Beginning today, the Wii Fit (the accessory that’s bound to have a Richard Simmons Sweatin’ To The Oldies game in the future) is finally available to some large mammals in the U.S., starting with residents of New York City. It is currently only available at the Nintendo World store in Rockefeller Center right now. The rest of the country will have to wait until Wednesday to work off their double cheeseburgers with the $90 Wii item.

It obviously won’t replace visits to the gym, but once it is widely available, it will be interesting to see if it has any effect at all on our nations obesity problem. My guess is, most people will tire of it quickly and go back to getting their exercise in a line waiting for their fries.

Obviously the Wii Fit will be one of the best sellers for Nintendo this summer, and the concept of fun exercise is very appealing to large mammals. It’s appealing to Atari too. Atari is releasing their own version of a fitness game called Family Trainer. In Atari’s version, you don’t use a step-on board like Wii Fit, the Family Trainer uses a floor mat similar to the DDR pad.(Is this thing going to slide and hurt people?)

Family Trainer features several virtual outdoor challenges like river rafting, log jumping, etc. Atari has plans to release Family Trainer in Europe this September. No information on pricing, but expect it to be comparable to Wii Fit.

We all hate buying batteries and if you’ve bought Wii Fit, chances are you and your enormous love handles are going to go through many batteries. Luckily for you, Nyko has a solution in the form of their new Energy Pak for the balance board.

The Pak installs on the bottom of the board, making it easy to plug in and recharge without having to take the device out or turn the board over. Because God forbid you burn the 1 or 2 calories it would take to turn the board over. You can get yours starting May 19th for $19.99. Now get to work tubby.

Walmart is moving in a more creative direction for the latest upcoming holiday and is promoting Nintendo’s Wii Fit as a “perfect gift for moms” for this Mothers Day. The retail giant has thrown traditional flowers and candy out the window as the Nintendo product is dominating the Walmart website home page with pre-orders for just under $90. The orders even come with a $10 gift card to Walmart so you can come back and get yourself a little something extra later on. The site’s home page portrays kids and men using the Wii Fit board as well, not to miss out on any type of demographic.

Walmart’s Mothers Day Wii Fit pre-order promotion with the gift card runs through May 11 and the Wii Fit will officially launch on May 19 for $89.99. Walmart will ship any pre-orders on or shortly after May 21 and ensures consumers that they been working with Nintendo to have adequate inventory to fill the pre-orders.

This news may be a little bit old for some, but just in case you hadn’t heard the Wii Fit game from Nintendo which is bundled with the Wii Fit Balance Board has gotten an official release date and now an official price. $89.99 will be the price tag associated with Wii Fit on its May 19 US launch date. This price includes both the game and the board bundled together.

In the short time since the announcement, pre-orders for the Wii Fit on Amazon has moved up into the number one position with an 885,500 percent increase in just a day, not to mention all the accessories. Needless to say, it looks like this is going to be another hot item for Nintendo this year.

Nintendo

Wii Fit is set to become the fastest selling Wii game ever. It’s outdone all previous records on Play.com by selling out its entire allocation in just one day. Wii Fit will be launching in the UK on April 25 and according to Play.com they have been “overwhelmed” by demand for the new game that isn’t really a game, but rather a fitness aid.

When it debuted in Japan 4 months ago, the exergame sold more than a million copies in the first month. That’s in a nation with around five million Wiis in use, so that’s nothing to sneeze at. Play.com is expecting to get more in stock before launch. It seems that people really do want to get healthy. Well, as long as there’s a Wii involved at any rate.

The Wii Fit hasn’t even hit shelves yet but you can bet that just like the Wii controllers you are going to start seeing loads of stuff trying to pry in and get its share of your gaming dollar. The first one we’ve seen so far is this set from Subsonic.

This accessory kit for the Wii Fit board includes a rechargeable battery pack, silicon mats to cover the board so you don’t slip on your own sweat, a bag to carry your Wii Fit board around in and a “special” spray and dust cloth to keep the thing clean when your done.

We’ve gotten another word about the Wii Fit availability, this time pushing its U.S. release up a day to May 19 instead of the 20th. The Wii Fit is a motion and weight sensitive balance board for use with Nintendo’s Wii game console which will provide new types of interactive games and exercises.

Along with this, Nintendo has also announced that the WiiWare service will also launch in the U.S. in May. This service allows third party game developers to create games for the Wii that take advantage of motion sensitive controllers. Once this launches we are sure to see some more very interesting uses for the Wii remote and Nunchuck. These games will then be available for download through the Wii Shop Channel.

Since its release on December 1st in Japan, Wii Fit has become a phenomenon in that country, selling over a million units and virtually completely selling out, much like the Wii itself. Sales of the game have done well, but a general upswing in Wii sales has also resulted, with other titles suddenly flying off the shelves. But will it be a hit here in Lard-Ass North America?

Originally the game was supposed to be released in the first quarter of this year, but Nintendo was not even able to meet the supply in Japan. But now, with a May 20th release, we of the North American continent will hopefully soon be shedding some pounds and getting fitter.

Earlier today at Nintendo’s Fall Conference the company announced a release date and price for their new WiiFit balance board game in Japan’s market. The WiiFit game will go on sale December 1 for 8,800 Yen, or about $75 which might seem a little bit on the steep side but it does come bundled with the balance board. Similar games like Guitar Hero that come with the guitar accessory are usually priced similar or more. There was no announcement for a U.S. release of the WiiFit game yet but you can bet that it will be launched in the states before the holiday season, likely for a similar price.

Today Nintendo held a demonstration of a new type of controller for its Wii game console called the Wii Balance Board. Looking like an aerobics step, the balance board can sense the weight you put on either side of the board with your feet and through this also sense your balance. No doubt taking a hint from all the exercise people are getting in on with the console, the associated Wii Fit “game”, users can work on aerobics, muscle conditioning, yoga and balance through the game console giving a total of more than 40 exercise activities.

The Wii Balance Board can even work in tandem with the Wiimote to create full-body interactive games working on balance and coordination. Nintendo didn’t announce any prices or specific release dates which most likely means it won’t be real soon, but we’re sure …