Wii Fit with a professional touch

The next iteration of the Wii Fit may be getting professional medical credentials. Nintendo is roping in Panasonic Medical Solution, Hitachi and NEC to develop accessories to enhance the popular fitness game. One of the features includes uploading personal data to medical professionals for health assessment and advice based on the wealth of data collected through mini games. For example, your height, age and agility as recorded from the balancing games, weight, track record of your BMI, etc.

Editors' note: A separate report from our sister site, Gamespot.com, has further indicated that the professional service or Wii Fit Check Channel will be initially offered only to NEC, Hitachi and Panasonic. These companies will be integrating it into their corporate fitness plan.

The new Wii Fii is expected to launch in Japan around April. There was no news on Asia-wide availability and pricing.

Via Ubergizmo

Turn Wii remotes into instant dumbbells

Calling out to all Wii Fit fanatics and health conscious Wii gamers, convert your console's remote into an instant dumbbell with the upcoming riiflex weighted attachment. It's available in 1kg and 2.5kg options and is on pre-order in the US only at US$5 each. There're two notable features worth highlighting here. First of all, the riiflex does not obstruct any buttons, including the trigger, so you'll have full functionality of the controller. Furthermore, it's also compatible with the nunchuck attachment as well.

Interested in upsizing your biceps? You can send the company an email here for more details. Do give us a heads up if there's any news on availability in Asia.

Via ubergizmo

Sony plays Santa for PlayStation Home

Heads up to all Singapore and Hong Kong PS3 users, Sony is handing out HKS$10 (US$1.30) PSN credits in its latest publicity drive for its new community-based service, PlayStation Home. All you need to do is to track down its mysterious Money God avatar by finding the right poster put up by Sony in the virtual world. This will point you to a hint site with the relevant instructions and a step closer to the above-mentioned freebie.

You'll probably need a lot more than HK$10 to purchase a PS3 mini game online, but this is still a nice token for your PS Home purchase to beef up your online persona with a new jacket or skirt in its cyber stores. This contest will run from today to January 22, so you'd better hustle to it! Click here for more details.

Via Ars Technica

CES 2009: Gaming wrap-up

It's no secret that gaming's presence at CES can barely be felt, but we were lucky enough to find some diamonds in the rough, including a few that made us want to phone a lawyer.

While there was no new gaming software to be found, there was a respectable amount of gaming hardware and accessories that stole our attention. Nyko stood out with the company's Wand and Kama Charge Kit and Mad Catz showed off Street Fighter IV-branded FightPads and FightSticks. We were wowed by the Nvidia GeForce 3D Vision, but unfortunately getting it all set up requires a few expensive addons.

We were upset to see a lack of products devoted solely to game consoles like we had originally anticipated. So where does this leave gaming's future at CES? Believe it or not, gaming actually had more of a showing at this year than it did in '08, so we'd imagine to see an incremental increase next year. Keep in mind, a lot of third-party hardware and accessories are a result of the Wii, a console that lends itself very well to the production of such items.

Via CNET.com

Nintendo turns broadcaster: Original shows coming to Wii

With the hottest and most affordable video games console on the market today still doing business like economists in a recession, Nintendo is in the perfect position to exploit its Wii system beyond the realm of just gaming. And, as of spring this year, it will do so, by launching a full-blown television channel, delivered to the Wii over the Internet.

Called Wiinoma, The Times reports that Nintendo is planning to use the on-demand channel to deliver mostly free and original programming, produced exclusively for the service. Brain-training quizzes, original cartoons, educational shows, even cookery and lifestyle programming, are all reported to be on the agenda.

At the moment, the Wii offers a snack, not a feast, of its own on-demand content, such as game info, weather and news. But the new channel would offer full shows, rather than clips and trailers, adding to the roster of content available to the Wii from the BBC's iPlayer service.

However, while the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 both have internal hard disks to store downloaded content, the Wii does not--content would probably have to be streamed to the console. And, again like many traditional broadcasters, shows would mostly be supported by advertising.


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