REDMOND, Wash., and WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – [May 1 , 2008] Tennis, anyone? Nintendo and Westin Hotels & Resorts announce a partnership today that will allow guests to experience the Wii™ sensation with a special version of the console ideally suited for use in the hotel environment. Westin Hotels is the first hotel company to partner with Nintendo for its Wii console and will feature this specially designed console as part of the brand’s WestinWORKOUT program at 10 hotels across the United States. The special game console is pre-loaded with many popular games, including the groundbreaking Wii Sports™ game, and today debuts at WestinWORKOUT fitness centers at The Westin Times Square in New York City and The Westin Bellevue in Washington state.
Using the innovative motion-sensitive Wii Remote™ controller, WestinWORKOUT users can get both body and brain moving with a variety of interactive games, including Wii Sports (featuring tennis, golf, baseball, bowling and boxing activities), Big Brain Academy™: Wii Degree and Wii Play™ and others, all played with natural, intuitive movements of the Wii Remote. The special Wii system will be updated automatically with hot new Wii games as they become available and includes features to simplify system management for the hotel property. A simple new game menu makes it easy to jump in and play without inserting game discs, and each property can manage what games are offered and how game data is stored.
“We jumped at the chance to be the first hotel to partner with Nintendo and add interactive entertainment to our successful WestinWORKOUT program,” said Sue Brush, Senior Vice President, Westin Hotels & Resorts. “We think our guests will be eager to make Wii a part of their workouts during their stay with us.”
With this partnership, Westin will be among the first hotel brands in the United States to receive delivery of Wii Fit™, the highly anticipated interactive fitness game, set to release during the week of May 19 in North America. Using another Nintendo innovation, the Wii Balance Board™ accessory, hotel guests will be able to participate in a dynamic mix of more than 40 yoga, aerobics, strength training and balance activities.
“Delivering an active entertainment experience is what Wii is all about,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Games like Wii Sports and the upcoming Wii Fit are ideal for business travelers and families who want to stay energized while on the road.”
Eight additional Westin properties will join the program in May: The Westin Hilton Head; The Westin Crown Center, Kansas City; The Westin Harbor Castle, Toronto; The Westin Diplomat, Hollywood; The Westin St. Francis, San Francisco; The Westin St. Louis; The Westin Galleria, Houston; and The Westin Savannah Harbor. Westin plans to roll out additional Wii systems following guest feedback from the initial hotel pilot.
WestinWORKOUT was developed in partnership with worldwide fitness leaders to develop the travel industry’s most extensive fitness and wellness program. Last month WestinWORKOUT was extended with the addition of BrainBody Fitness, a program connecting mental and physical fitness through a series of original exercises distributed at each Westin throughout North America. By placing expert-recommended mind and body stretches in a variety of strategic hotel touch points, including the front desk, guestrooms, public spaces and WestinWORKOUT fitness centers, Westin is providing guests with simple and effective ways to sharpen their thinking and calm their minds and bodies for better health.
WestinWORKOUT state-of-the-art equipment and high-performance workouts provide the perfect solution for people committed to maintaining personal wellness. Customized WestinWORKOUT guestrooms feature full-body equipment for all levels of performance where guests can elevate their well-being with a challenging and exhilarating workout. Also available at select hotels is runWESTIN, a complimentary program offering guided, scenic three-mile morning runs three days a week. Led by Westin’s trained Running Concierge, the run includes a warm up session with training tips and can be customized into a fun individual or group run.
The worldwide innovator in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii™, Nintendo DS™, Game Boy® Advance and Nintendo GameCube™ systems. Since 1983, Nintendo has sold nearly 2.5 billion video games and more than 430 million hardware units globally, and has created industry icons like Mario™, Donkey Kong®, Metroid®, Zelda™ and Pokémon®. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, visit the company’s Web site at www.nintendo.com.
Westin Hotels & Resorts, with more than 150 hotels and resorts in more than 31 countries and territories, is owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: HOT). Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with approximately 890 properties in more than 95 countries and 145,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. Starwood® Hotels is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchisor of hotels and resorts with the following internationally renowned brands: St. Regis®, The Luxury Collection®, Sheraton®, Westin®, Four Points® by Sheraton, W®, Le Méridien® and the recently announced AloftSM and ElementSM Hotels. Starwood Hotels also owns Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the premier developers and operators of high quality vacation interval ownership resorts. For more information, please visit www.starwoodhotels.com.
(Note: This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities regulations. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or events and involve risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated at the time the forward-looking statements are made. These risks and uncertainties are presented in detail in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Although we believe the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that our expectations will be attained or that results and events will not materially differ. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.)
Source: Nintendo Press Room
Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword [7]
Opoona [7]
Bangai-O Spirits [9]
Assassins Creed: Altair’s Chronicles [3]
Update: Changed the videos to YouTube since Dailymotion was giving out a bit of personal information.
Nintendo has thrown down the gauntlet for Mario Kart® Wii racers worldwide. Now it’s time to see who’s up to the challenge, as players take on the world in Mario Kart Wii Tournaments.
Every few weeks, a new tournament will appear on the Mario Kart Channel, an online feature that not only allows players to compete in tournaments, but also exchange race data with friends. Tournaments might take the form of a challenge for players to race a certain course as fast as they can with specific characters, or to collect a number of coins on a course using the Wii Wheel™ accessory or another control setup. They can feature unique rules or obstacles on the course.
The first tournament, which appears today, directs racers to compete for the fastest time on the Mario Circuit. Look closely though – something may be different. Players can attempt the challenge as often as they like during the duration of the tournament. Their best time will be recorded and added to the worldwide rankings, allowing players to see how they stack up against the best racers from around the world.
NOTE: If you would like to participate in Mario Kart Wii tournaments, your Wii™ console needs to be connected to the Internet. For more information about how to get online, visit Wii.com. For more information about Mario Kart Wii, please visit www.MarioKart.com.
Source: Nintendo Press Room
“Statistically speaking, it is true that there are a small number of customers who feel that the flash memory is too small, while many others find that they have plenty of memory,” he said. However, because this small number of people are none other than the most avid players, we know we have to review the best possible solution to eliminate their inconvenience.” – Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo
Honestly, with the consistent supply of Virtual Console titles and the upcoming release of WiiWare, a harddrive would be a simple solution to solve the problem that a number of people have been displeased with.
01./01. [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo) – 152,000 / 947,000
02./02. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (Capcom) – 93,000 / 1,807,000
03./00. [PS3] Valkyria Chronicles (Sega) – 77,000 / NEW
04./00. [NDS] Taiko Drum Master DS: Seven Island Adventure (Bandai-Namco) – 56,000 / NEW
05./00. [NDS] Summon Night (Banpresto) – 38,000 / NEW
06./04. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) – 37,000 / 1,934,000
07./03. [NDS] We’re Fossil Diggers (Nintendo) – 22,000 / 58,000
08./06. [NDS] Pokémon Ranger: Batonnage (Pokémon) – 20,000 / 477,000
09./07. [NDS] DS Beautiful Letter Training (Nintendo) – 18,000 / 167,000
10./05. [PS2] Musou Orochi: The Evil King Returns (Koei) – 15,000 / 322,000
Target Toss Pro: Bags was announced today via an IGN interview. The basics of the game were discussed, though when pricing was brought up, Andy Kniaz of Incredible Technology noted, “In the end, Nintendo sets all pricing for WiiWare based on the game and its contents.” From what I can recall, weren’t developers able to ultimately place a price point on their own games? Are there exceptions to this? Or, is this nothing more than an error on Andy Kniaz? Either way, I’m sure we’ll find out in due time.
Charles Caleb once said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. In this case, the Wii’s remarkable success has planted a seed in the minds of businesses and marketers who are hoping to catch on to the newest big hit. The Wii has certainly exceeded the expectations of many, and is currently the best selling video game system this generation. Because of this, businesses are cashing in on the Wii’s features and appearance. While not all rip-offs are noticeable, there are a few products that seem to be a clear copy of the Wii . Without further ado, here are the top 5 products that seem to have taken an apparent liking to Nintendo’s hot system.
Top 5 Wii related rip-offs
5. “Tilt” Games
Right off the bat, it’s clear that the Tilt Games Wiimote clone has some problems. The screen is much too small for any type of a real gaming experience and the screen doesn’t even have a backlight. Just imagine trying to play Zelda on a small piece of plastic. Yeah, not an engrossing experience. I want to know, how can anyone even see that thing? And haven’t we moved past the absent backlight age for items like these? Nonetheless, in spite of these obvious issues, the Tilt game manages to copy the Wii controller very well and even has the ability to turn on motion controls (then again, it’s not as if this thing is any good.) It’s worth mentioning that the Tilt gadgets come in a variety of flavors, of which include baseball and racing. The sad thing about this whole product however, is that I would not be surprised if a grandmother went into Walmart and bought this instead of a Wii controller, thinking that it was the real deal.
Retail price: $6.88, though honestly, I don’t think it’s worth even $.50.
4. 3D iJoy
Does slightly modifying an already established controller make something different? No, not really. The 3D IJoy was conspicuously attempting to mimic the Nintendo Wii, from the game controller to the games available on the product. Another slap in the face – and to round out iJoy’s parallelisms – is the iJoy’s wrist strap. Yes, a wrist strap. The copycat controller was bad enough, but by adding a wrist strap to the controller, it makes the rip-off much too explicit. Sure, I can understand that the company wouldn’t want people to damage their home appliances. However, is it truly necessary considering .01% of the population will actually be getting their game on this thing?
Retail price: unknown
3. Vii 2
Media attention and what I assume to be decent sales helped the Vii to come roaring back with a follow-up to its original as Vii 2. Vii 2 stepped up to the plate by introducing a variety of colors and completely reworked its model. The controller is still fairly reminiscent of the Wii remote, although the system itself looks more like a NES than a Wii. Apparently, the functionality of Vii 2 is almost identical to its predecessor, only allowing for add-ons, a “porwer button,” and additional expansion ports. Still, what you’re getting with the Vii 2 remains the same: A not-as-responsive and awkward control scheme when compared to Nintendo’s system.
Retail price: $140 – Pay another $90, and you’ll have yourself an actual Wii
2. La Foir’Fouille
Most products are generally assumed to originate in China, yet this unnamed Wii rip-off console was advertised to the French casual gamer. The company who developed this product seems to be trying to hop on the Wii Sports bandwagon by offering four out of the five games that can be found on Nintendo’s pick-up-and-play title, Wii Sports. This machine isn’t such a blatant Wii rip-off (as compared to other products on this list), but anyone who has seen a Wii before will pick up on the subtle differences between the two almost immediately.
Price: 39.99€
1. Vii
Vii. Does that look or sound familiar? It probably should, because this is the closest Wii replica you’ll find without it actually being the Wii. Arguably, the Vii initiated the entire Wii rip-off trend by taking nearly every aspect about the Wii, and only modified its characteristics slightly, right down to the name itself, Vii. More specifically, the build of the gaming machine looks identical to the Wii with a slight color change and the Vii comes with a very similar controller. For crying out loud, even the Vii’s marketing tactics are comparable. Surprisingly, the Vii does have a decent line-up of games to try out, but that’s not to say the games are any good. I’m certain that the gaming experience with the Vii does not come even remotely close to the enjoyment you’ll find on the real console.
Retail Price: 986 Chinese dollars (Estimated)
