Archive for May, 2007

At the end of this year Nintendo should be releasing Wii Health Pack. The game was announced last year in september and since then we haven’t been heard much about the title. We know that Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of franchises such as Mario, Donkey Kong, and The Legend of Zelda is working on the game. Mister Miyamoto said that he had the idea on the same single sheet of piper like Wii Sports and Wii Play. Back then Nintendo stated the goal of the game as “create an application which is useful for everyday healthcare”, something that would fit perfect in the Wii Weight Loss Program and the game could help training other parts of your body.

According to rumors, the game will give you a complete workout schedule and it would automatically send biomedic data to hospitals via a new Wii Channel. The game should be relevant for every family member and Nintendo thinks that they could be able to create a situation where all family members are willing to turn on their Wii-console every day. The game was given a 2007 release for Japan, but the game should be coming out in the US and Europe as well.

President of Nintendo Saturo Iwata asks developer Eguchi about Wii Health Pack:

Iwata: Did it include the “Health Pack” idea that Miyamoto-san has been talking about a lot recently?
Eguchi: Yes, it did. He was trying to push the idea of Wii as a tool at the heart of the living room, connecting families, so that idea was clearly written down. From the “Health Pack” through to further ways to connect families, it looked like he’d emptied all of the jumbled contents of his head straight onto the paper! (laughs) But, in all seriousness, he wrote everything we needed to do on that paper. He roughly divided all of the trial software we had into categories for sports games or games for all the family. Those family-oriented games went on to be included in Wii Play. He also wrote that we should sell those games bundled with the Wii Remote, as well as explaining the way that the calendar on the Message Board would work in conjunction with these games. This was a function aimed at getting people to switch their Wii on every day. When people play Wii Sports or Wii Play, their results are automatically posted on the calendar in the Message Board. Miyamoto-san had broadly outlined functions like this in the plan he wrote down. That single sheet of paper turned out to be the actual starting line for the development of Wii Sports.

For more info, check Wikipedia.

Yesterday we talked about Picross for the Nintendo DS and today we have another Touch! Generations game that showed up on the Nintendo Media Summit. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training: Brain Age 2 will supply you with even more puzzles to solve and more exercises to keep your brain fit and young. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training 2 will appear on June 29 in Europe and in August the game will be hitting the US.

Since January 25 2007 Picross DS is out in Japan and since May 11 it’s also available in Europe. In the US we will be seeing this extremely addictive puzzlegame on July 30 2007. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain? is extremely popular all over the world, but not only those Brain Training games are healthy for your brains. There are tons of other games in the Touch! Generations series that train your brain and keep your mind young. People who are bit tired of Sudoku should try Picross definitely out. In this game you need speedy fingers and more fast thinking to solve the puzzles. Eye-hand coordination will be trained as well in this game.

In the Picross Mode Player you have to reveal an image that is hidden beneath the puzzle. You need to fill in a grid with squares and crosses to complete the patterns and reveal the picture. Off course there’s also a mode in which you get every day a few quick puzzles to solve. The game allows you to create your own puzzles and share them with friends over local and online WiFi Connection. Nintendo will be supplying you with new puzzles and other downloadable goodies as well. But there’s more; in the Online Battle Mode you’ll be facing other players from all over the world in this mad puzzle game! IGN gave the game an outstanding 9/10.

At the Nintendo Media Summit another video of Picross DS was shown.

So this week our Wii Sports Weigth Loss Program was published on this website and as you may have noticed a lot of websites featured it. We’re glad that the reactions on the workout schedule were positive and we plan on updating it with more testimonies and tips in the feature. We have removed the pictures of Melany since too many people were complaining about them, some visitors think that she has anorexia. That’s why the first update on the schedule has the following tip:

- Don’t use this program when your weight is just perfect. Calculate your BMI if you want to know if you need to lose weight or not. We made this guide for people who need to lose weight, not for those who are obsessed with burning calories. Talk to a doctor if you aren’t sure you should be losing weight.

We got some feedback on the layout of the website as well and we are really glad that you guys like it. We would like to thank everyone who talked about the article on his/her website and for promoting weightloss by playing on the Wii. Don’t hesitate and email us if you have a tip, testimony, comment or anything else that you want to let us know!

We have plans to write more guides about healthy gaming. The Touch! Generations games are really popular at the moment, puzzle games like Picross DS, More Brain Training, Yoga DS and many more are also very healthy for your body. Also, we should be hearing more about Wii Health Pack that is currently in development with Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto.

This is a guide that we have build for people to use to lose weight by playing Wii Sports for the Nintendo Wii. We have composed this schedule and tested it multiple times on people with different lifestyles, different weight categories, different ages and different sexes. Numbers based in this guide are an average of the results we got from those people. Some people will be losing weight easier than others, keep this in mind while working out this program. A lot depends from the way you will be playing games. This is a 10 week program; each day you should be playing about 30-45 minutes active Wii Sports. If you have anyway questions about this guide, suggestions or problems, just mail us or leave a comment.

Before you start with the program, make sure you weigh yourself to compare with the end result. Some people do it more fanatically and also measure their Body Mass Index, calories burned per session/game, body fat percentage, heart rate (at rest) and took note of additional notes or soreness. When it’s the first time you’ll start up the game you won’t have any Wii Fitness Age, but when you’ve already played the game and decided to start with the program, note done your Wii Fitness Age as well.

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1. Getting started

To get started with this program you’ll need a few things. Here’s a list of what exactly you need to work out:
- A Nintendo Wii console, which comes with a free copy of Wii Sports ($249,99)
- A TV, beamer, monitor with VGA box. A screen that allows you to play Wii-games on (Available in all price categories)
- A room as big as possible
- This (almost) perfect guide to lose weight

Off course there are many other things and extra’s that come in handy for training with the Wii. Friends and family members to play with are a big plus, but not necessary. Just make sure that you are installed and that you feel comfortable when playing. For playing on the Wii it’s not necessary to wear a sportoutfit. Make sure you wear clothes you feel comfortable in, preferably a sportingoutfit. Just don’t wear shoes with high heals and twenty sweaters.

See what time is the best for you to train. Maybe you won’t be in the mood to play when you just came home from work or school. Don’t play when you’re tired in order to get the best results out of this program. Try to put a fixed time on your sessions so that your bodyclock won’t be whole messed up. Just make sure that you’re comfortable and that you’re ready to have some fun. Remember that this program is about having fun and losing weight at the same time.

2. Get familiar with the Nintendo Wii

If you have never set up a videogame system, check the manuals that came with the console or check forums to ask help to other gamers but normaly even a non-gamer should be able to install it. The second part is to get used to using the WiiRemote and Nunchuk. There aren’t any booklets to help you with that since everything figures itself out. Make sure you stand in front of your television and that the sensor bar and everything else is set up right. Once you know how to use the controllers, startup the Wii Sports disc and let the fun begin!

Choose a Mii character to get started with and we strongly recommend you to keep using the same Mii to check your progress. This little puppet will be carrying all your scores, your fitness statistics and so on. Pick whatever sport that interests you the most to kick off with. Every sportsegment of the game starts with a very good tutorial that makes you go through all the steps of that sport. Take your time for it, read the tips and you’ll already be a top Wii sporter before you have even started. We recommend that you first try all the sports out before starting the workout schedule. Pick out a favorite that you will do most of the time in this segment.

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3. Let’s lose weight!

Everything will depend on how strict you follow the schedule, how active you play and what sport you prefer to play. If you play slow, watch replies and stuff like that you won’t be losing the amount of calories stated below. You can off course choose for a combination of sports, this is just an example of what the results are when you play it when you follow these instructions.

Under this paragraph you see a table with the five different sports, the time you should play per day for ten weeks long and the numbers of calories you should be burning if you play active. Don’t worry if the results are not as displayed in this table. Remember that some people will lose weight easier than others so keep going because anyone can lose weight with our program. After a few days you will be able to play a lot better and the number of calories you’ll burn will go up.

Sport	Playtime	Calories burned
Boxing	15 minutes	121

Boxing is the most active game on the Wii Sports disc. We strongly advise very heavy people not to go too wild in this one since your heart rate will go up a lot. This could be a problem for people who have been advised not to do big efforts. The fact is that this is the perfect game to lose weight. In a couple of minutes you can burn easily 121 calories in 15 minutes time. So this is a rather fast method and you can even speed it up by using a Mii version of a person that you don’t like as an opponent! Keep moving, move from the front to the back, from left to right. Try punching your enemy from different angles, different types of punches and you’ll be sweating that body fat away. Make sure to keep the wrist strap tight!

Sport	Playtime	Calories burned
Tennis	25 minutes	110

Tennis is the second best game to lose body weight. In this game it’s not necessary to move your body from left to right and back to front and that makes it less tiring. Try to play long games and play close to the net so that you’ll have to hit the ball faster. There are some nice tricks to make this the ultimate Wii Sports weight loss game. When setting up the game, just choose to control one of the two opponents as your player as well. You’ll have three Mii’s this way and you can even make the fourth one your tennisplayer as well. This is only recommended for people that are real tennis masters, but just keep in mind that this is all possible. Also, try to hit smashes since this will speed the game up as well.

Sport	Playtime	Calories burned
Bowling	30 minutes	104

Bowling comes on number three since this game doesn’t require that you move with your whole body. When playing this activly you can however lose weight by just swinging your arms and doing some cool moves while throwing your bowling ball. Don’t just move your polses around but swing the ball away with an arm movement. Go for strikes and spares and swing your ball with power, but don’t waste your time on aiming your ball in the right direction. Try clicking the reviews away fast and compete other people in this game since bowling is a perfect game to play with your family.

Sport	Playtime	Calories burned
Baseball	35 minutes	102

Baseball comes in fourth since this game is also a lot about watching your Mii run around the field and there aren’t many opportunities to use your whole body in this game. In our testing we haven’t had many people who played this game to lose weight and it won’t make you a real Wii Sports addict. You can play it every now and then to get some variation, but it won’t train your muscles or burn much calories.

Sport	Playtime	Calories burned
Golf	45 minutes	99

Golf is a nice and relaxing sport but we recommend you not to put this discipline in your program since you’ll have to spend to much time on losing a small amount of calories. You can fitch it in for some variation, but don’t do the whole weight loss project with only this sport. You have to focus too much on getting your ball to the end of the course and there just isn’t any way to play this game really active. A swing with your golfclub will make you lose some calories, more than that you won’t get out of it. Still a nice sport though, just not something to make you sweat.

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5. Some general tips

- One of the things you absolutely have to avoid is frustration. If you’re getting a little frustrated, switch over to Wii Boxing to lose some steam and if that doesn’t work, put the controllers away and just do something else. Taking a walk to catch some fresh air is the best way to lose the heat or just play another fun Wii-game that doesn’t require much physical input.
- When you start to get bored off Wii Sports during this program, DON’T give up! There are many ways to make Wii Sports more fun and challenging. Try some new Mii’s out, check out some other sports, change some of the game settings to make it more fun and exciting, compete a roommate, family member or friend or try some of the neat Wii Sports accessories to make it more realistic and more fun. Convince non-gamers to give it a shot and have a good laugh at them when they suck at the game!
- Try to teach your pet how to play Wii Sports. We’ve seen in several movies that dogs, cats and other nice animals can even play Wii Sports, the game is that simple to learn! Don’t get pissed when your dog gets better in it than you…
- Play as active as possible. Try to move with your whole body and not just your arms, do the mimics . Wii Sports is a game that’s made for standing in front of your TV so don’t be lazy and sit like a bag of potatoes in your sofa.
- Don’t be too fanatic in this program. Playing longer than suggested in this guide won’t kill you, but remember that Wii Sports uses a lot of muscles in your body. Always put on your wrist strap since we all know what can happen if the WiiRemote slips out of your hands! Stretching before you start training
with Wii Sports is a good way to warm your muscles up.

6. Wii Fitness

The Wii Fitness feature in Wii Sports is a great way to measure your progress in this trainschedule. Every sport itself gets three sort of minigames so in total that makes 15. In tennis for example your opponent will constantly be hitting balls and you’ll have to hit back as many as possible in order to get a younger Fitness Age, in bowling you get more cones to knock on the ground, in boxing you have to punch more etc. More new challenges and some nice statistics to see how you are evolving.

7. After the Wii Sports Weight Loss program

Review your weight loss program, check how many weight you’ve loss, what your heart rate is when resting, check your Wii Fitness Age, check your pro scores and try to compare your results with the reports of other Wii weightloss friends. If it didn’t work out like you had hoped, don’t give up and learn from your mistakes. Perhaps give us some feedback about this guide or ask us to give you some advise for a second attempt. You can send us pictures from before or after and we’ll add them to our website with your story about the Wii Weight Loss project. Share your experiences with other Wii owners so that everyone in the world knows that Wii sports is a fun way to lose a few pounds. Since you should be playing 30-45 minutes per day, these new challenges will be more than welcome!

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8. First reviews from our readers

Carl:

Before (01/01/2007)
Weight: 248
Waist: 46″
Body fat: 32%

After (05/05/2007)
Weight: 218
Waist: 43″
Body fat: 22%

Above are the statistics of my bodyweight, waist dimensions and the percentage of my body fat all before and after. I started soon after my son bought his Nintendo Wii and got hooked on and decided to start the New Year with a Wii Sports training. It didn’t went well in the beginning but after two weeks I started to get the hang of the games and knew how to use my entire body in these games. My favorites were Wii Boxing and Wii Tennis and I kept challenging myself in the Wii Fitness Age program. I really recommend that plan since it gives you nice statiscs of your evolutions. I’m going to keep training with Wii Sports and I advise this program to anyone!

Melany:
Pictures removed due to complaints about the girl being to skinny after the Wii program.

Hey guys I just want you to know that I really love the Wii Sports game and its fun factor. I really like jogging and all but I wanted something new and this Wii was something fresh that I wanted to try out. I’m 24 now and wanted to go from 100 lbs to 92 lbs and I did it in only four six weeks! I have been playing a lot in that period and invited some friends over to have a chat and play some on the Wii. I really loved tennis, a sport that I have practised when I was still a kid. My score is 1085 now and I’m still trying to do better. I was able to lose weight with Wii Sports on a fun way and all of my efforts were rewarded. I’m glad this guide got composed and I would suggest that everyone loses weight with this new program.

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9. Closing comments

If you have any questions, suggestions, tips or experiences to share, drop a comment on this article or send us an email. Soon we will have a forum where we users will be able to share experiences and reviews with each other. I want to thank all people who helped build this guide and Nintendo for making the coolest videogame system ever!

Nintendo is currently working on another amazing game that will allow you to lose weight while having tons of fun with Wii Fit and the Wii Balance Board. Check the site for updates on upcoming exergames.

At a rehab hospital in Edmonton Canada therapists are using the Nintendo Wii to treat patients with movement and balance problems. Thanks to Wii Boxing patient Albert Liaw no longer needs his wheelchair. Four and a half months ago he was suffering from a severe brain injury.

“When I first played I was in a wheelchair, now I’m standing and I can box normal,” he said.

Albert Liaw’s occupational therapist Don Simoneau says that the reason of all this is the fact that games make it fun and make you forget pain.

“It was very motivating. We could have him do therapy for an hour and he wouldn’t mind one bit. Now when I see him playing today it’s incredible to think back to where he was.”

“We try to use activity but there is only so many times you can bat a balloon around back and forth. And only so many times you can reach for a bean bag,” Simoneau said.

Source: CBC

Losing weight by playing on the Wii is amazing, but this is even more impressive. Let’s hope other hospitals will be using the Wii in the future as well.

Even with a Wii Sports weight loss program eating healthy is still important. If you workout half an hour per day and eat fat junkfood you won’t be losing any weight. It’s not necessary to follow a special Weight Watchers diet or whatever is out there on the market, just mind food that’s full of fat, sugar and salt. Eat vegetables and fruit to get some healthy vitamines in your system and don’t drink too much soda. Instead, have some soup, tea, water, soymilk,… We’re sure you know what nutrion is healthy and which food isn’t.

Oh and don’t eat any parts of your [tag]Nintendo[/tag] [tag]Wii[/tag] console, [tag]WiiRemote[/tag] or [tag]Wii Sports[/tag] copy!

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Many people didn’t believe the story of Mickey DeLorenzo, but in February there was a research undertaken at a UK university that backs the story up. The Liverpool John Moores University found out that playing active games with the [tag]WiiRemote[/tag] and [tag]Nunchuk[/tag] can make you 27 pounds per year thinner. They kept an eye on the calories burned, the heart rate and energy expenditure of five girls and seven boys from 13-15 years old. Playing 15 minutes with the traditional controller made the energy expenditure increase by 60 percent, with the [tag]WiiRemote[/tag] the result was 156 percent! Their hear beats were also faster when using the [tag]Wii[/tag] reaching per minute up to 130 beats, while in traditional games this is only 85 bpm.

Professor Tim Cable who lead the research said the following:

“Through our testing it is clear that the motion sensor controlled console can make an impact on a child’s heart rate, energy expenditure and the amount of calories burned… Active consoles such as the Wii could provide a means of motivating children who are less active. However, parents should encourage other physical activities and outdoor pursuits in order for their children to lead well balanced lives.”

The Wii is really going to make America look thinner.
GameSpot

Baby laughing at the Wii

Source: Wacka

[tag]Wario Ware Smooth Moves[/tag] is one of the many [tag]partygames[/tag] for the [tag]Nintendo[/tag] [tag]Wii[/tag]. It’s without doubt one of the best multiplayer games at this moment available. [tag]Rayman Raving Rabbids[/tag] has also a lot of humor, but it won’t make you sweat as much as you would in Smooth Moves. The game requires that you have a lot of open space to play in since you’ll have to jump, swing your arms in the air, punch, slice, hoola hoop and do so much more. The game contains over 200 minigames, each one of them takes about five seconds to solve. Each character in the game has its own type of minigames. Jimmy T is going to let you dance, Wario himself just has these crazy games that will make you laugh your ass off and many more characters will entertain you. The more minigames you succesfully beat, the faster it’s going.

The level is smoothly going up giving you the time to get used to this type of extraordinary game. At the begin you’ll have no problems to complete a minigame, but the faster it goes, the more you’ll have to move. When you play it with your family or friends you’ll burn even more calories since you’ll be challenging each other to go even harder. Fun assured; the strange minigames will make you shout it out and laughing your but off still trains muscles! The variety of moves in this game is huge and you’ll be facing a lot of tutorials to study these new movements in. You’ll do more than just swinging your arms around, in some games you even have to pretend like running, push the Remote against your nose to shake ‘no’, balance a guy on a huge ball and so on.

The game contains loads of minigames and other extras, but you won’t enjoy it that much if you play alone. If you have more than one [tag]WiiRemote[/tag], invite someone over to play with you so that this person can keep you stimulated to go on. You can play the game with up to sixteen people. It contains fun characters that will attract young and old gamers and non-gamers with a nice variety of disciplines to play. The nice but simple sounds and graphics in this game will make you happier than ever. This game gives you the same feeling like walking around in Disney World!

Videoreview of Wario Ware Smooth Moves

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