Wii Fit Women Causing Massive Damage?

According to a Telegraph headline, women who are working up a sweat via Wii Fit are responsible for rampant household destruction to the tune of £20 million (about $40 million in U.S. Dollars). That would be pretty damn impressive—not to mention perfect UK Resistance fodder—if it were even remotely true. Despite what you might be Digging right now, the headline doesn't match the article... or common sense for that matter.

The Telegraph piece cites a poll of 1,000 get fit types in the UK. It later states that damages caused by vigorous workouts, not necessarily related to Wii Fit, have amounted to an average of about $13 in damage over the past year, nationally working out to forty mil. Yes, that's over the past year, not the last two months that Wii Fit has been on in that market. In other words, UK Wii Fit players aren't doing Hulk-like destruction to their homes.

We can only assume that Telegraph journos were looking for some excuse to watch the Lauren "Wii Fit Girl" Bernat clip on YouTube for a better part of the day and less concerned with whipping up some facts.

Wii Fit women leave £20 million toll of destruction to living rooms [Telegraph]

UK Retailers Hate Rock Band Pricing Too

Gamers paying in Great British Pounds couldn't have been too happy to be faced with the proposed Rock Band pricing scheme proposed by EA and Harmonix. With a suggested retail price of £130 for the "Instrument Pack" and £50 for the software, UK gamers were looking at a $350 USD price tag. Fortunately, UK retailers seem to have taken it upon themselves to slash prices, according to a report from MCV.

Play.com is currently listing Rock Band and its dedicated controllers for far less than original asking price, taking about $100 off the total investment. That's venturing into almost reasonable territory, something that will be sure to help Rock Band's chances across the pond. Good going, UK retailers!

Play.com slashes £40 off Rock Band [MCV]

Hey, Britain, Maybe You *Are* Getting The Gun Metal Gray PS3

Heh. Oops. Looks like you might be getting that "gun metal gray" limited edition PlayStation 3 after all, European friends. That's according to Play.com who says that they're getting the exclusive bundle—featuring the uniquely colored PS3 with a 40GB hard drive and a copy of Metal Gear Solid 4—which conflicts with a report we read at GameSpot last night. We're not sure how this could possibly be miscommunicated, as GameSpot UK says it confirmed with Konami that there would be no such package. We're confused too.

The Play.com exclusive MGS4 bundle rings in at £329.99 and is listed as scheduled to ship on June 12. Let's just hope the Play.com doesn't buckle under the traffic like some other online outlets did.

Sony Playstation 3 PS3 Gun Metal Grey Console + 40GB HDD + MGS4 (Play.com Exclusive) [Play]

UK Gamers Snap Up Nearly 1 Million Copies Of GTA IV First Week

Grand Theft Auto IV broke records in its debut week in the UK, with sales watchers Chart Track calling the "biggest All Formats" number one title ever, with 926,000 units solid in just five days on sale. On day one, Chart Track estimates over 630,000 copies sold. It replaces Wii Fit as the best-selling title in the UK.

According to further details from GamesIndustry.biz, 514,000 of those copies were of the Xbox 360 variety, 413,000 copies for the PlayStation 3, with hardware sales up for both consoles at about the same ratio. We should have Canadian and U.S. GTA IV sales data soon, courtesy of the NPD group, for maximum press release boasting material. We can't wait!

GTA IV Rewrites Record Books [Chart Track]

UK Retailers Running Low On GTA IV

If you live in the United Kingdom, getting your hands on a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV at the end of this month may be a bit of a challenge, if retailers are to be believed. UK shops GAME, GameStation and Play.com have told trade pub MCV that they're already at or are nearing pre-order capacity. It's the kind of good sell-out news that's either drafted by the marketing department at Rockstar Games or designed by some clever ad men to ramp up pre-orders. Or it's true and you're screwed, UK!

It's good news for Rockstar and Take-Two's respective bankrolls, but it might be even better for Sony, as retailers tell MCV that GTA IV is "a real hardware driver already" for the PlayStation 3. Glad to see someone's making some money. Champagne and call girls for everyone!

UK retail running out of GTA IV [MCV]

Gamer Brits Set Pathetic Cosplaying Guinness World Record

It doesn't take much to impress the folks at the Guinness Book of World Records, I guess. They deemed the gathering of 80 cosplayers, each dressed up as a video game character, "The Largest Gathering of Games Characters" that they've ever had on record. The GameSpot report on the matter points out that the record wasn't officially recorded prior to the event, so it wasn't exactly hard.

That certainly doesn't mean that the 30 kids sporting Mario outfits from Argyle Primary School, Kings Cross aren't adorable. We're just expecting the record to be smashed by the weekend. There's surely a con happening somewhere.

UK cosplayers set Guinness World Record [GameSpot]

Man Gets PlayStation 3 Tattoo For Some Bizarre Reason

A man who goes by the handle MobileTone, a reader of Sony's semi-official blog ThreeSpeech, has decided that permanently tattooing "PS3" on his right forearm was a good idea. Odd that he didn't go with the official typeface for the "world's first PS3 tattoo", but also quite understandable. I'm sure that PS3 text can be gracefully re-inked into something else, should he grow tired of it. The tattooed man says "I doubt i'll ever regret it" but speaking from the experience of having a 3DO tattoo on your left calf and never knowing the comfort of shorts for fear of ridicule, I'm fairly certain a tinge of regret will hit one day.

He's Only Gone And Done It - World's First PS3 Tattoo [ThreeSpeech]

Retailer Survey Says Microsoft Has Best "Attitude"

UK outlet MCV chatted it up with retailers to get a frontline perspective on how Console War VII is shaping up. According to their findings, those in the retail space are quite taken with Xbox 360 manufacturer Microsoft. Some 49% of them pegged the Xbox 360 as the winner of the "next generation battle" and a majority of them pointed to Microsoft as having the best "overall quality and attitude" toward retail outlets this year. Making gobs of cash from the Halo 3 launch may very well have helped that, but it's nice to know they care.

It's less than exciting news for Sony, however, as UK retailers point to both the PlayStation 3 launch and the performance of the PSP as two of the bigger disappointments of '07. The biggest? Lack of Wii stock. Is that all you guys care about? Money?

MCV Retail Survey 2007 [MCV]

The marketing geniuses at, I assume, at EA's UK offices may be on the receiving end of some advertising awards this year, as they've cleverly combined breasts and cars for a recent promotion for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 racer Need For Speed ProStreet. The promotion, featuring Page 3 girls Amii and Becky, explores what happens with four breasts are positioned within posing distance of a red Ferrari. We're still studying the results here at the Kotaku Media Labs, but at first blush, it seems that EA may have something here. We applaud them for being brave enough to think outside the box, looking forward to more bold endeavors from those responsible for this important Need For Speed ProStreet promo.

It should go without saying that this is 100% not safe for work. Observe scientifically only when off the clock, as some folks just aren't ready for something this progressive.

Need For Speed ProStreet (NSFW) [Page 3 via Polygamia]

UK Snatches Up Four Million DS

Gamers across the pond have proven their love for the Nintendo DS to the tune of 4 million dual-screen handhelds sold. The combined sales of the original Nintendo DS and the Nintendo DS Lite crossed the four mil threshold recently, according to European sales watchers Chart Track.

More impressive? That some 25% of DS owners in the UK have purchased the original Brain Age, known as Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain? over there. Another half-million have snapped up the sequel, all but confirming that Dr. Josef Rich's Dental Training will be a massive success when it's released next year.

UK DS sales hit 4 million [Gamespot]

We ran the story a bit earlier this morning that the UK is getting a 40GB PS3 model at a fancy new €399 price point. The new model won't support PS2 backwards compatibility and will have two less USB ports and no multi-card memory reader.

What wasn't clear from the release was what exactly was going on with the 60GB model, which is being reduced in price to €499. Turns out it is indeed going the way of the US version of the 60GB model.

From Nick Sharples, Sony's Director of Corporate Communications in Europe:

The 60GB Starter pack will remain on sale until stocks run out (a number of months, depending on territory.) Thereafter, the 40GB model will be the only SKU in the SCEE region.

I feel like we need to have a wake or something. Meanwhile the SCEA folks remind us that no announcements have been made for North America about potential price drops, SKU shuffling or new models.

Zelda. The Ocarina of Time. Best. Game. Ever.

UK Gamers Sound Off On PS3

Leipzig Games Con Expanded

PS3's UK 82% Sales Drop "Meaningless"

UK Retailer GAME Cancels Midnight PS3 Launches

PS3 Games Less Than 360 Games in UK

Wii Wins Shiny Award