Wii Fit Systems

According to the NPD Group, an industry group which monitors monthly and yearly North American software sales, Nintendo's popular Wii Fit exercise program is about to become the second-best-selling 'videogame' since 2000.

Since being released last April, the $89 game which comes with the Wii Balance Board has skyrocketed up the sales charts, and has stayed there regularly since. "The appeal of Wii Fit is so broad and its ability to keep attracting new users every month has really played out time and time again," says Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo's executive vice president of sales and marketing. But we already knew that!

Wii Fit sales have beaten even the top Wii games such as Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Mario Galaxy. They've even beaten Madden games or Guitar Hero games. It's even bigger than Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Halo 1, 2 or 3. The success if likely because the Wii Fit attracts both old and new gamers. Even for people who think of themselves as "non-gamers" can play, and do.

Making Wii Fit a blockbuster is the fact that approximately 7.9 million copies of the game have been sold in North America through August 2009, according to NPD. Mario Kart Wii is ranked at number five with 6.7 million units sold, so Nintendo is grabbing positions with its Wii offerings generally.

It's true though that Wii Fit sales, which were strong in January, began to drop off each month since. Will sales resume for the holidays? Well, the game still sells well, and it's likely that September sales will keep Wii Fit on the charts. Especially with the recent release of Wii Fit Plus on October 4.

And guess what - the top seller since 2000? It's Wii Play with sales of over 11 millions units. Next is the Vitality Sensor - with release dates and details still to come. This sensor will monitor your heart rate and tailor your experience to your mood. Nintendo just keep innovating - with more for the Wii Fit and Wii console coming soon.

The new game, Wii Fit Plus, is now out in the US! Wii Fit Plus adds and improves some of the original Wii Fit games by making things like yoga and strength training more enhanced. Here are some of the new features:

Users can input the amount of time they want to spend on their workouts or select an area for personal improvement, and Wii Fit Plus will suggest a number of diverse activities for them.
For the first time, users can mix and match which strength and yoga activities they prefer on a given day. The seamless exercise flows make it easier than ever for users to maintain their daily workout routines.
Users might be asked to run an obstacle course across a series of platforms, zoom across a beach on a Segway x2 Personal Transporter or flap their arms to help their hilarious chicken-suited characters aim for targets.
The range of games and customization options will make players want to play every day. They¿ll be having so much fun that their workouts will seem to fly by in no time at all.

Wii Fit Plus is the follow up to the highly sucessful Wii Fit, adding all new game modes and features.

The game has 15 new balance modes and 6 new strength training games. There's even a new addition which is the calorimeter, which measures your daily progress as you exercise.

As with the original, the game will also come bundled with a balance board - just in case you don’t have one by now. More details over at Eurogamer.

The Wii Fit was instrumental in making the Nintendo Wii console a big seller again last holiday. To keep people active, new games and videos are coming out for the Wii Fit to help add to the fitness craze it started.

For example, EA Sports Active, coming out soon, brings more "Western" style exercise to the Wii Fit, meaning more action and activity, versus the balance and yoga of the first videos for the balance board. The games include running and jumping to get that heart rate up.

Nintendo is also releasing the Wii Fit Plus game, an upgrade to the current Wii Fit that comes with the balance board. There are new options for workout routines added to this new game. There are also games tha tlet you run and jump, making it a boost to your cardio workout, and it comes wiht new workout routines and monitors.

The Wii Fit continues to build the interest in "exer-gaming" meaning making fitness fun, and also for the whole family. These are exercises that kids can do, as well as parents, to keep everyone active and in shape.

Pilates is even coming to the Wii Fit. One of its promoters, former MTV VJ Daisy Fuentes, has made many Pilates DVDs, and she’s now bringing Pilates to the Wii.

Sega will be releasing “Daisy Fuentes Pilates” which the Wii controls, as well as the Balance Board, to monitor your movements and make sure you’re doing the exercises the correct way. “It focuses on the connection between your mind and body, giving you smooth control over your movements,” she says. “And the Wii is a great way to practice it.”

As you can see, the Wii Fit has a lot going for it to make it part of your daily routine for fitness.