Nintendo this week introduced an add-on to its popular Wii video game system designed to bring physical fitness to couch-potato gamers.
July 15, 2007 (Press Release) --
Maybe playing video games all day isn't so bad for you after all.
Nintendo this week introduced an add-on to its popular Wii video game system designed to bring physical fitness to couch-potato gamers.
Called Wii Fit, the new system comes with a bathroom scale-sized "balance board" and dozens of fitness-related software programs.
Users can do yoga, step aerobics, calisthenics or stretching while on the balance board, and Wii monitors their form and progress. Other games also emphasize exercise, such as a soccer game that requires users to do virtual "headers" to keep an opposing team from scoring.
The device also can automatically calculate a user's body mass index and check his or her posture. Users can track their health trends and compare them with family members or friends.
Wii Fit is indicative of how Nintendo and other game makers are trying new ways to reach a market beyond kids: older users and those who previously weren't interested in video games or consoles.
The age of game players is increasing as yesterday's Pac-Man players become today's moms and dads, according to the Entertainment Software Association.
Today, the average age of game players is 33, according to the industry trade group. A study it did earlier this year showed that 39 percent of U.S. moms and 47 percent of dads say they play video games by themselves at least once a week. Also, according to the group, about a quarter of all game players are over age 50.
"We are now facing a wonderful new reality: Everyone is a gamer," Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America Inc. said this week at the start of the game industry's E3 Media and Business Summit here. "People who never played games before are now playing games."
Nintendo isn't the only company trying new ways to push beyond its traditional market of young males with its game consoles.
Microsoft Corp. announced at E3 that it has struck a deal with Walt Disney Co. to let users of its Xbox 360 game console and Xbox Live network to download and rent 35 movies such as "Aladdin," "The Queen" and "Deja Vu." Microsoft also offers movies and television shows from about 15 other content providers that Xbox users can rent using Microsoft "points" that they can purchase or win online.
Sony Corp., the other big console maker, spent much of its nearly two-hour press conference here showing off not traditional shooter or sports games, but Home, a virtual world it plans to launch this fall.
With Home, users can create digital avatars that live, work and play with others in a virtual world. It's similar to other popular virtual worlds — such as Second Life and Kaneva, created by Atlanta high-tech entrepreneur Chris Klaus — that appeal to people more interested in social networking than playing video games.
With Home, users can access and live their virtual lives through their PlayStation 3 consoles, their PSP portable players or even their cellphones.
"Home is our 3-D community for everyone," said Jack Tretton, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.
Nintendo has been the most aggressive of console makers in reaching beyond the industry's traditional market of young males.
Wii, with its motion-sensing controller and easy interface, has become surprisingly popular with retirees and other older users.
Many of Nintendo's games, meanwhile, specifically target nontraditional gamers. With "Nintendogs," for example, users simply take care of virtual pets. "Brain Age" and "Big Brain" consist of simple but challenging puzzles.
Forthcoming titles, Nintendo officials announced, include "My Life Coach," designed to help people have more well-rounded lives, and "Flash Focus," a game designed to help improve users' hand-eye coordination and peripheral vision.
One of the most nontraditional titles from Nintendo is only available in Japan for now. "Shaberu! DS O-Ryouri Navi" is a virtual cookbook for Nintendo's portable DS that offers more than 200 recipes and step-by-step instructions read to users by a narrator.
Author: BOB KEEFE
Source: http://www.ajc.com/
Nintendo this week introduced an add-on to its popular Wii video game system designed to bring physical fitness to couch-potato gamers.
Called Wii Fit, the new system comes with a bathroom scale-sized "balance board" and dozens of fitness-related software programs.
Users can do yoga, step aerobics, calisthenics or stretching while on the balance board, and Wii monitors their form and progress. Other games also emphasize exercise, such as a soccer game that requires users to do virtual "headers" to keep an opposing team from scoring.
The device also can automatically calculate a user's body mass index and check his or her posture. Users can track their health trends and compare them with family members or friends.
Wii Fit is indicative of how Nintendo and other game makers are trying new ways to reach a market beyond kids: older users and those who previously weren't interested in video games or consoles.
The age of game players is increasing as yesterday's Pac-Man players become today's moms and dads, according to the Entertainment Software Association.
Today, the average age of game players is 33, according to the industry trade group. A study it did earlier this year showed that 39 percent of U.S. moms and 47 percent of dads say they play video games by themselves at least once a week. Also, according to the group, about a quarter of all game players are over age 50.
"We are now facing a wonderful new reality: Everyone is a gamer," Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America Inc. said this week at the start of the game industry's E3 Media and Business Summit here. "People who never played games before are now playing games."
Nintendo isn't the only company trying new ways to push beyond its traditional market of young males with its game consoles.
Microsoft Corp. announced at E3 that it has struck a deal with Walt Disney Co. to let users of its Xbox 360 game console and Xbox Live network to download and rent 35 movies such as "Aladdin," "The Queen" and "Deja Vu." Microsoft also offers movies and television shows from about 15 other content providers that Xbox users can rent using Microsoft "points" that they can purchase or win online.
Sony Corp., the other big console maker, spent much of its nearly two-hour press conference here showing off not traditional shooter or sports games, but Home, a virtual world it plans to launch this fall.
With Home, users can create digital avatars that live, work and play with others in a virtual world. It's similar to other popular virtual worlds — such as Second Life and Kaneva, created by Atlanta high-tech entrepreneur Chris Klaus — that appeal to people more interested in social networking than playing video games.
With Home, users can access and live their virtual lives through their PlayStation 3 consoles, their PSP portable players or even their cellphones.
"Home is our 3-D community for everyone," said Jack Tretton, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.
Nintendo has been the most aggressive of console makers in reaching beyond the industry's traditional market of young males.
Wii, with its motion-sensing controller and easy interface, has become surprisingly popular with retirees and other older users.
Many of Nintendo's games, meanwhile, specifically target nontraditional gamers. With "Nintendogs," for example, users simply take care of virtual pets. "Brain Age" and "Big Brain" consist of simple but challenging puzzles.
Forthcoming titles, Nintendo officials announced, include "My Life Coach," designed to help people have more well-rounded lives, and "Flash Focus," a game designed to help improve users' hand-eye coordination and peripheral vision.
One of the most nontraditional titles from Nintendo is only available in Japan for now. "Shaberu! DS O-Ryouri Navi" is a virtual cookbook for Nintendo's portable DS that offers more than 200 recipes and step-by-step instructions read to users by a narrator.
Author: BOB KEEFE
Source: http://www.ajc.com/
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