Wii Fit #1 seller in Japan for last four weeks

by Alexander Sliwinski { Feb 1st 2008 at 1:00PM }

There's just something about a pressure-sensitive balance board that's turning the Japanese on. Nintendo's Wii Fit ~~game~~ ~~exercise device~~ balancercise board has stayed at the top of the Japanese sales chart for the last four weeks and sold 1,283,000 units since Dec. 1. The device that made gameplay out of a scale reached the million mark in the middle of last month and looks to keep stepping its way to the top spot for a bit.

With Miyamoto saying Wii Fit isn't just a one trick pony, there'll hopefully be some software announcements following its US premiere. We're sure the mainstream media already has its prerequisite old folks home and "Wii Fit helping obese children" stories all planned out.

Tags: sales, wii-fit, wiifit

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

jsn @ Feb 1st 2008 1:04PM

The japanese love a good gimmick!

Fernando Rocker @ Feb 1st 2008 1:06PM

Not that much... Eye of Judgement is a total flop...

And how about the PSP GT rear mirror?

jsn @ Feb 1st 2008 1:28PM

They just need gimmicks that make a little sense!

FOXHOUND @ Feb 1st 2008 1:33PM

We're not too different... I mean, there is VISTA afterall. LoL

Co @ Feb 1st 2008 1:38PM

jsn I gimmicked your mom last night.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Feb 1st 2008 1:41PM

Oh shi-*boom*

Spartacus @ Feb 1st 2008 8:48PM

FOXHOUND,

Considering Vista is more stable now than XP is after 2 major service packs, I'd say it's a bit more than a gimmick, but hey, everyone loves to be a cynic...

Cesaria @ Feb 1st 2008 9:12PM

I call for the banhammer to be brought down upon this troll. It's also funny how he's usually one of the first people in a Nintendo thread. Dude, no one cares that you hate Nintendo. No one.

Floyd @ Feb 1st 2008 1:11PM

who ever bought this is tool.

Anam @ Feb 1st 2008 1:16PM

Hey, whatever helps them come out with a good album is okay by me.

paragraph @ Feb 1st 2008 1:17PM

...you see, the thing is, no...

something like this would acctually get to me to sorta exercise...

Minigames are fun, as long as they don't suck.

And this acctually does work to a certain degree...

:\

I'll wait for a US release to see how I feel about it though

paragraph @ Feb 1st 2008 1:21PM

@Anam

+1

I don't know how to take that though, are you hating on tool.... *glare*

but umm... good one anyways.

Anam @ Feb 1st 2008 1:31PM

Not really, I was just trying to phrase it in a way that got the point across without having to explain what I meant.

I actually don't know much about Tool. I've only heard their 10,000 Days album and I find it about half excellent and half meh. If you happen to know an album of theirs that I should check out, I'll try it.

NATO_Duke @ Feb 1st 2008 1:56PM

Anam - Undertow & Opiate are the besst ones IMHO.

Blazur @ Feb 1st 2008 2:00PM

Anem, I see what you did there. +1.5 for the laugh...

Anam @ Feb 1st 2008 2:20PM

Thanks but I'm full. Now if you could get me a heart container then we'd be in business.

@NATO_Duke

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll check them out.

OTAM @ Feb 1st 2008 2:42PM

Amen brother. I'm glad Nintendo has their priorities in order when it comes to games. Wii Fit and soccer mom/casual gamers first,solid AAA titles for your fan base that followed you from day one second.

Games like Gears of War make me glad to be a gamer and then stuff like this comes out and I just slump down into my chair from embarrassment and pretend I don't play video games.

deaftly @ Feb 1st 2008 3:03PM

Ænima is one of the most perfect albums ever recorded

Anam @ Feb 1st 2008 3:48PM

Whye do I have this feeling that by the end of the day, every Tool album is going to be suggested to me?

Alright, let's start here: did they make a bad one?

NATO_Duke @ Feb 1st 2008 4:50PM

I think their newest one is their most boring.

deaftly @ Feb 1st 2008 5:00PM

I agree 10,000 days is prob their weakest effort so far. Can't go wrong with Undertow and/or Ænima as your first listen though.

Shagittarius @ Feb 1st 2008 1:16PM

The Divide between gamers and casuals continues to grow.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Feb 1st 2008 1:42PM

Damn you're on a role.

MariosInferno @ Feb 1st 2008 1:43PM

Jesus Christ, here we go. DON'T F***ING BUY IT!!!!

Co @ Feb 1st 2008 1:48PM

Thanks man!

Noshino @ Feb 1st 2008 4:32PM

"The divide between your moms legs continues to grow."

Because joking about someone's mother makes you mature...

billychaos @ Feb 1st 2008 1:31PM

I find it amusing to see the contrast on game forum readers and actual sales numbers. Despite all the bashing, hatred, etc towards some of the non-traditional games like this, sales numbers soar. The reality is, money screams much louder than forum readers.

You see the same thing if you look at Wii play, Carnival games, etc. These games are still on Amazon.com's top 20 selling Wii gear list. Being that the wii has sold roughly 11 million, already that says a lot.

Lastly, why do some people feel the need to insult people who like this kind of thing? What are you so upset about, or why do you even care? Personally, I will get wii-fit. Even if i wanted to wipe my but with 100 dollar bills it's no one else's concern anyways.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Feb 1st 2008 1:35PM

Because it makes them feel better about themselves. Because people who feel the need to insult people because of the games they play have incredibly low self-esteem.

Blazur @ Feb 1st 2008 2:03PM

I think the reality is only the hardcore gamers spend so much time in the forums, hence all the bashing of the casual games that abound on the Wii. Yet we're likely a minority in the gaming industry, so it's no suprise games like Wii Fit is doing so well because of all the casual users who want to experience it.

billychaos @ Feb 1st 2008 2:22PM

Sound very true Blazur. Ironically, I submit that the hardcore gamers are their own worst enemies. Think about it. Only hardcore gamers go read/post on forums and heavily rely on game reviews when making a gaming purchase. This no doubt effects sales on many games.

However a true casual gamer may not even know such sites exists, so they just buy on impulse. They dont know that gamers flame certain games or rate them 1.5 so they buy them based on the only information they know...the actual cover and box description and what the think the game is about.

If sales start to look generally very low on hardcore games and very high on casual...take a guess on what may happen. Not saying they will never make them, but they could become a minority.

Anam @ Feb 1st 2008 2:37PM

Well, I'll defend this as trying to get more people playing hardcore (arguably better) games instead of casual (arguably worse) games. The reason we want more people playing hardcore games is because if casual games become popular, game developers will shift focus away from what we want towards the casual market. The success of casual games can have a negative effect on the hardcore market.

For an example of this, look at Star Wars Galaxies. Please note that I've never played the game, so I'm basing this on what others have said. According to what I've heard, Star Wars Galaxies used to really appeal to the hardcore MMO gamers, but since the success of casual MMOs such as World of Warcraft, Star Wars Galaxies shifted their focus and actually redesigned the game for the casual market, abandoning their hardcore fanbase.

The point is that a general trend in favor of casual games has the potential to decrease the number of games made for the hardcore gamer. I'm not saying that it's right or wrong, but I can understand people's frustration.

That said, I'd like to think that I've never insulted anyone for liking a game, though I might have insulted the game. (I'm looking at you, Halo.)

Noshino @ Feb 1st 2008 4:45PM

billychaos,

Many of us are not against the ones that play the casual Wii games, many of us are against Nintendo, a company that had survived due to their hardcore fanbase, and now has shifted resources and focus a lot more on the casual market than on the hardcore one...

Look, both Sony and Microsoft are aiming towards both markets almost evenly, but Nintendo, well, in my case my complaints are, first they ditch the idea of a "true next console" and just stick with old hardware, second they decide to shift resources to the casual gamers, investing in WiiFit, and casual games like the Brain Training (Im not denying that that is a bad thing, I like Brain Training, but for a full fledge game? is this really Nintendo's vision of next step in video games?), what about Online gameplay? I mean, was Mario Strikers supposed to be Nintendo's big entrance to the Online Gaming scene?

Well, after all they are a company right? so they do want to make money, and sometimes at the point of sacrificing certain things, I guess it was about time for that to also cross Nintendo's mind...

Vidikron (FU) @ Feb 1st 2008 4:49PM

Ugh... Carnival Games blows.

GRANTED @ Feb 1st 2008 1:31PM

7 figure sales..

HOW!!???!???

Admiral_Mike @ Feb 1st 2008 1:48PM

Well, usually it involves people going into a shop and picking it up. They then take it to a counter and give the employee money, or as I like to call it, Whore credits. The customer is then allowed to leave with said purchase. Time this process by 1,283,000 and there's your answer.

Evan @ Feb 1st 2008 2:34PM

HOW?

Because the majority of console buyers are *not* hardcore gamers. Back in the '90s before everyone started making a big deal over "hardcore gamers", the Genesis and SNES sold a combined 90 million consoles mostly *parents* buying them for their kids. Well, guess what, there are just as many parents buying consoles today as there were back then.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Feb 1st 2008 1:33PM

I find these comments hilarious, so much bias hate. How bout this? If you've played the game, give your opinion about it. If you haven't, shut the fuck up.

Anyways, from the impressions of this game, it looks pretty fun. I'll definitely need to check this game out when a NA release comes out.