Think the release date turnaround on Mario Kart was pleasing on the eye, Europe? It's nothing on Wii Fit's, which will be launching in Europe on April 25 (complete with new 150kg-taking balance board), nearly a whole month before the US, who won't be seeing it until May 19. No explanation was given for this dramatic turn of events, though I've got my suspicions somebody at Nintendo in Japan has figured out there are several hundred million more potential customers in Europe than in either Japan or the US, and that constantly fucking them over with long delays probably isn't in the company's best interests.
Nintendo of Europe Announce April 25th Launch Date for Wii FitNintendo's new, unique and innovative application for Wii, which is hoping to get all across Europe moving their whole bodies - Wii Fit, is set to launch across Europe on April 25th 2008. Since its launch in Japan on December 1st 2007, Wii Fit has already sold in excess of 1.4 million units to date, making it one of the fastest selling Wii titles in Japan! Wii Fit has been designed to be enjoyed by the whole family. In Japan it has been encouraging family members as a whole to discuss the topic of fitness and take an active interest in understanding their own fitness in a fun and entertaining way, all in the comfort of their own home. Now this unique and dynamic new title is making its way across the waters and is aiming to get people across Europe up on their feet and moving their bodies as they experience daily exercises that combines fitness with fun.
How is this possible? We hear you ask, well its simple, with the introduction of the intuitive Wii Balance Board!
Wii Fit comes bundled with the Wii Balance Board, an accessory developed exclusively for the Wii console that will have a far-reaching impact for all who use it. It's innovative, exciting and most of all fun and simple for all to use. It is a pressure sensitive, wireless balance board that goes on the floor - so someone can stand on it in front of the TV. It senses weight and shift in balance in any direction and therefore by standing on the Wii Balance Board during activities allows players to follow along to movements ensuring they have full control of the on-screen activities. This allows personal improvement goals to be set to effectively help you and your family to train and stay fit...
Increasing your awareness of the importance that fitness has on everyday life and keeping yourself and family motivated should be easier with Wii Fit. The programme allows up to 8 people to track progress and monitor performance. Once you insert the Wii Fit Disc into a Wii console, a new channel - Wii Fit Channel can be added to your Wii Menu system. Once the Wii Fit Channel is added it enables users to not have to insert the Wii Fit Disc into a Wii console in order for the Wii Balance Board to scale your weight to calculate your BMI, measure the center of your bodily balance and conduct a balance test in order to calculate your Wii Fit Age. It also allows you to monitor how long you did which category of exercise for in one day, all in the comfort of your own home and without the need to keep inserting the Wii Fit Disk into your Wii console each time.
There are 4 training categories including Aerobic Exercises, Muscle Workouts, Yoga and Balance Games that will help you and your family to develop bodily balance control ability, burn fat in the body, help tone and condition muscles, as well as help increase aerobic stamina. Discover over 40 different activities within these training categories such as Hula Hoop™, Ski Jump, Press-up Challenge, Rhythm Boxing, Rowing Squat, Lunge and classic Yoga poses such as Half Moon, Tree and Crocodile Twist. With all this on offer and much more, Wii Fit along with the Wii Balance Board introduces an accessible and intuitive programme for all the family to enjoy
Through Wii Fit's training programme, helpful tutorials and encouragements from your on-screen fitness trainer, who will change his or her verbal instructions depending on how you actually perform, and the included Wii Fit Channel, you will continue to have endless fun whilst having the satisfaction of knowing you are aiding yourself, and your family, on towards a path of a healthier lifestyle.
Wii Fit comes bundled with the Wii Balance Board and launches across Europe on April 25th 2008.











Comments
Awsome! :D But this could also mean US gets it delayed because they are making "bigger" Wii Fit boards, which is a shame, because I want the bigger ones.
Good for EU gamers. Too bad it's not a AAA title like SSBB or Mario Kart Wii, though.
I think we all know that this is just part of nintendo's april fools joke on europe.
Mario Kart and Wii fit?! It doesn't make sense, they shouldn't be out here until late 2009 at the earliest
ok mario kart i want this i don't care for.
I didn't even know it had an American release date. Good for Europeans though, they get the game earlier... for once.
Any idea on price in Europe?
Hooray! Maybe I won't need to get a modchip just so I can play games the year that they originally come out! :D
Eh? Have I woken up in bizarro world?
Huh. Europe's been getting rather lucky lately, no? Either way, congrats on getting the game earlier, you guys are normally late on releases for the most part... I think. @.@
Like I said in earlier feature, this move by Nintendo will surely interest MSFT in oversea productions.
I wouldn't be surprised if the gap between releases shorten even more with more and more consoles being defined for our PAL buddies.
Now if you guys can let go of Pro Evo, maybe MSFT and Sony will jump the gun ^^.
A price in Euro's and Pounds would be nice as well. They released the info for Mario Kart's Price so that info for Wii Fit would be good too.
They're trying to apologise for delaying Brawl i tell you!
You never know, we might even get Fire Emblem this year too!!
While I am happy for European Wii gamers, I am still quite tired of reading all the constant whining going on about release dates. If getting a game 6 months to a 1 year later than Japanese or American gamers bothers you so much then simply don't buy the game. If you just can't live without SSBB or the like then buy the game when it releases and shut the hell up about it.
Loving video games is a test of patience. You read about a certain game sometimes two years before you actually have it in your hands. If you are the impatient type then you're probably not well suited for gaming and you should move on to something else...Knitting perhaps.
Again, I'm glad Europeans are getting Wii Fit a month earlier than the US. I'm also happy that Europeans are getting Mario Kart roughly the same time as Japan. But please, I would like read the comments section without having to skip half of the comments because you people get your "knickers" in a bunch because you have to wait a few months longer than the rest of us for a damn game.
@RagingAvatar:
Catch up Raging, NOE Official site already updated with news on the release date of Fire Emblem.
But this is excellent news, can't wait to start balancing and posing.
@Captain Impulse: So what qualities constitutes a "AAA" (Lord that phrase is annoying) video game title? I thought it meant a game that would sell systems, one of those games that will be in every household, which is precisely what Wii Fit is set up to do.
@eclipsegryph: Seriously Wii fit is not a killer game, it's nothing. I don't own a Wii but if I did getting any title like Fire emblem, Smash bro's, Tales of symphonia 2 etc. before America would impress me. Getting a peripheral to stand on and balance my body does not.
@eclipsegryph: That strategy may work in Japan, where you can get away with selling a "Face Training" game for the DS, but outside of that little island, I don't think Wii Fit is going to sell systems. If I'm proven wrong, so be it. But I don't see people salivating over this title at anywhere even remotely close to the same level as, say, SSBB or Mario Kart Wii.
the US gettes the "wii fit" latter baceouse they making board take more weight in becouse there are alot of fat ppl there
@Captain Impulse: That should have said "those tiny islands".
@Captain Impulse: Grow your friends list, this game has a huge following in both North America and Europe.
There is a rumored advertising campaign which is using late night talk shows, day time talk shows and news programs to get the word out for this title. It's mainstream, it's not some niche gamers game ;)
Based on the fattening of america (blamed mind you on video games and soda) we will need a wii fit for each foot. 2x the sales!!!
@DarkNight_DS: Judging a game's popularity by my "friends list" is a poor way of judging a game's popularity. If that were the case, then Eternal Sonata is the best selling game on the 360.
When I see the numbers, I'll believe it. There's been a lot of press concerning Wii Fit but the gamer reaction has been pretty ho-hum. It's definitely not a fervor like other titles are generating.
@Captain Impulse: I suppose this is in response to -Sigil- as well - I certainly do not disagree with your points on a personal level. But looking outside of my own interests (on which Wii Fit is on the peripheral), the Wii video game console has been marketed to, and sold to a large number of casual gamers, especially in America. So while I personally pine for Tales of Symphonia 2 and Super Smash Brothers Brawl, I would venture to say that the majority of Wii owners are looking forward to a title like Wii Fit.
As to whether or not the game will sell consoles, as a "AAA" game is supposed to do, that's kind of hard to judge, since the Wii continues to sell at an alarming rate.
I imagine that if I lived in Europe, I'd either have to find a way to import stuff or I'd have to completely shelter myself from any international video game news. Europeans seem to be constantly screwed on release dates.
Wiifit early? Mario Kart merely on time(albeit one day late)? Is this for real?
PS: just something i've been thinking about, why one day late for MK? It seems weird that for some reason we're 24 hours behind? I can understand a week late, two weeks late - but one day? Whats being accomplished in that last day? I'm not complaining, but it seems an arbitrary amount of lateness. Any thoughts?
@Captain Impulse: Aren't you missing the point? The 'gamer reaction' is irrelevant to Wii Fit success.
What was the 'gamer reaction' to Wii Sports? I'd have said it was 'pretty ho-hum'. That game single-handedly sold ten million consoles.
Obviously it's not guaranteed that Nintendo will repeat this success outside Japan, perhaps unlike Wii Sports it will turn out that it doesn't translate well internationally. We don't know. But what we do know is that the 'gamer reaction' is not remotely relevant.
Incidentally, most of the 'gamers' who are 'reacting' haven't seen the game, don't know much about it, and probably aren't interested in fitness products...
oops, misuse of italics
@quen: Wii Sports did not sell the Wii. The Wii sold the Wii. If Wii Play had been bundled with the system, it would have sold just as well (maybe a little less), because it was something new, something different.
But you're right. Wii Fit will probably sell well among the crowd of gamer-GF's who are curious but don't really want to get into gaming, and the mothers of gamers who had fun playing Wii Sports with their gamer kids, and the occasional hardcore gamer who thinks it's the answer to his own laziness. But I don't expect Wii Fit is going to push the astronomical number of units that you seem to be implying it will. That's just my belief though. If I'm wrong, so be it, and good for Nintendo.
I can't say for sure what the price in Europe will be, but my local dealer has set the WiiFit preorder preliminary price at 999 SEK, which would be equivalent to 107 EUR and 156 USD. They have an excellent track record for being right, so I'd be surprised to see the price change much from that mark.
As for projected popularity, I'd say it's gonna be massive. Based on what? Well, I heard two upper teenage girls talking about it on the metro yesterday, and they were both in awe about its coolness. And we all know they are part of the demographic that is the prime target of this game.
Also, I'll buy it - My balance need improvement badly! ;)
@eclipsegryph: I agree that it's marketed that way and what you say is true but this isn't one of those heavily anticipated titles that's been long in the works and that european fans would die to have before America. It's cool and it probably will sell systems in my opinion too, it's just not really important when it gets released or anything since it's more of a peripheral than a real game. Casual gamers don't care if it's out here before America as they just care when it comes out.
If I had to guess I'd say you guys are getting it before us because Nintendo is just gonna ship the Japanese board in Europe. The reinforced American board in taking a little longer than the engineers anticipated - it is harder to add an extra large cup holder to a flat piece of plastic than you may think.
@Captain Impulse: Was only bundled with the Wii in the Americas, iirc. Maybe Europe too. It still sold like 4 million in Japan sold alone, no?
that probably would be good to please the European's after they had almost the last take of Nintendo's recent launches
@GMC: Games are always released on a friday in EU which is on the 11th...I think maybe they've just factored in the Leap Year.
@Kyuur: True, but it was also launch title. One of very few. It's natural that it would sell...otherwise, there wouldn't be much point in having the system right off the bat.
Hm, the US needs it more than any other country since we got tons of obese people ... and I really mean tons. Unfortunately, I don't know if the balance board can take so much weight frequently :/
Now you Europeans can pay money to simulate doing exercise!
Seriously, I feel bad for you guys. You guys always get the good stuff last and the stupid/crappy shit early.
My early prediction if it hasn't already been stated, is that in much the same vein as all those morons injuring themselves using the Wii Remote, we'll see two issues in the West relating to Wii Fit usage:
1. People falling off it leading to personal injury and possible class action lawsuits
2. Morbidly obese people weighing in excess of the officially stated 150lb limit still buying it anyway resulting in it breaking and then irrationally blaming Nintendo
@DreamcastRIP: The limit is 150lb? I'm not morbidly - or even mildly - obese by any stretch of the imagination, and I'm still a good 45lbs over that.
My mistake!
Its a 150kg limit
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
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