sonic over the brown one any day.

essenmitsosse

Just like last week, gains all around. except for the DS Lite. The biggest jumps in hardware sales were enjoyed by Nintendo platforms, though Sony’s PSP still maintains a commanding lead in Japan for the week ending May 4th. On the software charts, Mario Kart Wii wins top honors yet again, Phoenix Wright 2, 3, and 4 place within five ranks of each other, and Super Mario Galaxy creeps back onto the charts at #46.

• PSP: 100,870 (+8,459)
• Wii: 71,518 (+22,722)
• DSL: 52,542 (+10,107)
• PS3: 10,177 (+1,070)
• PS2: 8,802 (+1,694)
• X360: 1,725 (+442)

Full software sales rankings can be found after the break.

Continue Reading »

Daily. Haha.

So I finished my spring semester of school yesterday and made the two hour drive home after getting soaked in a downpour while loading everything into my car. Alright, it didn’t downpour the whole time - just when I went out one last time to actually get into car. I finally get home and find everything just as I left it - including these old Sega Game Gear collectible cards that came with some bubble gum. I was reading one of the game tips on these cards to Matthew over spring break, just for fun. If you can’t read it above, you can read a close-up image here.

Can you imagine getting walkthroughs like that for today’s games? Or someone reading it to you as you play? “Wait, slow down, I lost you after ‘Begin the level…’”

News & Information
Ex-Nintendo president named Japan’s richest man
Peter Moore wants to pump you up
Dr. Mario given a title, price, and date
GameStop ceasing Wii Fit pre-orders
Nintendo plays Big Brother with the Nintendo Channel
Select Wii games on sale at Circuit City next week
VGChartz data shows record-setting April for Wii
MLB Power Pros 2008 ships in July for Wii, Fall for DS
Top Chef heading to Wii?
$10 off Wii Fit at Best Buy
Hanabi Festival continues as PAL regions get four VC games
Pay-to-Samba coming in August
At the Drive-In’s “One Armed Scissor” confirmed for GH: Aerosmith … I think

Game Media
European Wii Fit website launches

Society & Culture
reNESED makes the original NES chic, attractive
NES controller coffee table promotes playing with furniture
Metroid Prime 3…D! Sort of.
‘Will It Blend?’ takes on a Wii Remote
Prince William beats 18-year-old in Wii Tennis at a social gathering

Punknews.org reports that At the Drive-In’s “One Armed Scissor” will make an appearance in Guitar Hero IV, but says the title is releasing this June and alongside “more conventional tracks from band’s like Aerosmith and Def Leppard.” It’s safe to assume they have mistaken GH IV for Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, which I wasn’t going to purchase, but now that they mention At the Drive-In I may just take the dive. I’ve been a fan of that band since forever, and their more recent project Mars Volta.

Punknews.org
via NeoGAF

Just when you thought you could get excited about a promising new entry into the Samba de Amigo series, SEGA has gone and slapped an unmistakably orange icon on the game’s box art. GameStop’s entry for the game, listed as shipping on August 19th, suggests that the game will be the first confirmed game to offer Wii Pay & Play services.

There aren’t any other details on what the service will offer (I dunno…songs maybe?), but we’ll be finding out in the coming months. Considering that the game was shaping up to be worth buying in the first place, these costly downloads better be worth it as well, or the Sega fanboys may throw down their maracas…

GameStop

Three of this week’s Virtual Console offerings in the PAL regions are new to said regions, continuing this month’s invasion of import classics. I’ve not played some of them, but we all know you can’t go wrong with Puyo Puyo games, right? Also, joining those three games is the always-entertaining Metal Slug. You can check out the full list below…

• Puyo Puyo 2 (Mega Drive, 900 Wii Points)
• Break In (TurboGrafx-16, 700 Wii Points)
  
• Cho Aniki (TurboGrafx-16, 900 Wii Points)
  
• Metal Slug (NeoGeo, 900 Wii Points)

Expensive week, huh?

We all know that anyone, no matter age, gender or race, can enjoy the Wii, but royalty? Apparently they do as Prince William served an unfortunate person some whooping in Wii Tennis at a benefit held for the Valleys Kids Project. After his victory William went as far as saying “you know you’re not allowed to beat me.” Nothing like adding a little salt to the wound, eh William? When asked what happened, the 18-year-old named Martyn James replied, “I was stitched up.” A good sport, indeed.

Yahoo! News UK
via GoNintendo