Too bad if you've got a sore leg, right? Thankfully, they're still investigating what level of uncomfortable shuffling would be deemed suspicious enough to call for a secondary screening.

The project is called Future Attribute Screening Technology (FAST), and has also developed machines to measure the interval between heartbeats, and how deeply someone inhales.

It's still all research, but one of the researchers told CNN the program is "doing significantly better than chance." I'm all for better security, but it sounds pretty invasive. As Joe Stanley of the ACLU is quoted saying: "Nobody has the right to look at my intimate bodily functions, my breathing, my perspiration rate, my heart rate, from afar."

Unless you're entering the U.S perhaps. Welcome to the possible future of travel. [CNN via Kotaku]

The Wii Fit Plus will introduce 15 new mini-games and come as either a standalone disc for $19.99, or as part of a bundle with the original Wii Fit and Balance Board for $99.99. It also looks like Nintendo will be releasing black editions of the Wii remote, nunchuk and MotionPlus, so those concerned about matching their toys to their furniture will finally breathe a sigh of relief.

We're happy to get the release info, but one question remains: will the Wii Fit Plus mean more pictures of Brian in his boxers? [USA Today via kotaku]

Price Cuts
The financiapocalypse has yielded no price cuts for ailing gamers from Sony, Nintendo or Microsoft. A PS3 still hurts at $400, a real Xbox costs $300 (with downloadable retail games on the way, you need that hard drive), and a Wii still costs $250. Not to mention the true price of owning these consoles—$60 $80 for a complete Wiimote (can't forget MotionPlus, which Miyamoto said yesterday could be required for the next Wii Zelda), $50 a year for Xbox Live—also remains unchanged. This is undoubtedly part and parcel of this generation's extended lifespan, but parts and manufacturing prices have fallen, so they're all presumably recouping more money than ever on their consoles. If they're serious about picking up new gamers, they need to make it affordable.

PS3 Slim
Sony inevitably slenderizes every console, and the PS3 is an effin' monster. The PSP Go shows they're still very much on board on the shrink ray as a way to generate sales. The PS3 costs them less than ever to make—just think how much more they'd save if they didn't have to pay for all of that extra plastic? (OK, maybe they'd have to pay more for the smaller guts.) But we've seen possible branding for it, just maybe. Are they saving it for motion controls?

Zune, Zune, Zune
We really expected more ZuneHD to be a part of Microsoft's E3 keynote, given the barebone announcement that left us parched for more details. ZuneHD wasn't mentioned once.

Also, Microsoft promised "at E3 next week, attendees will see firsthand how Zune integrates into Xbox LIVE to create a game-changing entertainment experience." Um, we must've missed that. Zune Video Marketplace moved onto Xbox Live was all we caught. When we asked Xbox Live's Marc Whitten yesterday where Zune audio was, he pointed at Last.fm. And about what we can expect from deeper Zune integration, we got a more or less canned response that they'll be continuing to grow the service and move toward more integration. Not very satisfying.

Live Anywhere
Nearly three years later, and one year after being assured the project is still alive, Microsoft's Live Anywhere—the service that'll let you tap into Live from anywhere—is still nowhere. Which is absolutely baffling, given everything Microsoft's added to the Live service since the New Xbox Experience and all of the "cloud" work they've been doing. Live Anywhere fits perfectly with all of that. There's really no good explanation for why Live Anywhere is still MIA.

But we asked Whitten where it was, just for good measure. He said they're focusing on the living-room experience here at E3, and since that extends onto other devices, it's for another time and place. Ooooookay. Maybe when we see that deeper Zune integration?

A Bigger, Better Wii Balance Board and More Wii MotionPlus Games
While Nintendo didn't fail to come through with a new piece of potentially gimmicky hardware (notice they didn't even have a game to go with it, and Miyamoto himself was vague on WTF it's for), Wii Fit Plus is the same old Wii Fit from a hardware perspective. We hoped a Wii Fit Plus would come with a Balance Board Plus—a smarter board that's even bigger for people who don't have Japan-sized feet. It's one new hardware peripheral we wouldn't have minded one bit.

A year after announcing the Wii MotionPlus, the game pickins for it still look a bit slim. Nintendo announced a handful of titles yesterday that'll make use of it, like Sega's Virtua Tennis 2009 and the new Tiger Woods Golf from EA (which'll have it bundled) but it's disappointing they didn't have more to show at this stage of the game. During yesterday's Q&A, Miyamoto said that it might be required for the next Zelda on Wii, depending on how widely it's adopted—so whether we see it used in more games may very well be dependent on how well it does with the initial load of titles. So it's odd there isn't well, more of them to start to really get the ball rolling.

So that's what we really missed at E3—well, all that and Hulu. What did you guys really hope to see?

Archive below:

7:47 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Testing testing. We're live t the Nokia theater with about an hour to kill before the Nintendo press conference.

7:50 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
The smell: cold steel and coffee.

7:56 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
So, the Nokia Theater is nice, but it's no Kodak Theater – the location of their e3 press conference last year. Feeling the sting of weak yen, Nintendo?

8:01 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
We were up late at a Microsoft party last night. Lots of free booze and Beatles Rock Band. Matt Buchanan threw back more than his fair share of water before not taking the stage and not humiliating himself.

8:06 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Bowie is playing, Young American.

8:06 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:

8:16 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:
MGMT is playing. I feel so cool now.

8:17 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:

8:22 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:

8:23 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:
Guesses? Anyone? Drop your answers over on our liveblog post.

8:34 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:

8:34 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
30 minutes until showtime. I've been playing Nintendo trivia on their big screen. Remember back when Coke sponsored that find the bottles pre-show stuff at movie theaters? I was SO good at spotting those inconspicuous red bottles on a white backdrop. So good.

8:38 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:
That was my brief experiment shooting behind my head with 5D Mark II's Live View. The 5D made our Microsoft liveblog yesterday magically easy to shoot–I can't wait 'til that kind of low-light power reaches entry-level cameras.

8:40 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
So what will we see from Nintendo? Wii Fit Plus seems like an absolute sure thing, along with a possible showing from Art Academy (a recent trademark Nintendo filed). Other than that? I'm guessing we'll see some pretty big pimping of Wii MotionPlus. Nintendo announced the peripheral at least year's E3, and now they need to sell the thing for $20 a pop.

8:41 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:

8:45 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
The answer to the question below? Mario. What did you win? Nothing. But the other big announcement we may see today is a new Mario title.

8:47 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
OMG, WIIMOTE SPOTTED ON STAGE!! WHAT COULD THIS MEAN????????

8:47 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:

8:49 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Oh, and in case you like to watch two or more liveblogs at once (what, you don't trust us?), check out the Kotaku liveblog. They're good people.

8:49 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:
It kinda makes me sad that the best-selling DS game ever is Nintendogs.

8:55 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
I will say, Nintendo's (LCD?) light strips are not so horrible looking. I mean, I wouldn't want to decorate my house with them or anything. But for a techie press conference? Martha Stewart would approve.

8:57 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:

8:58 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
5 minutes to takeoff. This must be what it feels like to await a space shuttle launch. Lotsa dudes. Weird smells. General discomfort. Top 40 pop music playing in the background. I don't know where I'm going with this.

8:59 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
ARE YOU READY TO RUUUUMMMMBBBBLLLLEEEEEEE? Great. But be careful, Immersion might sue your ass.

9:02 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Now Nintendo is busting out the U2. What would Bono do if he were here? Get shown up my John Mayer if John Maysr were here, that's what.

9:03 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt

9:03 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Nintendo has just put up their logo on every screen they've got on the stage. That's…SIX NINTENDO LOGOS. Booya. Show is starting.

9:04 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Nintendo messages: "Everyone's Game" "Connection" "Every Culture" "Every Contact" "Every Generation"

9:04 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
In other words, she has no motive to tell you the truth.

9:05 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
She's talking sales, citing NPD and explaining why video games are the top dog. She's using words like "consumers" and "industry."

9:06 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
"Maybe you've noticed a woman on the plane playing a DS system."

9:06 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Nintendo's goal? "Create, surprise."

9:07AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
She's promising more innovation in game control, and innovation where "we thought there might not be any left."

9:07 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
She's teasing an icon in games now, probably Mario

9:08 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Yes, it was Mario. Montage of Mario.

9:08 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
They never figured out how to move Mario into the 4th dimension. That's Nintendo's surprise. Miyamoto has invented a new way to play Mario. New Super Mario Bros for Wii.

9:08 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:

9:09 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Bill Trinen comes onstage. Senior Manager of Product Marketing.

9:09 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Ohh…and he's promising more PLAYERS. Four people at once!

9:10 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Wow, this is neat. It's like New Super Mario Bros, with Mario, Luigi and two Toads.

9:10 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
All the Wiimotes are being held like an NES controller, btw. There's some waggling involved.

9:10 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:

9:11 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Oooohh, helicopter hat! Oh, it's called a propeller suit. Work on that name, Nintendo.

9:11 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
The propeller suit makes sense because it launches players vertically, which allows players to stay on the same screen while flying. Remember raccoon Mario? He wouldn't work for this.

9:12 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
All four players need to hop on the flagpole within three seconds. The game is competitive, with players trying to score the most points.

9:13 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
New Super Mario Bros Wii is on the show floor, will launch Holiday 2009.

9:13 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:

9:13 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
"While Mario may be a big draw, he wasn't big enough to pull all consumers…" Nope, for that, Nintendo had to appeal to fat people.

9:14 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Cammie is talking about changing Wii Fit. The result? Wii Fit Plus.

9:15 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
It seeks out a specific workout routine that's "just right for you." Six new strength and yoga routines. Gaps between exercises can be removed.

9:16 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:

9:16 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
The screens she's showing look just like Wii Fit

9:17 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Oh, though they just showed a level in which you can hop over hurdles while dodging giant bullets, just like Mario. They showed that clip for roughly 5 seconds, sadly. Now they're cutting to a montage of Wii stuff.

9:18 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Reggie Fils-Aime comes onstage. Nice cheers for Reggie.

9:18 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:

9:18 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
The vernacular of Nintendo is just so business minded. "Virally," "mainstream culture." It just feels so cold and calculated. Where is Miyamoto's smiling face?

9:19 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Reggie is giving us a look at Wii game control options. Today, he wants to fully explain the "next advance" in game control. He's talking about Wii MotionPlus.

9:19 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:

9:20 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
He's showing a side by side of the Wiimote and the Wiimote with the MotionPlus dongle. He's explaining how different this little dongle feels.

9:20 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:

9:21 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Reggie cued a demo reel of Wii MotionPlus. And…we see a closeup of someone playing ping pong in slow mo over a 3D matrix. So futuristic!

9:21 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Holy crap, now a samurai! Samurais like Wii MotionPlus!

9:21 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Now a guy pulled a bow and arrow? Wii MotionPlus might be dangerous!

9:22 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
OK, now just a golfer and some basketball. My kids can play with Wii MotionPlus after all.

9:23 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
The video is over. "That's how it works on video," Reggie explains. But now they're gonna demo it in real time.

9:24 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
They're pushing "precision and depth" pretty hard. They want the mainstream to understand that Wii MotionPlus is BETTER than the Wiimote alone. So Nintendo is going to show up Wii Sports Resort, like they did last year, but focusing on precision controls.

9:24 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
The Wiimote (with MotionPlus) represents a skydiver. The Wiimote is being rotated. The skydiver is being rotated. It works!

9:25 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:

9:25 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Now the skydivers pull their chutes. There are no tragic accidents. The world is safe again. Phew.

9:26 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Read more on these games over at Kotaku, too.

9:26 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:

9:27 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Now we're in an archery range. It's archery rangey.

9:27 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:

9:27 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
It's tough to tell how much accuracy come into play here, since not many of us are archery experts. Nintendo just missed the target onstage. Ha. OK, archery demo over.

9:29 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Now it's time for some 1 on 1. Bill Trinen and Reggie share some awkwardly staged banter.

9:30 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
They're having a 3-point contest. It really looks like they're shooting baskets with the Wiimote, but it's a one-handed experience. So the guiding hand isn't part of the Wii Motion.

9:30 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
I bet this will drive the kids crazy though.

9:30 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:

9:32 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
The pace of this press conference is just so much slower than Microsoft's two-hour announcement extravaganza.

9:32 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Red Steel 2 will only be playable on Wii MotionPlus. That will be a trend across a lot of the Wii, if MotionPlus can reach a decent install base.

9:33 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
(Note: that point on the install base was my point, not Reggie's)

9:34 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Now we're looking at Square's contribution to the Wii, the upcoming Final Fantasy Crystal Bearers. That was a brief clip.

9:34 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
I'm sorry, I don't get paid enough to cover Square Enix. Read more at Kotaku.

9:35 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:

9:38 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Nintendo just called the DS line "the most lucrative" of Nintendo's offerings. Great!

9:40 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
James Patterson Women's Muder Club Games of Passion promises to bring pretty much everything in the game's title to the DS. We're watching a clip about it now. It looks like a series of minigames like Bejeweled mixed with snapshots of bad guys.

9:41 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
New clip: COP The Recruit. It looks like Grand Theft Auto, but you're a good guy.

9:41 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:

9:43 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
New clip: Style Savvy is intended for female "preteens and 20 somethings." Models try on clothes and walk a runway. Suck on this Natal! Can you fit in these designer jeans?

9:44 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:

9:44 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Now Cammie is talking about the Nintendo DSi, how it's great, for everyone, yada yada. She plays a clip of people on the street, mostly women, talking about how great the platform is. This is just grueling.

9:45 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Total Nintendo DSi sales have surpassed 1 million units in the US since launch. Just so you know.

9:46 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
FlipNotes Studio, a neat sketching animation program, is coming to the platform this summer. It looked pretty neat, but they're already on to something else.

9:47 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:

9:48 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Nintendo is skimming through various DSi titles quickly now. The audience is asleep. Literally, I see two people in the audience who might be asleep.

9:49 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Beginning this summer, you will be able to take photos on the DSi and upload them to Facebook.

9:49 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:

9:49 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Whoa, that announcement was out of nowhere. And now we're gone from Facebook. We didn't get any real look at the UI.

9:50 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:

9:51 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Satoru Iwata comes to the stage! The crowd awakens!

9:52 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
BTW, I can almost promise that Sony's press conference won't be this boring. At least I'll have some great zingers about the lack of dual analogs on the PSP Go!

9:52 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:

9:52 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Iwata is explaining how Nintendo divides gamers into three groups: those who game, those who don't and those who might.

9:54 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Between Japan, Europe and America there are 149 potential gamers. That's like 149 million potential DS sales which would equate to enough money for Nintendo to buy the entire world and "win." (Iwata didn't explain the winning strategy with as much depth as I did. But my extrapolation is usually pretty accurate.)

9:55 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:

9:55 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Oops, 149 million players.

9:56 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Iwata explains to us that veteran players and newcomer players are different, but we were all newcomers at some time in our life. We've heard Nintendo say this before. It's actually a very wise outlook on gaming, imho.

9:56 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Oh, and read more on Iwata's global conquest over at Kotaku.

9:58 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
So what's next for Nintendo and the mainstream? Iwata is showing us an "entirely different way" of looking at games. Wake up, people. We're cooking again.

9:58 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Wii Vitality Sensor

9:58 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
It tracks your pulse.

9:59 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
The retirement homes are gonna love this, until the first Wii Vitality Sensor goes flatline.

9:59 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:

9:59 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
The intent of the WVS is that you can see the "inner world" of your body, to "achieve greater relaxation." NOTE: IT WON'T CURE CANCER!

10:00 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Wo while most games are meant to stimulate you, the Wii Vitality Sensor could be part of a game that helps you fall asleep.

10:00 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
I could win that sleeping game right now, without any fancy peripheral.

10:01 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
And Iwata leaves the stage. Cammie is back and she promises us "stimulation." But I think she's just recapping what we've already seen, stuff like the new Mario title.

10:01 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
"But, if you think that's all the Mario news you can handle, you might want to think again."

10:01 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
A second full 3D mario title is coming!

10:01 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
It looks like Super Mario Galazy 2. WITH YOSHI!!!

10:02 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
OK, Yoshi has saved this press conference. We're talking dinosaurs. You can ride. In space.

10:02 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Otherwise, it's just like Galaxy. The worlds and graphics could be an expansion pack they are so similar. Ooh, but now Mario sprouts flowers on some planets.

10:03 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
OK, we haven't seen much more Yoshi since those first shots. I'm hoping for like, one of those levels like in Super Mario World where you can get Yoshi again and again.

10:03 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
And yes, it's Super Mario Galaxy 2.

10:04 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:

10:04 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Reggie takes the stage to bring it all home. He admits "I read the blogs, too…I know there are still people out there listening who are like, ok, great, but I want more."

10:04 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
And he points out that, usually, it's the third parties who are dropping the ball for hardcore gamers.

10:05 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
He's showing a clip of The Conduit, which is a sci fi FPS. Ugh, I hate SD graphics mixed with Hollywood soundtracks. Just play MIDI.

10:07 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Reggie moves on to Capcom's Resident Evil The Darkside Chronicles. There's a lot of CGI in this clip, but the moments of gameplay are basically like RE4. Actually, it looks fantastic for a Wii title. Very sharp.

10:08 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
And last, he's showing us Dead Space Extraction, the Dead Space rails shooter. I'm sure Kotaku is riffing on the game pretty hard. I'll play this.

10:09 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
And with the third party games shown off, Reggie asks, "what about Nintendo itself? Could a new, edgier game be coming also from us?" "Absolutely."

10:09 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
What is it? We're watching a clip of an ocean, it goes to clouds. And….mountains…Team Ninja and Nintendo!

10:10 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
And it's in space. METROID.

10:10 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Lots of prerender, but it's a third person title. Fast action. Giant monsters. Grappling. Loud soundtrack.

10:11 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
Metroid Other M.

10:11 AM ON JUN 2 2009
matt:

10:12 AM ON JUN 2 2009
Mark Wilson:
And with that, Reggie wraps it up. We'll be back in under an hour to blog Sony. See you then!

'Wii Fit Plus' sounds obvious enough to us. A sequel or expansion for Wii Fit, we'd love a bigger balance board to support normal pushups...but chances are that this hardware is too profitable to be pulled from standardization. OK, what about some sort of Riiflex dumbbell accessory? Hell, throw a few sweat bands in there and Jason Chen will still play an hour a day. Whatever Nintendo does, that's the game's real logo. And November retailer availability floated around in a rumor from last month.

"Art Academy" brings up fond memories of Mario Paint, with the slightest overtones of Brain Age knockoff Big Brain Academy. Wii MotionPlus' 1:1 motion tracking combined with the Wiimote's IR could make for a neat painting game. But you know Nintendo, they'll just need to stick a white plastic easel and beret in the box. [Siliconera via Joystiq]

A quick look at the measurements reveals that this generic board is roughly 2 1/2 inches narrower than Nintendo's board and almost an inch shallower front to back. I can't speak for everyone here, but my size 12s are already poking their way off Nintendo's board. I can't imagine using an even more cramped peripheral for Wii Fit.

But should you be a Lilliputian, you may benefit from the electric blue non-slip surface. Like Lam. That guy might love this thing. (I squish your head, Brian Lam. I squi- OK, please don't fire me...I swear your head will be fine with a little rehab.) [Chinavasion via CrunchGear]

Kotaku has feelers out to Nintendo Europe for a comment, but my Spidey Sense is telling me they'll probably get the usual "We do not comment on rumors or speculation."

For the faux fitness freaks out there, the mysterious Wii Fit Plus is given a November 19 release date. [GoNintendo via Kotaku]

Spotted a few months back in a less polished form, Wii Jog is a small, pedometer-like box that plugs into the Wiimote. You simply walk in place and aim the Wiimote the direction you'd like to go. Your onscreen persona should follow suit.

It's a bit hard to believe that Jog works for each and every game. There's a list of only 100 compatible titles for the PS2 version of Jog—the company claims "jOG works with any video [Wii] game, but some work better than others. We think it works best with sports games, shooters, platform and adventure games and our favourite game is Lego Star Wars." But for about $37, it's not a huge risk. [Firebox and NCG]

The Weight Fat Checker is actually exactly what its name proclaims it to be: It's a body fat checker that measures, displays and monitors your weight/fat when you grip the sides of it like a steering wheel. Here's a thought: Just let me grip your fatty sides and I'll check your weight/fat for you, for free. [CAG via Kotaku]

The add-on is a special channel for the Wii, called the "Health Checkup Channel", that provides two-way communication between doctors and their patients. For the doctors, the system is essentially a readout of whatever information Wii Fit collects, presented over time and in the context of the patient's medical history, which I would assume he or she would be privy to. For the patient, the experience is much like the vanilla Wii Fit, except with a real-life doctor feeding you personalized guidance.

The Checkup Channel is expected to launch in Japan by April. Video of Nintendo recent Wii Fit guilt campaign. [Nintendo via Akihabara]

A patent-pending peripheral called "riiflex" plans to turn your Wiimotes into dumbells through the magic of 2lb and 5lb cases. I have to admit, the design is clever enough, including even a trigger port to allow unfettered access to all the Wiimote's buttons.

Available for preorder deposit (the real price is still undecided, though estimated around $30 per unit), the main nitpick we have so far is that there's no nunchuk version planned...(yet). [riiflex]

The acupressure dots that cover the top of the pad act as a massaging agent for your feet—plus it should provide extra traction when you are dizzy with effort and sliding on your own slippery sweat. The only problem is that I don't think that Wii Fit is all that it is cracked up to be in the first place. [Amazon via Technabob]

Not only has there "been a 100 percent increase in patients complaining of Wii-itis," according to Dr. Dev Mukerjee of Broomfield Hospital, Essex, UK—a symptom that's never really described, but apparently caused by "sudden movements, resulting in tendon stretching or tearing"—the Wii could cause lifelong injuries. "It's possible Wii-itis may lead to rheumatism or arthritis later in life. Patients often have inflamation [sic] of the shoulder or wrist," says Dr. Mukerjee.

And let's not forget Wii-knee, which results from.... "the bending of the knee from the Wii-Fit game."

God forbid you actually move or bend your knees people. If anything, these people should be moving more, and then the generally mild activity induced by the Wii would not strain their criminally underused joints. Now they have the perfect excuse to be fat and lazy forever.

So, remember all this if you're thinking about picking one up for your parents for Christmas. It's not too late to take it back.

Update: The doc from the story says he was totally misquoted, The Sun sucks, please stop ridiculing him. [Fox News]

I've used Wii Fit exactly 6 months. Since the review, I didn't use it every day, or even every week, but since the very first time the game told me I was fat, it never really left my mind. Every meal, every time I passed on exercise to eat a little more ice cream, every time I exercised but stopped a little early, I heard those words resonating through the bit of side blubber on my sleight frame: "You're Overweight!"

I hate Wii fit so much. Sure, it indirectly helped me lose 10 pounds, but I f'ing hate it.

Bear with me on this long post with minimal mention of the game or hardware — the game is not what will make you fit.

Over a few sessions of playing the game, I started what would eventually be, more or less, the kind of body obsession assumed normal for performance athletes and underwear models, coupled with the kind of inferiority complex that one gets when you can't beat a video game, coupled with the resentment one builds towards machines that don't do your meatbot bidding. I mean, I could have dismissed the measurement tell me I was fat — BMI (Body Mass Index) is a crude stat based on height and weight that can't tell a fat person from a really really muscular medium husky guy. The problem is, Wii fit doesn't give a crap about your excuses or perceptions either. It assumed I really wasn't that muscular short guy, it assumed I was a medium husky with a little belly. And it was right.

I did all the exercises, focusing on the harder ones like the pushup and plank exercises, jackknives, the shadow boxing and running in place for sessions, usually for over 45 minutes. But then I got bored of EVERYTHING IN the game and couldn't stand to do more than one or two at a time. And I was not losing weight. I was exercising, it seemed, just enough to stimulate my appetite and give me justification for eating more, and so I was actually gaining weight. The in game scale told me as much.

When you're stuck on a level in a video game, some people look at strategy guides or cheats. The Wii Fit equivalent of this, knowing I was not getting the weaponry to obliterate my chub in the game, was to cheat by resorting to outside exercises like hitting the weights, and bicycling, running and hitting the rowing machine, my favorite for quick nearly full body exercises. This helped, and Wii fit's seemingly lame exercises were great setup in developing the necessary support muscles from head to toe to support rudimentary training — it was like physical therapy for computer nerds about to enter real sporting tasks.

Summer ended. Snowboarding season was approaching, and I knew I wanted to be lighter on my feet this year. It was great to have a goal outside of the game's mere quest for proper height to weight ratio.

But I was still not losing weight and eventually hit 170 pounds. Anyone who runs on a treadmill with a kcalorie calculator realizes that you can burn only a quarter of a cheeseburger's worth of energy in a 15 minute run, enough to go about 2 miles. Most nerds do not run this much in a day. Wii fit's charts, again, reflected the truth. Even though I was exercising, I was exercising semi regularly, but it was not denting my calorie intake. Without those charts, I would have been satisfied, but instead, Wii fit asked me "why do you think you're gaining weight?" and gave me a set of multiple choices. I choose overeating.

Let me tell you something about eating in my family. It was always my job, as directed by all grandparents, to finish not only everything on my plate, but everything on the entire table. One day, staring at a place of creamy French food, full after the first 3 bites, and thinking about what Wii fit was telling me, and how far my goals were, I realized that I had to change. I felt a bit guilty, but I knew that where my family would disapprove, Wii Fit would make up for it. And sure enough, the charts showed my weight was dropping. First I was below 170, then 165, and then 161. Miraculously, this happened without the pain of extreme exercise and without the pain of extreme dieting. I lost about 2 pounds a week, more or less. I never realized this is all it would take.

Checking the calendar, I had one day left til my 6th month of Wii Fit would end. And my BMI had dropped from 26.5 to a low of 25.01. If I lost another pound, the game would crown me fit.

Then, work got stressful, with this economy. I eat when I'm stressed. So, I ate some greasy Chinese food. And the next day at lunch, I had a cheeseburger. I just couldn't resist and I didn't know if I had blown my chances or not at finding acceptance from this stupid game. I thought that I could keep from overeating, something I'd been practicing for 31 years, forever, but the binge made me realize it would never be easy.

The next day, I got on the balance board and took a test. I have to admit, I took my shorts off for the competitive advantage, but I didn't expect to make it: I scored a 24.91, low enough at 158 pounds for Wii Fit to declare me normal even with my shorts on. I learned a new lesson, a few days of binging cannot overcome weeks of discipline.

And then, satisfied, I put the game away, ate some ice cream and booted up Fable II. As long as I never start Wii Fit again, I'll always and only remember the last kind word the game said to me, "You're Normal."

The game's core value isn't the exercises, which don't burn many calories unless you play them way beyond the point which a normal person will become bored by them. It's the fact that through charts and graphs and the in game coach, the game makes you think about your fitness and weight enough that you eventually realize you have no real excuse for being out of shape. And that you have no real choice but to go outside the game and figure out the answers for yourself in the real world.

Before:



After:

Hmmm...I kind of look the same.

As a whole, I feel that EA Sports Active would give users a more well-rounded workout than Wii Fit, but the fact that it is designed to work in tandem with the balance board makes it that much more effective. The EA package will set you back another $60 when it is released next Spring—but even combined with Wii-Fit you are still spending less than most gym memberships—plus it is more convenient and, most likely, more fun. [Gamespot via Kotaku]

Playing Wii Fit by yourself is lonely. But here, playing along with a maid makes exercising enjoyable.

He is right. And yes, I love French maid dresses. Not to wear them, though. Too bad Brian has left Japan already, because this called for a hands-on. [Refresh Club (NSFW) via Kotaku]

Each family member customizes their own fitness profile, and then scuttles over to a video wall to choose either a specific workout or interaction with a video-based instructor. Panasonic's Total Living Space Solution system will then keep track of everybody's progress. The company said its concept will see the light of day about three to five years from now. I personally can't wait, since I'm convinced the best way to ensure my family's continued health is to put them in front of a TV screen for even more hours of the day. [Crave]

[Zoo Today]

How he plans on doing this is unclear, but the idea that the Wii Fit peripheral could help people be even lazier is fantastic. According to the man himself:

There are a lot of interesting things that can be done. But first it is important to perform some testing... The next stage will be the controlling of faster-and-wireless robots.

We have called this idea "Robosurfing". Instead of using the Wii-board to "surf" in virtual environments or controlling virtual vehicles in the games, Why not use it to "surf" real mobile robots in a real scenario? It would be very, very funny.

It's doubtful that anything like this could be very usable as a mode of transportation, but I have to agree with the "very, very funny" part. See you in the skate park, Señor G. [Balance Board Blog]

Now, before you go stringing up Nintendo, or do something really rash, like buy a PS3, consider the words of video game journalist go-to guy Michael Pachter.

"The shortage demonstrates one consequence of the weak dollar. We're seeing companies ignore their largest market simply because they can make a greater profit elsewhere," Pachter said.

Besides, it's not as if those American waistlines are going anywhere anytime soon. "They know that Americans will be just as fat a few months from now when Nintendo will have more units available," Pachter said. [LA Times]

Above, me at 30. Below, only five years earlier. Life is cruel.

The Basics
Wii Fit the game has special hardware: an electronic sensing balance board the size of a car floor mat. It doesn't just take stock of the pounds you've packed on. The board can tell where my feet are in a two dimensional grid using four sensors, and measure pressure within fractions of pounds, 60 times a second. Nintendo's parlayed the board's capabilities into a watchful eye, taking stock of your balance and skill in several exercises. The 50+ drills take about 1-6 minutes each, and are spread across yoga, strength, aerobics and balance. At first, I entered my height and the board measured my weight. It used both to calculate my body/mass index. It's here that the board told me I was overweight, and the debate is out whether or not that is from the extra mass in my legs or the ring of lard around my waist. (BMI does not account for body fat %.) Next, the game challenged me with some basic agility tests, and combined those results with my BMI to get my Wii Fit Age. I scored a Wii fitness level appropriate for a 48-year-old. (My real age is 30.) Humiliated, I set a goal to lower my BMI (and weight) by a few notches within the next few weeks and improve my general fitness.

Me Before: Eat whatever I want, exercise a lot, get buff.

Me Now: Too out of shape to do any sports, hate going to the gym, think yoga is boring.

Me Now: I guess I can play 30 minutes of Wii Fit for a work break.

Living With Wii Fit
I used the exercises in the yoga section to warm up. There's a decent variety of poses here, from simple breathing exercises to ballet-like poses that'll challenge even the most balanced and flexible. Being neither at this point, I enjoyed the static subtle workouts my feet, leg, hips, core back and abdominal muscles received. All the while, the trainer will encourage you with compliments about your ability to remain static in a stance, or chide you for wobbling. Previous to this, my experience with yoga included a class from some hippie with the last name Love. I was bored out of my mind, but Wii fit made it fun. The short duration of each test, along with the earning of a few "Wii Fit credits" for every few minutes of exercise.

Me Before: 100 explosive push-ups, no sweat.

Me Now: 10 explosive push-ups, no sweat

Me With Wii Fit: 10 slow-paced push-ups, with planks in between each repetition. Lots of sweat.

I earned credits for other types of exercises, too. The strength training has a focus on the core and legs, which I agree with as the most important in general power. There are squats and lunges for the legs, but no calf raises. There are planks and jack knifes for my abs, but no crunches or leg raises. There are slow push-ups interspersed with planks for shoulder, chest and tricep strength. Note: There is no opposite exercise for the biceps. I nitpick about drills I'd like to see the game recommend because over the months you'll want to cross train or your body will fall into a rut. The good news is that you won't get bored too fast: to unlock all the basic exercises takes a good number of hours, and I'd gather impossible to do within a week unless you're very fit already. But the available exercises are good basics and were challenging at the controlled slow pace that the game has you perform them at. I did some drills with dumbells to make things more challenging at times, and would probably work a medicine ball and some outdoor activities into the mix for variety.

Me Before: Run five miles for a warmup before training. Like a gazelle.

Me Now: Hate running. Get tired being pulled along by a 10-pound dog. Haven't thrown a real punch with any heat on it in years.

Me With Wii Fit: Running in place around my living room is pathetic. At least I'm sweating. If my friends from the boxing gym could see my now they'd laugh and cry. At least I'm in my own home, blinds down.

Aerobic workouts were definitely capable of making me sweat. I enjoyed jogging through a virtual park; the step class was not challenging; the hula hoop games are the most fun. But the most intense drill happened to be the advanced six-minute boxing drill. (The foot and hand combinations get complicated, requiring me to think while trying to react quickly, and the end-of-round bonus punching free-for-all added a nice bit of exhaustion to the workout.)

Me Before: Stand on one leg for as long as I'd like.

Me Now: No matter how much I use it or walk on it, the left leg is shaky from it being broken and pinned together a degree pigeon-toed.

Me With Wii Fit: Doing one-legged drills on my left is making my balance a lot better, very quickly.

Balance games are parlor games that encourage you to develop dynamic control in shifting your body weight. One game had me smashing soccer balls with my head while dodging cleats (hated it) but the best were the ski jumps, slalom and snowboarding emulators. (I could play those all day.)

While Wii Fit supports profiles for you and your friends and family, there is no versus mode. To challenge each other in ski jumping, for example, you either had to log Wii Fit credits on each other's accounts or back out to the main menu and reload your profile. That's a waste, because some of the best workouts I've had with Wii Fit were my matches with buddies.

After a Week

I used Wii Fit to track my fitness and focused on longer workouts of +40 minutes, with days off in between. My Wii fit age, largely by improvements in balance, improved to 31. While I don't think I burned much fat off (Ice Cream Wins Every Time) a week really isn't long enough to show real results in this regard. That said, I'm not sure you're going to stay sane doing 30 minutes of cardio in your living room, but people do such a thing on gym StairMaster machines all the time, so what the hell do I know. I also feel stronger from doing the sit-ups, squats and push-ups. Not necessarily strong, but taut.

90 Minutes of Wii Fit at 30x Speed



(An excuse to make a video using Joe Esposito's excellent track, You're the Best, from the Karate Kid.)

Me Before: Eat two hamburgers, run five miles right after, gain no weight.

Me Now: Eat at a hamburger while doing a blog post in five minutes, gain weight.

Me with Wii Fit: Eat at a hamburger, do a week of Wii Fit, don't gain weight.

Long-term Motivation: Habit Forming by Shame

I'd never been a fan of the gym commute's inefficiency. Making an hour's worth of travel, parking and changing just to do an hour of solitary weightlifting seems like a waste of time. Using the Wii Fit for a few minutes at home is a lot easier, and because of that and the way it would graph my efforts, I found the barrier to exercising much lower and the motivation to do even a little bit of activity much greater. In other words, Wii Fit brings video game addiction to my exercise regimen, and my body is the bloated scoreboard.

Every day, I'd check my body age and weight, and every day, I'd become more and more aware of my fitness. Did I gain a few pounds? Wii Fit made me admit if it was from night snacking on Haagen Daz or overeating (Answer: Both.) Did I miss a day of training? Wii Fit reminded me. And every day, the Fit never neglected to reinforce that I was currently "overweight" and weaker than I should be, while encouraging me with cheers of "good job" during exercises. It was very effective, like having a personal trainer. Except, not really.

Me Before: Couldn't take a day off from exercising without feeling guilty.

Me Now: Eats lots of ice cream when stressed at work. Can't take a day off from work without feeling guilty. Don't generally give a shit about exercise.

Me With Wii Fit: I feel guilty skipping exercise or eating crap both, but feel good when the Wii Fit says I'm strong or am doing a good job.

See, Wii Fit asks you to set goals of gaining weight (presumably muscle) or losing weight (presumably fat) but unlike a trainer, never ever goes as far as to customize your workouts to achieve this goal. I'd tend towards working out very hard on one day (1+ hour) and then taking a day off in between to build strength and power. The game offers no such advice. Another gripe: along with the lack of recommended training regimens, there's no way to have the game automatically step you through a circuit of exercises. Consequently, screwing with menus makes it so that a 45-minute workout includes 30 minutes of fiddling to choosing exercises, etc. That's a waste of time. A trainer would also differentiate between me being overweight or simply muscular.

What It Isn't

I suppose the first step in appreciating it is to treat it like a healthy video game, not a replacement for the gym. Not a personal trainer. Not a set of free weights. Not a bicycle. You won't make it to six-minute mile shape. Or 12 rounds of boxing shape. You won't be able to even run swiftly or jump high or swim far or do pull-ups, let alone build skills in an actual sport any more than Wii Baseball teaches you how to hit home runs. And why shouldn't you get in shape while learning a skill and coordination, too? No one is ever going to get past basic fitness by only playing Wii Fit alone.

If you need a little help getting into shape for the first time or back to your former glory, Wii Fit is the coolest, most interactive and kind way to ease your bloated body back into activity. And for serious athletes, it's a fun supplemental tool for measuring weight over time, and for improving balance on your days off. It's real exercise, but mild compared to what you'd get with free weights or running or swimming.

Let's put it this way: While I exercised a total of seven hours in a week with Wii Fit, I probably burned about a combined 1000 calories. Even though my muscles feel significantly tighter, even in just seven days, I easily wiped that weigh-loss potential away with the single pint of ice cream I ate watching Lost.

So what's it good for? In fitness, no machine can ever replace the drive to be healthy. Not Bowflex, not Thighmaster, and not Wii Fit. The real difference here is that Wii Fit builds fitness consciousness, reminding us of our body's state of being, chiding us for bad habits while encouraging the good. And this is while building up the basic fitness necessary to start doing high intensity workouts or sports. It makes exercise feel like a video game, and we all know we can have fun playing those for hours.

FULLY CHARGE YOUR WII WORKOUT WITH NYKO'S ENERGY PAK - COMING SOON

Rechargeable Battery Solution for Wii Balance Board Eliminates the Need for Wasteful Batteries

LOS ANGELES, California - May 8, 2008 - Nyko Technologies®, the premier game console peripherals manufacturer, today announced that it will soon release the Energy Pak for the Wii Balance Board™, a peripheral packaged with the forthcoming title Wii Fit™. The rechargeable battery solution is expected to hit stores on May 19th.

The Energy Pak installs conveniently on the underside of the Balance Board and features a unique AC Port Relocator that allows users to easily play with the board and charge the battery simultaneously, without ever having to remove the Pak or turn the Balance Board over. An easy-to-read LED charge light indicates the charge status of the battery, letting the user know when it is time to recharge, and when the charging cycle is complete. The Energy Pak can be quickly charged with the included, detachable AC adaptor, and provides up to 20 hours of playtime per charge.

"It is difficult enough trying to keep up with a regular fitness program without the hassle of swapping out alkaline or other rechargeable batteries," said Chris Arbogast, Director of Marketing at Nyko Technologies. "Like all of our charging solutions, the Energy Pak is as easy to use as it is functional. Users will be able to recharge the Wii Balance Board while in use or in between gaming sessions, all without ever needing to flip the board over to switch out battery packs."

Nyko's Energy Pak for the Wii Balance Board is expected in stores on May 19th for the suggested retail price of $19.99. Please visit www.nyko.com for more information.

P. S. Nintendo, thank you for the grippy Wii Fit socks.

UPDATE: OK, 16 minutes in, I'm tired and my back is spasming a little. The balance exercises have rendered the bottoms of my feet useless. The board's quality is very high, although you're not supposed to jump on it. And the sensors are accurate. I'm not sure what I think of it. Give me a few days to get used to having Fit around.

Sadly, we only got to test out the ski-related games. We could see that there was a snowboarding game, but it was not unlocked to play. Yeah, we were mad too. But what we did test out gave us a good idea of how the Wii Fit works.

The first thing that the Wii Fit had us set was our center of gravity. This is the basis for most of the games, since the Wii will be able to determine which way you are leaning by your center of gravity. When we first stepped on the balance board we couldn't help but notice that our size 10 feet barely fit. If we had any larger of a foot, our toes would have definitely hung off.

With our center of gravity set, we quickly found our way to the snow-related games. We first gave downhill skiing a try and found we had no clue what we were doing. Attempting to lift our feet and lean the direction we wanted to go didn't work.

Halfway through ruining the first run, we noticed that in the top right corner of the screen there was a small center of gravity display. This showed our realtime center of gravity, so as we leaned it obviously reflected the changes.

In our next run down the mountain, instead of focusing on our Mii, or character-whatever they call it, we put all of our attention on that center of gravity display. We quickly learned how leaning a certain way or shifting our weight to one foot was correctly changing our center of gravity.

This same principle helped for the ski jump game. When dropping in for the jump you need to keep your center of gravity perfectly. Once at the lip of the jump you quickly shift your weight up, without removing your feet from the balance board. While in the air we had to pay close attention to that center of gravity display, making sure we were never too far off from perfect. If we kept the center of gravity close enough to the center we landed clean.

So will the Wii Fit be saving us from summer hell? We don't think so. Even though the skiing mini-games are fun, come this September, nothing will kill our anticipation to ride. Not even the Wii Fit.

He says that the Wii Fit's purpose isn't to make you fit, but to make you aware of your body. It's the same thing you could accomplish with a bathroom scale and an Excel document, but it's much more fun when you do it as a family and get to play little minigames with it. Plus, there's yoga. Either way, we still believe the Wii Fit is worth its fairly reasonable price tag if your family's not really health conscious—which describes most readers here. [Nintendo via CVG via Kotaku]

The mat only costs $32 when you do the conversion, which isn't all that bad considering it comes in a box that says "Wii Fit" on it and says "Wii Fit" directly on the mat itself, something that much cheaper yoga mats do not. Yes, these are both wonderful reasons why you should purchase the Wii Fit Mat. [Famitsu via Kotaku]