Gadgetwise: Review: Nintendo Wii Fit U

I live a sedentary life. Or so my video game console tells me.

The console, the Wii U from Nintendo, has been tracking my daily routine for the last two weeks as part of Wii Fit U, an exercise video game that creates personalized fitness regimens for players.

Like two earlier versions of the game, Wii Fit U incorporates a physical accessory, the Wii Balance Board, which records players’ weight and movements in activities like yoga and strength training. There are not many exercises you can do while standing or sitting on a board, but Wii Fit U makes it engaging by incorporating challenges like bouncing on a virtual trampoline and navigating a luge course.

New to the game is the Wii Fit Meter, which clips on a belt or waistband and records your activity throughout the day, including steps taken and calories burned. At home, the data can be downloaded into the Wii U controller. Once the information is recorded, you can use it to chart your progress toward fitness goals or share it with your family and friends in Wii’s online communities for motivation.

The game itself is relatively simple, starting with topics like balance and breathing. It seems to be intended for curious people who don’t know much about exercise or have an aversion to the gym. Fortunately, the challenges do not last too long and do not require much space in front of a TV.

The small Fitness Meter was unnoticeable when clipped to my belt, but it did motivate me to take the stairs more often at work. And when I got home, I felt compelled to transfer and review the data, which inevitably led to a quick challenge or two to try to burn a few more daily calories.

The Wii Fit U game, board and meter will be available in a bundle for $90 on Jan. 10. For those who already own a board, a digital version of the new game is available now for download, which Nintendo is offering free on its e-commerce site through Jan. 31. The digital download is free for a month. After a 30-day trial, users must pay for the game, or buy the meter for $20 and the download remains free.

Of course, you have to own a Wii U console, which runs about $300. Still, it’s cheaper than joining a gym and it beats sitting on the couch and playing video games.

Critic’s Notebook: Xbox, Nintendo and PlayStation Look to Next Generation of Consoles

It is the latest in a generational line of Xboxes, PlayStations and Nintendos to arrive in the past quarter-century. To dedicated gamers, each generation is as relevant and real a part of the calendar as an Olympiad or a presidential election cycle. Gamers argue about which one is the best.

But the previous generation has stretched on longer than those before it and segues into the next at a time when there might be a meteor in the sky. Serious people discuss whether these new consoles, facing competition from cellphones and tablets, might be endangered. Untethered from a television, mobile devices — which draw hundreds of millions of people to distraction with Angry Birds, Clash of Clans and Temple Run — make gaming more convenient. The home console’s appeal is dependent on the notion that gaming on a television still matters.

The industry is at the start of its eighth console generation: the Xbox One, Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Nintendo’s Wii U. The Microsoft and Sony machines are planned for release this year; Nintendo’s device shipped in November, for the 2012 holiday season. Generations typically last a half-decade and are preceded by the promise that the new, ever more powerful devices will improve the world’s youngest major creative medium, make their manufacturers a lot of money and in some way reconfigure living rooms across the world.

The point of an Xbox is to “bring the things you love to life,” Don Mattrick, Microsoft’s chief of interactive entertainment, said in an interview outside the Xbox One tent. “You love entertainment. You love TV. You love games. This is going to be the premium experience for enjoying those things.”

Mr. Mattrick’s challenge, like that of his counterparts at Sony and Nintendo, is to convince people that the game console and its ubiquitous controllers aren’t going the way of the landline telephone or, in a threat that hits closer to home, the arcade machine. Just a few decades ago the home console was an upstart. By the late 1990s it was unseating arcade machines, gobbling the public’s attention the way Pac-Man used to gobble all those dots (and quarters). Consoles like the Nintendo 64 and the Sony PlayStation brought the graphics and sounds of arcade-caliber gaming home and improved on them by offering richer, deeper worlds to play in.

The outgoing console generation started in 2005 with Microsoft’s Xbox 360. Sony’s PlayStation 3 followed a year later, as did Nintendo’s Wii, with a motion-sensitive controller that turned it into a cultural phenomenon. In an age when iPhones are displaced every year, 2005-era console technology is nearly Paleolithic. It’s a testament to the ability of programmers to squeeze performance out of an established hardware standard that new games on the Xbox 360 can still look and sound impressive in 2013.

Proponents of consoles argue that most mobile games, while increasing in appeal, lack key qualities of console gaming. “They’re very bite-sized, very light on the story, very light on the emotions and the different things that a proper sit-down-on-your-couch-with-a-50-inch-screen-and-surround-sound experience can provide,” said Scott Rohde, who leads the highly regarded in-house American game development studios for Sony PlayStation.

Microsoft’s vision for the Xbox One extends beyond gaming. It is designed to switch from playing games to showing cable television with a snap of the fingers. Older consoles simply played games, but newer ones are designed to play television shows and movies.

That shift in focus has been gradual but definite at Microsoft, which added one of its most popular features to the Xbox 360, the ability to stream movies through Netflix, in 2008. At the tent event Mr. Mattrick, a former video game designer, announced a deal with the N.F.L. that would empower the Xbox One to display an interactive fantasy league application on the right side of a TV while the left side displayed a live football game.

Mr. Rohde and Mr. Mattrick may be rivals in the current console generation, but they are joined by colleagues on both sides who argue that the increased horsepower and technical flash of new consoles can make video game characters appear to be more realistic and increase a player’s emotional engagement. They suggest that better technology enables greater aesthetic achievement in their medium. This is by no means a settled point, nor even a universally shared belief of what it takes to advance the artistry of games. That view was in fact recently mocked at a recent conference for game creators by the independent developer Chris Hecker, who played a reel of proclamations by top console game developers who claimed that more powerful technology would beget more emotionally sophisticated gaming.

Stephen Totilo is the editor in chief of the gaming site Kotaku.com.

Win a Nintendo 3DS XL With Kid Icarus: Uprising

To fully appreciate the expanded screen of the Nintendo 3DS XL, you need to fire up one of Nintendo's many first-party titles like Kid Icarus: Uprising. If you've not had the chance to get your hands on the 3DS XL or Kid Icarus yet, then this competition is going to be right up your street!

We've got a brand new Nintendo 3DS XL with Kid Icarus: Uprising to be won, plus five copies of Kid Icarus: Uprising to give to five runners up.

How To Enter

We want know - In Kid Icarus, the Silver Bow is a prototype of a bow designed by who?

You can find the answer on the Kid Icarus: Uprising wiki guide. (Hint: Take a look in the weapons guide!)

Email your answer to UKComps@IGN.com with the subject line Kid Icarus before 10am on October 18th to be in with a chance of winning.

This competition is open to UK residents over the age of 18 only with full terms and conditions on the next page.

The 12 Attractions of Nintendo Land, Revisited

And the curtain has been pulled back further. When this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo came to a close, if left us with quite a few questions about the Wii U and its flagship titles, and several months to spend in speculation of their answers while waiting for the next big press event. But though we had time to kill, we wasted none of it where Nintendo Land was concerned. The Big N had only officially announced half of the virtual theme park's dozen playable "attractions," and we were determined to discern the rest – springboarding our discussion of the other six off of a teasing, tantalizing array of franchise emblems posted on Nintendo's Facebook page. That image pointed to which long-running Nintendo brands would be represented by those remaining hidden games, and we went to work predicting them all in a feature called The 12 Attractions of Nintendo Land.

Well, we were right. Not that it was all that difficult, mind you, but it's still satisfying to see that Nintendo Land is shaping up in the way we hoped it would back in June. Now, with the identities of all 12 games revealed, we're presenting them all again and collecting our coverage of each here in The 12 Attractions of Nintendo Land, Revisited.

Oh, and fans of game speculation, have no fear. We still don't have all the details on some of these, so there's still time to make your guesses and place your bets to win some Internet bragging rights.

The Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest
Officially Revealed at E3 2012 | Watch the Demo in Action

In the game itself and in the social media material the company has used to promote it, each of Nintendo Land's 12 different games is represented by a circular franchise emblem. We can assess each icon one at a time to get a better sense of the entire package, and the first one, just above, is unmistakably the Triforce from Nintendo's Legend of Zelda series. That means it's the emblem for The Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest.

One of the five playable Nintendo Land demos on the E3 show floor last June, The Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest is a three-player design that casts two people as Wii Remote-wielding swordsmen while the third uses the Wii U GamePad to fire arrows as an archer. Rich had a chance to go hands-on with this game before the show started last week, and later Audrey was able to record video footage of the game in action. Check it out.

Pikmin Adventure
Officially Revealed at September's Wii U Preview Event | Watch the Demo in Action

The next franchise emblem is a five-petaled flower, and that can only mean one thing – Pikmin. This is the first of the six games we didn't have confirmed for Nintendo Land coming out of this year's E3, and that's likely because Nintendo didn't want to demonstrate a Pikmin mini-game on Wii U at the same time the full game, Pikmin 3, was being shown off just a few yards away.

So we didn't have many clues about how the Nintendo Land Pikmin mini-game would play, but all that changed in New York on September 13. Pikmin Adventure was revealed as a "team attraction" focused on co-op play, and it lets players dress up as either Captain Olimar or large, differently-colored Pikmin. (As we predicted. Score!) The Pikmin players use Wii Remotes, and simply run around each level bashing bad guys and collecting drops of nectar to level up their abilities. The Olimar player wields the GamePad, and can attack enemies with a swarm of smaller Pikmin soldiers or blow his whistle to call the human-controlled Pikmin to himself, then toss them into battle with greater precision thanks to the Pad's touch screen. Rich was impressed by this one in New York, and says that in some ways it's a better Pikmin game that the actual Pikmin games. (We'll have to hope he elaborates on that thought a little later.)

Animal Crossing: Sweet Day
Officially Revealed at E3 2012 | Watch the Demo in Action

This little leaf with a bite taken out of it is the franchise emblem for Animal Crossing (where furniture, clothes and any other kinds of collectible items magically transform into easily carried leaves when picked up around town.) We knew what mini-game this one belonged too back in June – Animal Crossing: Sweet Day.

This is a five-player mini-game that dresses four Wii Remote-using players in animal outfits and tasks them to run around the TV screen collecting candy from trees. Meanwhile, the fifth player uses the two analog sticks on the GamePad to simultaneously control two different guard dogs to hunt down and tag the candy-grabbing critters. We've got video of the sugary-sweet madness in action, so click right here to watch it happen.

Mario Chase
Officially Revealed at September's Wii U Preview Event | Watch the Demo in Action

Here's a simple icon for any Nintendo fan to recognize in a split second – Mario's signature cap. This most prominent piece of Nintendo mascot headgear will hover over the entranceway to Nintendo Land's Mario-themed attraction, which was not shown at this year's E3. But that's OK. Because it was shown at yesterday's Wii U Preview Event –and, before that, at E3 2011.

"Chase Mii" was its name at the time, and it was one of a handful of original demos used to showcase the Wii U back at E3 2011. In the game, four players dressed as Toads attempted to chase down and capture a fifth player dressed as Mario – it was tough because Mario got a head-start and could hide in the environment while enjoying an expanded view of his surroundings on the GamePad screen, while the Toads could only see a piece of the arena each on their quadrants of the TV above.

The newly-renamed "Mario Chase," as officially revealed yesterday, is essentially the same as it was as a tech demo – and that's a good thing. Chase Mii was incredibly fun in 2011 (you can watch a video of that older version here), and we were hoping that the final Mario mini-game in Nintendo Land would be the same thing with a new name. Well, it is. So we're happy.

Bits Blog: One on One: Reggie Fils-Aime, President of Nintendo of America

Mark Lennihan/Associated Press Reggie Fils-Aime, president and chief operating officer of Nintendo of America, discussed the new Wii U gaming console this week in New York.

In an event in New York this week, Nintendo had demonstration booths where people could play with its new Wii U, a game console that can be operated with a touch-screen controller. It also introduced Nintendo TV, its new online video service that is intended to make its Wii U competitive with set-top box systems like the Apple TV, Google TV and Roku.

Reggie Fils-Aime, president and chief operating officer of Nintendo of America, sat down to explain the company’s goals with the new television service and Wii U. An edited transcript of the interview follows.

You introduced the Wii U, the next-generation Wii with a touch-screen controller, last year. What’s new now?

This week we pull it all together. We’re showing more games and unveiling the Nintendo TV service and how we’re approaching the entertainment space. Nintendo TV is the one place that will have all of your video entertainment in one place. If you subscribe to Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime plus your cable box — if you’re trying to watch an episode of “Modern Family,” you might have to go to three different places to try to find out what’s available. This service puts it all in one place, so you can literally sort by titles, sort by actors and directors, and the service aggregates all of your viewing options. That’s the Nintendo TV service.

Why is Nintendo getting into TV?

We’ve found that Nintendo consoles tend to be hooked up to that big screen TV in the center of the living room, and we want people to pick up our GamePad controller as often as possible and interact with our product. We found that video entertainment is a key part of that proposition. Today the Wii is the No. 1 device that connects the TV to the Internet. For us, any time that consumer picks up that GamePad is an opportunity to interact with them. We’ve found that Netflix on Wii, for example, has been a great opportunity to the consumer.

So you acknowledge, then, that your competition goes beyond game consoles? There’s Amazon, Apple and all these players who make set-top boxes.

We’ve always viewed our competitors in a broader entertainment landscape because we compete for time. I compete for your time minute by minute. Getting a consumer to spend time with us doing a combination of fitness and fun builds our brand and builds our business.

Nintendo’s earnings have been lower than in past years, and many believe it’s because of mobile games for Apple and Android devices. Do you view those as a threat?

As I said before, our competition is everything from time watching movies to time reading magazines to time surfing the Net and time playing a game on a mobile device. That’s all competitive time that takes away from our opportunity to have a consumer play a game on our device.

So with that as the context, why are Nintendo earnings down? The reason Nintendo earnings are down is the Wii home system is on the downward part of its life cycle, so we’re not selling as many home systems. We were transitioning from the Nintendo DS, which was the best-selling piece of hardware of all time, to the Nintendo 3DS. The Nintendo 3DS for its launch time period didn’t present the consumer value that we needed it to, so we had to reduce the price, and we actually had to reduce the price below its cost.

So that’s why our earnings took a hit last year. As we look to the future, how are we going to build our business back? It’s Wii U, and now that we’re selling more 3DS devices, we’re now actually making money on that.

The Wii U is basically a tablet. Is that Nintendo’s answer to the competitive mobile market?

The Wii U is not a tablet. It’s a two-screen experience. And so you have this unique GamePad that gives you a different way to have a gaming experience. We’ve got a range of different examples that we can show you. It’s everything from the three of us can be playing the game, and I’m using the GamePad to maybe try and attack you with a space ship. We’ve got an attraction called Metroid where literally I’m playing against the two of you, using a space ship trying to shoot you, you’re shooting up on the ground, so we’re playing the same game but having a fundamentally different experience and that all happens with the GamePad. So it’s a controller with this screen built in that allows us to create content that shows different ways to play together but have fundamentally different experiences.

But if you’re saying everyone is your competitor in entertainment, then why not just turn that second screen into a general-purpose device like a tablet?

Through our GamePad you’ll be able to surf the Internet — it comes with an Internet browser. You’ll be able to watch video content on it. So it will do many things that a stand-alone tablet can do, but in addition, because it’s connected and it’s integrated, our second screen can do a lot of things that a tablet can’t do.

So as an example with our Nintendo TV service, imagine we’re watching a sports game. The sports game is on the main screen. On my GamePad I’ve got all the up-to-date stats, scores — something happens immediately. It’s immediately on my GamePad. I can tap into social networks, comment on it. I can go further back into the game. All of this is done because my GamePad is seamlessly connected to my TV experience. That’s not something you can do with a smartphone or a tablet — there’s a lag. There’s latency built in because the systems aren’t talking to each other and they’re not connected.

So in the short term you want to sell some new Wii hardware. What’s the long-term strategy? Are you migrating toward becoming more of a media company as opposed to a game company?

We are becoming more and more an entertainment company. We’ve always been an entertainment company. Our history is making playing cards in Japan. What we recognize is we own that most desired space in the home, and it’s the big screen TV in the living room. We own that because of the games that we offer that are targeted toward multiple players in the household sitting down and having fun together. By owning that big screen TV we can branch out to other services like Nintendo TV and continue to really solidify our footprint.

Do you foresee a business model where you make more money from digitally distributed content instead of from selling hardware and games?

There will be revenue made from that, but we won’t make the content. Companies will make that content. There will be companies like Netflix and Amazon Prime that aggregate that content. We’re going to make it seamless for the consumer to view it, find it, share it and talk about it. Our goal is to monetize that experience in addition to monetizing the game.

There’s a range of different ways we can monetize. We have a relationship with service providers like Hulu Plus, Netflix and Amazon Prime. In this Nintendo TV network, we’re showing examples where if you’re watching a live TV show and there’s someone wearing a dress, we can highlight that through Amazon, for example, “Hey, you can buy that dress through Amazon.” Is there an opportunity for us to get revenue from that transaction? Sure.

What are some of the challenges ahead for Nintendo?

In the end, given the way we view the world and the way that we view ourselves as an entertainment company, our biggest challenge is creating content and creating services. Excite people. We were fortunate we were able to do that with the Wii. How do you continue creating that compelling content? Whether it’s games or services, how do we create this ecosystem that gets people excited and talking about it? It’s really tough to do. Android may be the most installed operating system on mobile, but how often do you hear people talking about Android? Get really passionate about it? That’s the biggest challenge.

Isn’t Nintendo late on forming a robust media ecosystem?

Ecosystems are constantly being created and constantly going away. What we’re trying to do is create the next significant ecosystem. Because the one we created for Nintendo DS was great, but it’s going away. The one we created for Wii was great, but it’s going away. Talk to the people over at Facebook. What’s our next ecosystem? Talk to the people at Zynga. If you just sit on what you’ve created, chances are you’re not going to be around much longer.

New Nintendo Land Attractions Announced

During this morning's Wii U Preview Event, Nintendo revealed a bit more information about its flagship launch title for the platform, Nintendo Land. We previously knew about eight of the 12 total "attractions" inside the package, but four remained a mystery. Now we know about two more.

"Mario Chase" is a refined, evolved version of the "Chase Mii" demo first showcased at E3 2011. Dressed as Mushroom Kingdom characters, four players will work together on the TV screen to chase down a fifth runner, who plays using the Wii U GamePad.

"Pikmin Adventure" will also be playable at the event later today, and Bill Trinen has described the game as an "action-based multiplayer attraction," with players having their Miis dressed up like Pikmin soldiers and working together to swarm enemies characters.

We'll be able to reveal the final two Nintendo Land attractions later today as well, so stay tuned!

Lucas M. Thomas is IGN Nintendo's wise old sage, having worked to cover the worlds of Mario, Link, Samus and all the rest of the Big N's creations for over six years here. You can follow him on Twitter.

Nintendo Video Chat: Playing New Super Mario Bros. 2

Welcome back to another mushroom-y edition of Nintendo Video Chat, IGN's very own Nintendo-centric video podcast. This week we've got Audrey "OMG I Hosted The Fix!" Drake (otherwise known as ME!!), Sam "Mustache Power" Claiborn, Brian "I Hosted The Fix Too!" BRAP BRAP" Altano, and Fran "I Hate Wii" Mirabella. That last nickname was a joke, people. Well, they all are, but... anyway. Moving on. Let's talk Nintendo things, shall we?

This week we're playing through some levels of forthcoming 3DS game New Super Mario Bros. 2. Wahoo!! The game hits the States this Sunday, but if you don't mind a few spoilers, allow this podcast to serve as a lengthy early look at Mario's latest.

And as always, you can download the audio version of this episode on iTunes (whenever it decides to show up), or listen to it here.

While you're thinking of us, be sure to join our Nintendo Voice Chat Facebook page. Don't forget to give us a like while you're there! Why? Because every like we get is like an extra coin in your pocket. Except it's not like that at all. Do it anyway, though!

One last thing - don't forget to send your comments, questions and so on to nvc@ign.com. You can also follow us all on our IGN blogs and Twitter. We're especially interested in your feedback on our new format. This is all still very much in the experimental phase, so your insight is much appreciated.

Until next time, Koopalings - Game On!

Nintendo Still Losing Money, But 3DS Sales Improving

Nintendo's first-quarter financial results, released this morning, saw the publisher post a loss as projected - but 3DS sales are on the up.

The net operating loss stood at ¥17.2 billion/$220.4m, an improvement on the previous year's ¥25.5 billion Q1 loss, with sales down by ¥9.1bn ($116.4m) on this time last year. Nintendo sold 1.86 million 3DS units during the quarter, in comparison to 710,000 over the same period in 2011, at the time of the console's European and North American launch, which means an increase of 162%. Software sales stood at 7.39 million, a 63% increase.

Nintendo has been selling the 3DS at a loss since the post-launch price cuts, but the financial results report that as of July 25th it is no longer selling at less than the manufacturing price, meaning that the company can start making money from sales of the console from this point onwards.

Lifetime sales of the 3DS now stand at 19 million. The Wii is sitting at 96.56 million, meaning it's still currently the third best-selling home console of all time behind the PlayStation and PlayStation 2.

We can expect the 3DS XL to boost 3DS sales yet further in the next quarter - and with the Wii U out before the end of the year, it's sensible to expect that Nintendo's Q1 results for next year will rather different.

Analyst Claims Nintendo Made Pro Controller for Call of Duty Wii U

EDGE has reported that Nintendo may have made the Pro Controller after Activision, the publisher of Call of Duty, refused to make the game for its new GamePad, which features a touchscreen.
This claim comes from Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter, who was speaking about Nintendo's new console at the Develop Conference held in Brighton last week. Pachter openly admitted, however, that he had no source at Activision for his statement. "Activision never said anything to me, but I know that [for] big games like Call Of Duty they said, 'No, we're not putting it on there if you don't give us a conventional controller'. So [Nintendo] gave in." Activision has yet to formally announce a Call of Duty game for Wii U.
Pachter was extremely skeptical about the chances of Wii U. "I don’t get it," he said. "I think that essentially this is a solution in search of a problem. I mean, somebody had an idea - 'let's make the controller a tablet' - and there aren't many games that are going to take advantage of that."


He went onto say about Nintendo's strategy in general: “I don’t think they suck – I just think that they really believe that, ‘If we’re still novel, everything we do will work’. This isn’t going to work.
“Hardcore gamers will buy them; hardcore Nintendo fanboys will buy it. They could put out a piece of cardboard and say that it’ll play Mario and they’ll buy it.”
Nintendo announced the Pro Controller for Wii U at this year's E3.
Note: We've adjusted the headline and article to better reflect Pachter's claims about negotiations between Activision and Nintendo.