Though Don King’s Prizefighter wasn’t exactly a knockout on HD consoles, the fuzzy-haired one clearly has high hopes for the forthcoming DS and Wii versions, which come under the new name of Don King Boxing, and look to be quite different to their hi-def cousins.
The balance board isn’t required, but if you own one, it can be used for bobbing and weaving your way between your opponent’s blows. Meanwhile, 2K has incorporated a Boxercise mode, clearly in an attempt to cater to the Wii Fit crowd - though the press release suggests that it won’t just help you exercise, the program will also increase your boxer’s stats for his next bout.
“We’ve created our best set of real-life boxing exercises ever for Don King Boxing” claims the man himself. “It wouldn’t surprise me if a future world champion was introduced to the sport through this game. This is where you can get the skills that make for thrills.”
Or that pays the bills, presumably. Both versions are out on 27th March in Europe, and four days later across the US.
It was both good and bad news for Nintendo when the US NPD sales figures for October were released. (Mostly good, it has to be said.)
While Wii Music only shifted 81,000 copies in its first two weeks on sale, its host console was a roaring success, with Wii enjoying one of its best months to date, selling an incredible 803,000 units throughout the month. By comparison, the Xbox 360 - benefitting from a price-cut and a host of big-name titles (like Fable II, which pleasingly was the number one selling game for the month) shifted 371,000 consoles. This put it in third place behind the trusty DS, which sold close to half a million.
Slotting in neatly between HD biggies Fable II and Fallout 3 in runner-up spot on the software charts was Wii Fit, with 487,000 balance boards finding their way into homes across the US. Mario Kart Wii and Wii Play rounded out the top five, both selling just under 300,000 copies.
Observations? Well, this so-called ‘fad’ that is the Wii shows no sign of abating. Sony in particular must be getting very worried indeed - particularly as the much-vaunted LittleBIGPlanet (admittedly with not long to impress) was in eighth position with 215,000 copies sold, more than the console it appears on, which limped home with just 190,000 sales to its name. Oh dear. Hit the jump for the sales details in full.
Electronic Arts today announced details of EA Sports Active - essentially EA’s own take on Wii Fit, but it’s actually much more interesting than that.
Far from just a straight clone, EA Sports Active looks to provide a different kind of fitness experience to Wii Fit - and all without requiring the Balance Board (though the peripheral is supported).
It’s clear that EA has spent some significant time on R&D with this, as the press blurb and accompanying video proves. Rather than provide a series of disconnected exercises, in EA Sports Active you’ll be able to specify targeted workouts - used to focus on whichever area of your body needs the most work. While there aren’t as many activities as in Wii Fit (”over twenty” EA claims) it seems they’ll be more varied, and will be supplemented by regular downloads.
Intriguingly, it’s bundled with two peripherals - a resistance band which you place under your feet to make bicep curls and the like more difficult, and two leg straps, used to attach the nunchuk to your leg so the software can recognise your full body movement instead of just your arms. (The spare is so another player can join in simultaneously.)
It promises full one-to-one body movement, thirty day custom exercise plans, and the option for new peripherals for future exercises. Evidently EA sees this as more platform than game, with a ‘football version’ planned for release at a later stage. There’s a packed-in nutrition book, and it’s all endorsed by Bob Greene, personal trainer to Oprah Winfrey.
So yes, this is going to be big. It’s certainly one of the most intriguing forthcoming prospects on Wii, and from the sounds of things could provide a more thorough and effective workout than Wii Fit. And it’s out in March, so we’ve not too long to wait to see whether Nintendo has indeed been beaten at its own game.
Family Trainer is Bandai-Namco’s attempt to do something along the lines of Wii Fit, but in a more traditional game-like way. You won’t find any yoga or muscle training, but you’ll still be jumping about a lot, and moving your body to control a host of minigames. It comes with a large floor mat, and its games include co-operative and competitive play - so you can wind up almost playing virtual Twister as you try to balance a runaway mine cart, for example.
It was a moderate success in Japan, but Atari will no doubt be hope it can appeal to the casual and mass-market crowd - expect this to be trailed on TV come September.ÂÂ
You’re never quite certain of these things, but I’d say this was pretty much expected, despite the crazy lack of promotion. (Has anyone seen any telly ads yet? I’ve counted one so far.)
Yep, Super Smash Bros. Brawl has clobbered all comers to rise to the top of the All Formats Top 40, smacking LEGO Indy down to third place with the excellent Battlefield: Bad Company finishing in the runner-up spot. Only Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii beat Brawl’s first week total, and indeed both those games rise up the charts, with a new batch of stock responsible for a staggering 643% sales increase for the former, while the second moves up a few places, red shelling some rivals on the way, no doubt.
The other big Wii entry of the week is the heavily-advertised Big Beach Sports, kicking sand in the face of Solid Snake by moving into the Top 5.
Will Brawl have legs, though? In truth, there aren’t many massive releases for the rest of the summer, so it could well hang around the top positions for a few weeks, fingers crossed.
And it’ll use the balance board. Ooh, interesting.
Microsoft’s EA’s Peter Moore, president of the company’s sports division, revealed that the new Freestyle label (geared towards more casual-friendly gaming experiences) will play host to the as-yet-unnamed title, which will apparently give players quite a different type of workout from Nintendo’s smash hit.
“We…need to make sure we’re delivering something that’s truly exercise” said Moore, describing Wii Fit as “eastern fitness”. “It senses weight and balance, like Tai-Chi,” he explained. “It’s more about holistic fitness. I don’t think the board is going to take a pounding. We need to look more at western fitness in which I can actually be moving and start to sweat a little bit, and that’s what we’re working on right now”.
Wii Fit does its job admirably, but a more strenuous (yet hopefully still fun) programme wouldn’t go amiss. And let’s face it, if anyone can market such a title to the new gamer audience that are lapping up Nintendo’s effort, it’s EA.ÂÂ
It’s a shame that the games themselves are never as funny as the little teaser trailers, but the two Rayman Raving Rabbids games on Wii have been entertainingly disposable minigame-fests - the first, certainly. So it’s good to see that the third title in the series will clearly feature some kind of Wii Board support - whether it’s optional or compulsory is thus far unclear.
Still, nice to see another third party making the effort to get more use out of the peripheral - and given Wii Fit’s success, even if the board was required to play, it’d still have a sizeable audience. After We Ski (formerly Family Ski) and Prizefighter, this is the third major title to be supporting the board. Good news.
As expected, Wii Fit is numero uno in the software charts this week, sticking two fingers up at the naysayers who said it’d struggle at its £70 price point.
The game went straight in at number one, breaking the record Mario Kart Wii set just two weeks ago as the fastest-selling Nintendo game in UK chart history, and the sixth fastest ever - beaten only by GTA, Halo and Gran Turismo titles. In fact, given that the game is that bit more expensive than its peers, it’s actually the third-best in terms of value, weighing it at a humongous £16.3 million in sales.
Elsewhere there are six other Wii titles in the top ten, and two DS games, with GT5 Prologue the only gatecrasher on the Nintendo chart party. The two consoles account for twenty six of the top forty games.
Crazy numbers. The poor old GameCube seems a long while ago now, doesn’t it?
Wii Fit - not just toning bodies, but changing attitudes. It’s a regular miracle-worker.
That’s according to its creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, anyway. In an interview with MTV Multiplayer, Shigsy reiterated his desire to “expand the gaming population” and that Wii Fit would do just that. No arguments here. Though we’re not so sure about his later comment.
“As more and more people of different ages start playing  even if it’s just games like Wii Fit â€â€- their understanding of what video games are and the fact that they’re even playing games is going to better their understanding of what gamers are” he claims, adding ”in a sense what we’re doing by increasing the gaming population is strengthening their right to continue to game. I hope they’ll keep that in mind.”
Hmmm. Not so sure about that one. There’s quite a few people I know who are buying a Wii for Wii Fit and nothing else. Sure, they’ll probably have a go on Wii Sports, but to be perfectly honest, I can’t see my sister sitting down for a couple of hours on Metroid or Trauma Center. The bit which concerns me most is the thought that this “increased right to game” will lead to more and more parents, wives and girlfriends hogging the telly to continue playing Wii Fit while we’re waiting to have another go on Excite Truck.
Still, Miyamoto can rectify all this by announcing at E3 that Pikmin 3, which has secretly been in development for a year, will be released in Europe before Christmas. ÂÂ
SEVENTEEN QUID? Well, we suppose if you’re going to shell out seventy on Wii Fit itself, then it stands to reason that you’ll be prepared to spend extra on a gigantic non-slip yoga mat to stick the balance board on.
Cynicism aside, apparently it’s a decent bit of kit - assuming you’ve got a fairly hefty lounge, that is. You can get this from Amazon, though it won’t be available until the 30th May. Which will probably coincide neatly with the online retailer having Wii Fit back in stock.
 
 
 
 
 
 
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