Looks like EA Sports is getting into the Wii-based fitness arena with EA Sports Active. It’ll be launching next spring, right about the time you grab hold of your ever-lingering holiday gut with both hands, look skyward, and scream "Whaaaeeeyyyyy?"

While somewhat similar to Wii Fit, EA Sports Active will eschew a balance board-type apparatus in favor of "two specially-designed leg straps that hold the Wii’s Nunchuk controller to track lower body movements, as well as a resistance band to support a number of upper body strength training exercises." Sounds kinky.

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Target is selling the Nintendo Wii console along with Wii Fit, balance board, and carrying case for $349.99 (online only, free shipping). It’s maybe not a “deal” deal per se, but the bundle appears to be in stock, so there’s that. I’d hurry, though.

Wii Fit with Hardware and Bag Bundle for Nintendo Wii [Target.com via dealnews]

The difference between a casual gamer and hardcore gamer seems to be one big grey area these days. The terminology doesn’t exactly convey the same message it used to, but that’s an argument/post for a later time.

We all know the Wii epitomizes casual gaming and it looks like EA wants to change that with a slight variation to the Wii Fit. It won’t make it hardcore, but you won’t be standing on the Wii Fit board looking like a doofus. They actually want folks to be active if they’re going to play the Wii for hours, which I’m all for. Who knows if and when this will make it into consumer’s living rooms, but it’s good to know that EA has acknowledged this huge gap in the market place.

EA Sports executive producer Dave McCarthy told Gamespot this tidbit of news the other day. Read More

Everyone loves a good Wii Fit hack. This guy hooked up his Wii Fit to Google’s street view so he could walk around town. It’s kind of neat idea, but I really don’t know how fun it is to march in place. I rather just sit in my chair and click a mouse.

via Makezine Blog

I’m going to refrain from sensationalizing this story too much, as the UK’s Daily Telegraph is reporting that women that work out in their living rooms have caused over £20 million worth of damage to their homes in the past year in a post titled Wii Fit women leave £20 million toll of destruction to living rooms.

That total is derived from in-home destruction over the past year due to “over-enthusiastic work-outs,” even though Wii Fit has only been available in the UK for about a month. It could be argued that the title of the article states that Wii Fit women, as in, the types of women who would play Wii Fit, have caused that much damage, not the Wii Fit explicitly. But then the very first paragraph of the article says,

It was meant to get the nation back in shape in the comfort of our own homes – but women working out on the Nintendo Wii Fit video game have helped cause £20 million of damage to their living rooms.

That makes it sound even more like the Wii Fit is to blame. So there are some clumsy women, yes, and of the 1,000 polled for this particular article “As many as 86 per cent” said that they already owned a Wii Fit or were planning to get one soon. Come on, which one is it? And what is “as many as 86 per cent” supposed to mean?

Anyway, apply those numbers to the entire UK population coupled with an average of “£6.55 worth of damage to their homes in the last year” and you get what seems like £20.1 million worth of damage caused by the Wii Fit (or women who own or might someday own the Wii Fit if you read the article closely).

Don’t blame Wii Fit, in other words. But just to be on the safe side, if you’ve caused damage in your home by working out in the past year, be careful. That Balance Board can be like an odd-shaped torpedo underneath the wrong pair of feet.

The same German nerds who hacked the Wii Balance Board to work in Google Earth have managed to make it work in WoW. Be amazed. Nerds.

Remember the girl in the “why you should buy your girlfriend a Wii Fit” video? Turns out her name is Lauren Bernat, she’s 25, and she was super pissed at her boyfriend (sorry, fellas) for posting the video on YouTube.

Now, of course, she’s something of a micro-celebrity, enjoying the 15 minutes of fame that only a perfect ass like that can generate. The Mail caught up with Lauren and has a nice little personality piece on her. Have a read, you should know more about the girl you’re dreaming about than the color of her underwear. Or maybe I’m just old fashioned.

Our favorite former CrunchGearer, VV, now works for GearFuse and put together this semi-excellent video of things to do instead of looking like a moron on the Wii Fit. Warning! There’s some salty language in there. Oh, those kids.

Image courtesy of Kotaku.

It’s no secret that Nintendo loves to play the ‘we never anticipated this much demand, so we’re fresh out of stock’ bull honky, so it really shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Wii Fit is sold out across the country. Nintendo is playing it smart here in the US. We all want what we can’t have, though that argument could be said about our species and not our place of residence. That’s an entirely different argument that has no place here, but I think you get my point. These people could don’t give a rat’s ass about the Wii Fit. That much is for sure.

Nintendo is shorting the US and redirecting units of Wii Fit to Europe to capitalize on the strength of the Euro.

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.

“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.

That last one is a killer because it’s true.

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 find a Wii or a Wii Fit is definitely a missed opportunity.”

I don’t agree with this statement because it’s been almost two years since the Wii launched and people are still scrambling around to find one and some are paying above retail. Kids, especially, want what they can’t have and a lot of parents give in to their shrill little voices and don’t know how to say no.

Of course, the only reason I ‘d want a Wii and Wii Fit is so that I can watch my girlfriend, if I had one, do this.

UPDATE: Oh man, you guys missed it. It was pretty awesome.

UPDATE 2: Three cheers for Jonny U!

To whom it may concern,

I watched the video you uploaded to YouTube titled “Why every guy should buy their girlfriend Wii Fit” with great interest. Aside from the riveting and engaging content contained within the video itself, I thought your camera work was some of the best I’ve seen — it’s right up there with movies like Citizen Kane, GoodFellas, Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, and The Graduate.

I’m sure you’re quite busy with other equally stunning projects, but I’d just like to say thanks for your moving and enchanting addition to the short film community. I also found it refreshing that you made a small cameo in your own film, a la Todd Phillips’ appearance in Old School. There’s no shame in doing that and I think more directors should consider appearing in their own films.

Anyway, great work and we’re all looking forward to your future projects!

Sincerely,

Doug Aamoth, on behalf of the entire CrunchGear family

The Vee Balance Board, finally put to good use. A couple of German researchers hacked the Wii Fit input device to work with Google Earth and other oddball applications. This here video explains the lot of it, complete with early 1990s Hackers-sounding, proto-trance background music.

via Nowhere Else