The Challenge of Nintendo’s Wii Fit is finding it
June 1, 2008 Category: Wii Gaming No Comments »
For some Wii fans, the exercise in Wii Fit has been in running around trying to find one.
That was the case for Dhruv Thukral, a 25-year-old from Santa Monica who raced from store to store the day Nintendo Co.’s fitness game came out May 19.
Spielberg , Electronic Arts take aim with Boom Blox wii”It’s sold out everywhere,” the USC computer science graduate student said.
Wii Fit is the latest title for Nintendo’s Wii game console. Shortages have become a chronic condition for Nintendo, beginning with the Wii, which is still in short supply a year-and-a-half after the $250 console was introduced.
The new game, which retails for $90, offers more than 40 activities that challenge players in areas such as yoga, aerobics, strength training and balance. It comes with a motion sensor platform that resembles a large bathroom scale, which users stand on, and requires a Wii console to play.
At GameStop, a chain that specializes in video games, the first shipment sold out days before it arrived as shoppers plunked down cash to pre-order the game.
On Friday, Circuit City’s website had the game in stock at 8:50 a.m., but was sold out 10 minutes later, according to NowInStock.net, a website that tracks online stores for hard-to-find items.
On EBay, Wii Fit has been auctioned for as much as $150, a 66% markup.
Some who managed to find Wii Fit had to go to considerable lengths.
Chris Pereira, a 19-year-old video-game journalist from Rocky Hill, Conn., tried to pre-order a copy before the game was released but was told that all units of the game had already been reserved.
Pereira, an editor for Ziff Davis Media Inc., hit up Best Buy and GameStop without success. At the local Circuit City, a salesperson said the game was available, but when she turned around to grab a box, she came up empty-handed.
“They had apparently sold out minutes before,” he said.
He then scoured several stores before finding a copy at a GameStop store.
“The consumer response to Wii Fit was exceptional,” said Denise Kaigler, a Nintendo spokeswoman. “We are working as hard as we can to replenish the stock.”
She declined, however, to divulge how many copies of the game the company has sold. Nintendo had said Wii Fit already sold 2 million units in Japan, where it launched in December.
Analysts say part of the problem stems from Nintendo’s conservative approach in making hardware. Stung by the failure of its last console, the GameCube, the Japanese company resists building up too much factory resources for its products.
It also is shrewdly maximizing its profit by sending four times as many units to Europe, reaping the benefits of the strong euro, said Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities.
Pachter estimated that Nintendo shipped just 500,000 copies of the game in North America but as many as 2 million units to Europe.
“The shortage demonstrates one consequence of the weak dollar. We’re seeing companies ignore their largest market simply because they can make a greater profit elsewhere,” Pachter said.
“They know that Americans will be just as fat a few months from now” when Nintendo will have more units available, he said.
But the Wii’s runaway success could backfire if Nintendo is unable to manage consumer expectations, said Billy Pidgeon, an analyst with research firm IDC.
“That’s a tough line to tread,” Pidgeon said. “When does the consumer get frustrated and move on?
“So far, the Wii still has cachet,” he said. “But the fact that consumers can’t finda Wii or a Wii Fit is definitely a missed opportunity.”
Find it Here.
WII WITH WII BALANCE BOARD FOR WII GAME
alex.pham@latimes.com
2008 is the Year of the Wii Balance Board
June 1, 2008 Category: Wii Gaming No Comments »
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock somewhere, chances are you’ve heard the buzz about Nintendo’s latest creation, Wii Fit. If you haven’t, here’s a brief rundown. Wii Fit is the new lifestyle product for the Wii Console that combines the fun of gaming with the benefits of exercise. The Wii was a revolution in itself in the way that it allowed users to interact with games using wireless motion sensitive controls that were fun and easy to use, appealing to both gamers and non-gamers alike. Wii Fit takes this concept one step further with the introduction of the Wii Balance Board which comes bundled with the game.
The Wii Balance Board
The Wii Balance Board looks a lot like an oversized bathroom scale but it actually contains four pressure sensors that allow it to very accurately determine a user’s weight and their position on the board. This information is sent wirelessly to the Wii Console, allowing games to interpret a whole new range of motions and provides a completely new gaming experience. Wii Fit is the first game to take advantage of the Wii Balance Board and features over forty different exercises and games including yoga, muscle workouts, aerobic exercise and balance games.
Wii Fit is an Instant Hit
Wii Fit was launched in Japan at the beginning of December 2007 and it was an immediate hit, selling almost 1.8 million copies in the first four months. It was then released in the UK on the 25th April 2008 and almost immediately topped the UK gaming charts. Within days, retailers had sold all of their initial stock allocations and it was estimated that over 200 000 copies of Wii Fit were sold within the first week. In fact, one high street chain claimed to be shifting 90 copies a minute on launch day. Wii Fit is scheduled for launch in Australia on the 8th May 2008 and in the US on the 19th.
What’s Next after Wii Fit?
There’s no denying the success of Wii Fit even before its US launch which will no doubt be massive, but I predict that ultimately it’s the Wii Balance Board that’s going to be the big hit in 2008. Wii Fit has taken Wii from being just another games console to being an actual lifestyle product that wouldn’t seem out of place in the average home and this will mean a potentially huge increase in the gaming market. As the buzz and excitement of Wii Fit dies down, many Wii Fit owners will begin to wonder what else they can do with their Wii Balance Boards, and that’s when things will really start to get interesting.
Upcoming Wii Balance Board Games
Right now (1 May 2008), Wii Fit is the only game available for the Wii Balance Board but that will definitely change in the coming months. Namco Bandai has already confirmed the release of We Ski in the US on May 13 and 2k Sports have Don King’s Prizefighter scheduled for June and the list will grow. In fact, Nintendo US COO, Reggie Fils-Aime, confirmed that over 10 games were already in development.
No other games have been confirmed but there are already rumours spreading of Nintendo snowboarding, EA Skate, Rayman Raving Rabbids and even future Mario titles. Like I said, nothing’s been confirmed but whatever the case, Wii Balance Board games are definitely going to be a big hit in 2008.
Martin Graf is a recent Nintendo convert and a big fan of Wii Balance Board Games.
