Don't let the 'Motion Plus' part of the title throw you - Thrustmaster's latest accessory pack appears to be more Wii Fit-orientated than anything.
A portion of the ElectricPig review of Wii Fit Plus:
"If you enjoyed Wii Fit but want a little more from it, then Wii Fit Plus is a must-have. And if you’ve still not got involved and need a post-Christmas workout, then opt for the game and balance board bundle."
Wii Fit Plus
A portion of the Kidz World review of Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage:
"If you’re looking for a great snowboarding game to keep you and your friends entertained for hours, World Stage is a great choice. Even if you own a balance board and just want another game to show off the hardware, World Stage is a great game to get your family and friends trying out the Wii."
Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage
If 'Wii Fit Green' just isn't your preferred hue, then perhaps baby pink is. If that's the case, and you're looking for a bundle of accessories to enhance your Wii fitness workouts, then CTA Digital's Wii Fit Starter Kit in pink could be just what you've been looking for.
Included is a yoga Mat, Wii Fit Battery, Balance Board Cushion Mat, 400mL Aluminum Water Bottle, Headband, and Remote Skin w/ Belt Clip.
And lucky you, it features in Amazon's new year sale. Grab it while it's hot.
Wii Starter Kit For Wii Fit - Pink
As part of Amazon's new year Christmas sale, Dreamgear's 5-in-1 bundle for Wii Fit has been reduced. The pack include as rechargeable battery pack, USB charging cable, jeli sleeve, fitness mat, travel bag, and 1 pair of textured foot socks.
Nearly $20 has been slimmed from the RRP.
Wii 5-In-1 Fitness Bundle
If you're hoping to start the new year with a fitness kick, then as far as Wii exercise games go, they don't come more comprehensive than EA Sports Active More Workouts. To entice the millions of us who overindulged over Christmas, Amazon.com currently has 10% off the title, which is now $29.99.
EA Sports Active: More Workouts
Looking to kick-start your new year with a Wii fitness blitz? Good on ya! If you want to push yourself just that little bit more, then CTA Digital's Wii Dumbbells with adjustable weights could be just the ticket:
The total weight of the accessory is 3.6lbs, with each individual ring weighing 0.26lbs.
It's available for pre-order at Amazon.com now.
Wii Dumbbells With Adjustable Weights
Unlike some Wii Balance Board-supported games (no names mentioned!), it looks like SEGA is making a real effort with Super Monkey Ball: Step and Roll. In a recent developer diary, we learn about the upcoming title's mini-games:
"What’s Super Monkey Ball without fun and zany mini games!? This is a great element in the game that we have a lot of fun making! Coming up with ideas for mini games that are controlled by the Wii Balance Board was pretty difficult, so we had to examine a lot of ideas and selected the ones that seem to fit well with it. In the end, we came up with around 20 of them."
Mini games include skydiving, dousing flames, co-op and mirror modes, and the curiously titled 'Ninja Stomp'.
1UP has put together its guide to the games that will get you fit on Wii. We've plucked out the Balance Board-supported titles and the essential blurb you need to help make your decision.
The Biggest Loser
Best for: Beginners, fans of the TV show, those who like a nice balance between set routines and minigames, or those who want to focus on weight loss and diet tracking.
Avoid if: You like having your own personalized avatar, and enjoy dynamic workout backdrops.
Wii Fit Plus
Best for: Those looking more for a fun mix of minigames, calisthenics, and yoga as a motivation to get up and move.
Avoid if: You need structured or aggressive workouts to help you meet specific goals or are an exercise veteran.
Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2010
Best for: Fans of Jillian Michaels, Wii fitness title veterans or those who are strictly looking for high-intensity no-frills workouts.
Avoid if: You're a beginner, you want to ease into exercising, need external motivation to use workout software, or enjoy extra features like challenge modes or minigames.
EA Sports Active More Workouts
Best for: Almost all fitness levels and those looking for a structured workout experience.
Avoid if: You're looking for something on the extreme ends of casual or intense.
Click here for 1UP's full article.
A portion of the Super Monkey Ball: Step and Roll interview by GameSpot.com:
"GS readers: How did the idea for using the balance board come about?
YB: Super Monkey Ball has always been a very simple game with very simple gameplay. We didn’t want to change this. We just wanted to come up with a new experience. The Wii Balance Board has been around for a long time, and we wanted to take advantage of it. The simple game mechanics of Super Monkey Ball made this a possibility, and we hope fans of the game enjoy it more with this new addition."
The Christmas season is a quiet one for videogames news, so you'll be seeing quite a lot of these Balance Board accessory posts until things pick up in the new year. Sorry about that!
Today's choice is an eye-popping Rainbow Bubble decal cover for your Wii Balance Board, complete with a swirly, jump-on-here-and-disappear-through-a-portal-type design.
More Balance Board decal covers today, this time with a lovey-dovey theme.
It's available at Amazon.com for $9.99
A portion of the play.tm review of EA Sports Active: More Workouts:
"Delivering an effective blend of physical interaction and scalable challenge, More Workouts is an improvement over its predecessor, a vastly superior option to the onrushing crop of perennial celebrity workout DVDs, and easily the most convincing gaming exercise package on the market."
How about adding a little sunshine to your Wii Balance Board workouts with this decal cover from BR Production? The skin is quick and easy to fit, can be removed without leaving any unsightly residue, and leaves you will access to the accessory's all-important power button.
It's yours for under $10 at Amazon.com.
A portion of the IGN review of The Biggest Loser for the Nintendo Wii:
"The Biggest Loser impressed me. While this game certainly has some flaws in its motion tracking and lacks the polish of some of the higher budget fitness games from bigger publishers, when it comes to finding a workout that can get your heart pumping, The Biggest Loser can compete."
There are scores of fitness accessories available for the Wii, but that never stops new companies from investing in the market. The latest to do - The Biggest Loser - brings us the Wii Ultimate Fitness Kit.
Available at Amazon.com, the set includes a gym bag, fitness cord, wrist/ankle weights, and a jump rope. And we imagine you'll want to team all of this up with... The Biggest Loser videogame.
A portion of the Coventry Telegraph review of All Star Cheer Squad 2:
"A great new feature of this version is that you can create your own music mix to go with your routines. You can also customise your cheerleaders down to the details of the uniform and make up.
It's a fantastic game for all girls aged 10 to 16."
Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. today unveiled new details and mini-game mechanics for Walk It Out! Coming to retail stores nationwide on Wii™ in January 2010, Walk It Out! is a unique game that marries a high-energy/low impact fitness game with rhythm-based gameplay to make for a fun and rewarding exer-gaming experience for the whole family.
Walk It Out! sets itself apart from other fitness games by offering one of the largest and most diverse on-disc music libraries of ANY game across all genres. Players can step to the beat to over 100 great songs, including licensed master tracks and re-records of some of yesterday and today's hottest artists (Demi Lovato, Jesse McCartney, Ne-Yo and more) to original songs from some of the same artists who created music for the legendary DanceDanceRevolution® series.
In addition to the robust musical content, Walk It Out! core appeal is the unique gameplay elements. Part exploration and part fitness game, players step to the beat to unlock the secrets of an ever-growing and expansive in-game world. Stroll past oceanside harbors, gaze up at skyscrapers, amble through bustling city squares, parks and other vistas. The whole while, players are reinforced of their efforts as the game tracks progress with in-game charts, graphs and visuals to show calories burned, distance traveled, steps taken and more!
In addition to the main exploration game, which two players can play cooperatively, Walk It Out! also contains mini-games and puzzles to offer additional modes of gameplay that utilize the full library of music you've unlocked in the main game. Some of the fun and exciting games include:
Whack-a-Slack: Stomp on Slackies (negative energy creatures) as they emerge through circles corresponding to the directional arrows on your DanceDanceRevolution controller or your Wii Remote™ controller. Select your difficulty, and then play through a single song you've unlocked in the main game or endless to play as long as you want!
Psycolo: Solve a brainteaser while you step to the rhythm of one of your favorite songs to keep your health up!
Smash 'n' Run!: Put a good record on, chase down those Slackies and whack them with your hammer! Build up your hammer by moving to the beat so that you can smash even bigger and lazier Slackies!
A portion of the NWR review of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games:
"In the end, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games is a great game. Sega took the solid foundation of the first title, addressed many of the concerns found with it, and made an excellent sequel that does justice to both the Olympic Winter Games and the Mario and Sonic universe. If you liked the first Mario and Sonic Olympic game, don't hesitate to give this one a try."
A portion of the WorthPlaying review of EA Sports Active More Workouts:
"EA Sports Active: More Workouts remains one of the more solid fitness games on the Wii for the simple reason that it produces results. The game tracks workout time and calories burned, and on the hard intensity level, it's not at all uncommon to work off 200-250 calories, which is not bad for anyone just trying to keep from putting on a few pounds."
This month marks two years since the Wii Balance Board was released in Japan. Since then we've seen Wii Fit take over the world, approaching 100 Balance Board-supported games, and more accessories for the device than you can shake a FriiBoard at.
There's no arguing that Nintendo's ultimate vision for the Wii Balance Board - making the company shedloads of money - has probably surpassed even its expectations, but from a gamer's point of view, has the Balance Board delivered all that we hoped it would? In short, it's been a total mixed bag of offerings. The Balance Board-supported games released so far can be divided into a selection of broad categories:
Fitness Games
The big players in this field were Wii Fit and EA Sports Active, but unpredictably there were a number of other titles vying for the attention of those who'd hula-hooped and warrior-posed one too many times. Enter the likes of Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum, The Biggest Loser, Walk It Out, and Gold's Gym Cardio Workout. Despite a panning by the critics for her first effort, Jillian has since returned with a sequel to Fitness Ultimatum, as well as starring in a virtual version of The Biggest Loser.
Sports Games
Certainly the most credible use of the Wii Balance Board after Wii Fit clones, snowboarding, skiing, and skating have dominated this sphere of the Balance Board world. Shaun White Snowboarding and its recent sequel, Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage add genuine freshness to a genre that seemed to become stagnant a good few years ago. Skate It and Skate City Heroes failed to set the world alight, while Don King Boxing and, in particular, Punch-Out!! provided decent Balance Board-supported opportunities to thump opponents in the face, while ducking and weaving to save the good looks of your own.
Dancing Games
They may not be everybody's cup of tea, but credit where credit is due to the likes of All Star Cheer Squad, All Star Cheer Squad 2, and Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 3 for including Balance Board support where so many similar games have opted for a Wii Remote-only approach. Seems ridiculous really... who WOULDN'T want to take lead dancing role on the Balance Board?
Party / Mini-Game Collections / Childrens Games
Perhaps the most prevelent set of Wii Balance Board-supported titles, and the least worthy of much of a write-up. Say hello to Go Play Lumberjacks, Circus Star, and City Sports; g'day to Imagine Fashion Party, Party Babiez, and Dream Dance and Cheer. And then never acknowledge their existence again.
WTF / Crap Games
Wii Fit is the second most successful videogame of all time, which means a lot of Balance Boards in homes - and developers who know that any chance to include compatibility in their games (no matter how half-arsed) would give them the excuse to include a whizz-bang "SUPPORTS WII BALANCE BOARD!" graphic on their box arts.
For examples of these types of games, look no further than Baby and Me, Doctor Fizzwhizzle's Animal Rescue, and, wait for it... Balance Board-supported Scrabble!
Notable Mentions
For types of games that haven't really had much Balance Board coverage, we can look to titles such as Marble Saga: Kororinpa, Equilibrio, and Rock 'N Roll Climber - slower and more considered takes on the capibilities of Nintendo's accessory, and definitely worth a look.
2010 And Beyond
As 2010 looms, what do the next 12 months have in store for the Wii Balance Board? Well, for noteworthy titles, it looks like Super Monkey Ball Step and Roll is the only beacon of hope so far. Other games in the pipeline include Stratusphere Yoga, Project Runway, and Sled Shred - none of which we imagine are going to set the world alight.
Despite two years in which the Balance Board (thanks to Wii Fit) has conquered the world, there is still so much scope for developers to make much more worthy use of the accessory.
Here's hoping...
Wii Fit games and Wii Balance Board games for Christmas 2009 - Balance Board Blog's top recommendations are below:
Wii Fit Plus
The follow-up to the grand daddy of Wii Fitness games, Wii Fit Plus offers everything that Wii Fit did - and a little bit more - including workouts targeted at specific areas of the body, and a variety of additional mini games. At less than $20, it's the perfect gift for the Wii Fit enthusiast.
Buy now from Amazon.com
Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
After huge success in warmer climes, Mario and Sonic strap on the winter gear and head to Vancouver for some more sporting action. Featuring some of gaming's most recognisable characters and some inventive use of the Wii Balance Board, it's bound to be a Christmas Day family favourite.
Buy now from Amazon.com
Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage
Everyone's favourite flame-haired extreme sportsman is back on Wii this Winter, and this time he's inviting you to globe trot with him. Including Wii MotionPlus and Balance Board support, Shaun White Snowboarding World Stage builds on the success of last year's original.
Buy now from Amazon.com
Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 3
Konami's long-running dance-em-up series introduces the power of the Wii Balance Board for the first time, giving players the chance to shake their hips to over 60 different tracks, with a special Workout Mode included to count the calories as you go.
Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum 2010
She doesn't mince her words for anyone, but it's a method that's helped thousands of people get into shape. Jillian Michaels returns to Wii, inviting players to take a trip to her tropical bootcamp for a workout they'll never forget.
Buy now from Amazon.com
EA Sports Active More Workouts
EA Sports Active has given Wii Fit a real run for its money, and the sequel pushes Nintendo's own efforts harder than ever. If you like your exercise and its lessons slick and polished, More Workouts is what you'll want under the Christmas tree come the Big Day.
Buy now from Amazon.com
The Biggest Loser
Jillian's Back again, and now you can become "The Biggest Loser" in the comforts of your own home. Shape and tone your body, either by yourself or with a friend, with this interactive fitness video game for the Wii. Choose a 4, 8 or 12 week program and The Biggest Loser fitness game will build a workout and nutrition plan for you so you can reach your fitness goals.
Buy now from Amazon.com
A portion of the WorthPlaying review of The Biggest Loser for Wii:
"Fans of the show will enjoy this title immensely, while others can still get a lot out of the content offered here, especially if their only exposure to exercise is Wii Fit."
A portion of the BlogCritics review of Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum 2010 Review:
"The game presents a realistic balance of workouts with tips like “allow yourself room for setbacks.” In short this is a great interactive exercise program with clear directions. Lastly, for those who speak Spanish, the game can be set to play in that language."
We first heard about Project Runway for Wii in September, and today we learn that the Balance Board-supported title will strut into stores on March 2, 2010. Behold the blurb:
"A must have "accessory" for series fans, Project Runway the videogame will put players in the role of aspiring fashion designer. Similar to the show, players will be presented with a range of theme challenges as they create designs and adorn models with hair, make-up, and accessories. Players can then become the model and strut their creations down the runway using the Wii Balance Board(TM) accessory. Capturing the true essence of Project Runway, the title will feature the show's key talent, Tim Gunn, Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, and Michael Kors as well as the top eight contestants from season six including reigning Project Runway winner Irina Shabayeva."
Any Project runway fans out there? Get in early and pre-order the game at Amazon.com now.
A portion of the GamePro review of Shaun White Snowboarding World Stage:
"White's latest romp down the digital slopes offers a quick burst of simple yet satisfying snowboarding fun. It's a little too similar to last year's Road Trip, and some may find the approach too casual, but it definitely works as an arcade-styled entry that anyone can enjoy."
NewU Fitness First Mind and Body Supports Wii Balance Board, we learn today. A follow-up to last year's Personal Trainer, Black Bean's latest effort shifts its focus onto yoga and pilates.
The original NewU game was never released in the US, and we're not sure this one will wing its way Stateside either, but European gamers have much stretching and posing on virtual beaches and mountaintops to look forward to, come its 2010 release.
Thanks to Janne for the tip!
Team Elimination Games from Ubisoft (known as Knockout Party in Europe) supports the Wii Balance Board.
The blurb:
"Whatever you do, don't get eliminated! Race against family and friends in 20 crazy courses filled with anything and everything to prevent you from reaching the finish line. Go one-on-one with everyone to be the first to reach your destination, or win as a team and cheer on your teammates to overcome every hazard. Bounce, dodge, slide, and jump your way through several obstacle-themed environments including the Farm, the Beach, the Shopping Mall, and Versailles Castle. Don't let any obstacle stand between you and the gold!"
Thanks to Janne for the tip!
A portion of the WWW review of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games:
"Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games is not as instantly likeable as the first title but with so much on offer it is still a must have Wii title.
A portion of The Telegraph review of EA Sports Active More Workouts:
"While EA hasn't tinkered too much with the foundations of the franchise, the tweaks, tucks and additional content make EA Sports Active More Workouts feel like a far more effective fitness package than its predecessor. For players who want to work up a sweat in front of their consoles it's one of the best titles available."
A portion of the Tech Gaming review of Shaun White Snowboarding World Stage Review:
"With support for a number of peripherals (WiiMotion Plus owners can design their own tricks), a splitscreen multiplayer mode, and online leaderboards, the game has a few additions that will extend the title’s short campaign. While World Stage isn’t deep enough to reside alongside snowboarding’s greatest virtual recreations, it’s enjoyable enough to recommend to fans of the genre."
