Seniors compete in the National Senior League's Spring Wii Bowling Championship using Skype. The NSL runs for seven weeks and include a 64 team tournament bracket. They expect to have as many as 1,500 teams in the future. Take a look:
A clever Ghosbusters fan named Jack modified his Wii remote to look like a proton pack for the Wii Ghostbusters game. Here is what the gadget's creator Jack had to say about his creation:
The cyclotron features four blue LEDs allowing you to know which player is selected or active and the Blue Power Cell actually shows you how much power the pack has. The Thrower has been carefully designed in regards to ergonomics and function. The front of the wand has an area in which you can place the Wii-mote and the back handle is where the Nunchuck is placed. Since the Wii-mote has in internal speaker in it's ABS housing, when playing the game the pack makes all the iconic Ghostbusters SFX.
Real Heroes: Firefighter for the Wii is expected to be out August 11th. Players play the role of a rookie firefighter as firefighters battle fires in a major metropolitan area during a heat wave. Epicenter Studios has designed to fire to seem alive with its "Thinking Fire" technology. The game involves real tools of the trade, including hose, extinguisher, Halligan Tool, axe, rotary saw and hydraulic spreaders. Some major actors have done voice work for the game including James Marsters of Buffy fame and Michael Jace (The Shield).
The game had originally been set for a holiday 2008 release but was delayed. The new released date is August 11th according to the Facebook page. Here's the trailer.
Joystiq reports that the Wii Sports from Nintendo is approaching 50 million units sold. It has sold 47.62 million copies. This does included bundled sales.
It was an even better quarter for the Wii's evergreens. Wii Fit sold an additional 3.6 million copies, bringing its LTD to 21.82. Mario Kart Wii sold 2 million, making its total 17.39 million. And Wii Sports sold an additional 1.91 million copies, bringing its total sales number to a ridiculous 47.62 million, including copies sold in hardware bundles.
You can use the Wiimote to control Harry Potter's broom and wand and play Quidditch in the Wii version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. You can also practice making potions like in the book and film. You can see the first 10 minutes from the game in this video. The official game website can be found here. The CNN video clip below shows how they made the game with lasers and multiple cameras.
Dart champion Phil Taylor is helping promote the Wii darts game, PDC Championship Darts. The experts say the dart game is great practice for real darts. GameSpot has information about theg ame here. Here's a video from IDN showing Phil Taylor playing the game.
The classic game Punch Out is now available for the Wii. If the name "Glass Joe" rings a bell then you have probably played the game before. He is the easiest opponent weighing just 110 pounds. Joystiq has gathered up several reviews for Punch-Outhere. They say it may not be a TKO but it is "is certainly a knock-out."
Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games Trailer
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games is a new Wii and DS game being devloped by Sega under the guidance of Shigeru Miyamoto. The game will take players to Olympic venues where they can choose from a cast of playable characters. The Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games video game sold over 10 million copies worldwide so Sega is hoping this Winter Games sequel will be another big hit. Alpine Skiing and Speed Skating are a couple of the events that will be part of Winter Games with more events to be announced throughout the year. The game is due out by the end of 2009. MTV has more details. Here's the trailer:
Billy Bob Thornton plays both a scorpion and a hunter in an upcoming Wii game called Deadly Creatures. Thornton says he can't play the game and that Pong is more his speed. Joystiq saysDeadly Creatures will be out in February - a delay pushed the game from an initial December release. You can find more about the game on the official website.
Microsoft has lowered prices on the Xbox 360 to compete with the hot-selling Wii from Nintendo. The basic Xbox 360 will now cost about $50 less than the Wii. The Nintendo costs $250 and the entry-level Xbox 360 Arcade will now cost $199. Microsoft is also cutting the price of its more expensive Xbox 360 units. The cost of the mid-range Xbox 360 model (includes 60GB hard drive) drops from $349 from $299, The Xbox 360 Elite (includes a 120GB hard drive) drops to $399 from $449. The price drop will begin on September 5th.
"We are thrilled to be the first next-generation console on the market to reach $199, a price that invites everyone to enjoy Xbox 360," said Don Mattrick, senior vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. "Xbox 360 delivers amazing performance at an extraordinary value with the leading online service and best lineup of games, downloadable movies and TV shows available from a console. The majority of consumers make the decision to buy consoles once the price falls to this mark, making this an important milestone for consumers and the industry."
Team Xbox notes that there have been rumors about the Xbox 360 price drop.
It is no surprise that a sequel to Wii Sports is on the way. The beach-focused package called Wii Sports Resort is sure to be a bestseller when it is released in Spring 2009. The game will ship with an updated controller called the Wii MotionPlus. Wiifanboy describes a few of the beach games in the package.
The theme here is beach games -- perfect for people like us who don't particularly enjoy going outside, let alone baring our flesh. On stage at Nintendo's E3 press conference, we were treated to demos of games such as Disc Dog (lobbing a frisbee for your dog), Jet Ski (self-explanatory), and a sword-jousting minigame in which players attempt to knock each other off of a platform.
Here's a presentation of Wii Sports Resort and the Wii MotionPlus from the E3 conference. There's a few more screenshots of the game here on Wiifanboy.
Unfit Wii players don't have to wait too much longer to get "fit" or at least to achieve Wii balance. Wii Fit will be released on May 19th according to a WSJarticle that you can't read unless you subscribe. (via Kotaku). The game and companion balance board created quite a buzz when they were announced last year.
The videogames business, after hitting a new sales high last year, this week plans to showcase new technologies to help spur further growth -- including a new product from Nintendo Co. to get users to exercise using their Wii game consoles.
Nintendo announced today that it will ship a new exercise product on May 19 in the U.S. called Wii Fit that comes with a weight-and-motion sensing device called the Wii Balance Board.
The game and Wii Balance Board is rumored to cost about $70. In case you missed it you can see a video about Wii Fit here. You can also view a funny Wii Fit spoof here.
The NPD research group reports that the Nintendo Wii outsold its game console rivals easily in 2007. The Wii sold 6.3 million units - moving almost as many units as the Xbox and PS3 combined.
2007 Game Console Sales
Nintendo Wii: 6.3m
Microsoft Xbox 360: 4.6m
Sony PS3: 2.6m
The BBC reports that Halo 3 for the Microsoft Xbox was the top selling game - selling 4.8 million copies since its launch last year.
Study Finds Wii Burns More Calories Than Other Consoles
PC World reports that the Wii burns more calories than other consoles like the Xbox. However, it isn't a big enough calorie burner to keep you fit. The biggest calorie burning games are the Wii sports games where you have to move your arms to swing the tennis racket or bowl the bowling ball.
Wii is unlike other video game consoles out there. A standard videogame only requires players to move their thumbs and index fingers, whereas the Wii actually requires players to move their hand or occasionally their entire arm to interact with the game. The Wii console has done much to get couch potatoes off their duff and playing video games - but apparently not enough.
For the British Medical Journal study boys and girls between the ages of 13-15 were selected to play both an Xbox 360 game (Project Gotham Racing 3) and Wii games (Wii Sports). Later the Journal would compare calories burned by the kids while playing each of the games.
The results were unsurprising. The Wii used on average 51 percent more energy than playing a sedentary Xbox 360 game. The Wii Sport game Tennis demanded the most energy from study participants with an energy expenditure of 750 kilo joule (a kilo joule is an international system unit for measuring energy). Wii Boxing expended 730kj and Wii Bowling at 700kj. By comparison, playing Xbox 360 games had a mean energy expenditure of 450kj - a measurement just slightly higher than resting (300kj).
If you have ever seen a child of seven or eight play Wii tennis or Wii boxing you will be convinced that they are actually burning some calories. Sure you can stand there and play Wii tennis and hardly burn any calories but small children will often run back and forth as if they are on an actual tennis court. For adults some calories burned is better than none at all. Advantage Wii.
It's the Erickson Sports' first Wii Bowling Tournament Championship. Watch as the teams compete for the inaugural Erickson Sports trophy. The winners get to bring the trophy home to their retirement community. You can see episode two here and read the Erickson Sports' blog here.
Microsoft has lowered prices on the Xbox 360 to compete with the hot-selling Wii from Nintendo. The basic Xbox 360 will now cost about $50 less than the Wii. The Nintendo costs $250 and the entry-level Xbox 360 Arcade will now cost $199. Microsoft is also cutting the price of its more expensive Xbox 360 units. The cost of the mid-range Xbox 360 model (includes 60GB hard drive) drops from $349 from $299, The Xbox 360 Elite (includes a 120GB hard drive) drops to $399 from $449. The price drop will begin on September 5th.
It is no surprise that a sequel to Wii Sports is on the way. The beach-focused package called Wii Sports Resort is sure to be a bestseller when it is released in Spring 2009. The game will ship with an updated controller called the Wii MotionPlus. Wiifanboy 
Unfit Wii players don't have to wait too much longer to get "fit" or at least to achieve Wii balance. Wii Fit will be released on May 19th according to a WSJ 
