What to do with the balance board now that you're totally fit? Well, you could ... skate it. We'll confess that stepping onto the yoga mat-turned-skateboard for the first time was intimidating. The original Skate taught us that even fake skaters have to practice their cool (and sent posers packing in the process) -- and that was just thumbs! Putting our body in the spotlight at a recent "feet-on" event that featured EA's Wii spin-off, Skate It, was another reminder that what looks easy on TV is just a carefully orchestrated illusion. Thankfully, our play session didn't end in a faceplant.

Nintendo Wii Fanboy's code monkey extraordinaire, Mike Sylvester, stuns us again. His latest Revolutionary column is a step-by-step process of turning the Wii balance board and Wii wheel into a racing simulator, with the aid of GlovePIE and a PC version of Need for Speed ProStreet. Feel free to try this at home.

The starting zones in World of Warcraft are incredibly bleak and terrifying locales. Spend five minutes in one of these wastelands, and you're bound to see some half-naked adventurers begging for "teh g0ldenz", or people ruthlessly butchering all manner of local wildlife in search of some nice pants. At the very least, you'll see an uncoordinated young player, desperately a-jigglin' about as he tries to understand the game's controls.

However, perhaps there's something more to this clumsy rookie than an unfamiliarity with the WASD keys -- perhaps he's one half of an eccentric pair of German researchers who have grown fascinated with Nintendo's latest peripheral, the Balance Board. Perhaps he's demonstrating for a rapt YouTube audience how the board can be used to tool around Azeroth with the grace of an overweight alpaca, and would serve little use in the game's "high stress" situations.

Then again, perhaps he's just fantastically drunk.

All right, this is the last straw. We in the greater video game industry have watched silently while you claimed you just "didn't have the rhythm" for Dance Dance Revolution. We bit our tongues when you said that Wii Fit was "just a fad." Well, say goodbye to Mr. Nice Industry. We're tired of tip-toeing around your feelings. You have to get fit, and we're issuing a fitness ultimatum to make sure that you do! Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum 2009, to be exact.

We're sorry it's come to this ... we really are ... but if a Majesco-published game featuring fitness celebrity Jillian Michaels and Wii Balance Board support is what it takes to break you out of your cycle of unfit living, then damn it, we're willing to release that game in time for the upcoming holiday season. Let's be perfectly clear though ... this 'ultimatum' truly is our last warning that you need to get fit using a video game. If you let this opportunity pass you by, that's it, we're done, you're on your own. Good luck getting fit without the video game industry's help if you drop the ball this time!

Aw, who are we kidding? When you get tired of this game we'll try again with another gimmicky fitness simulator. Who could say no to that precious disposable income? Here, have another Halo 3 Mountain Dew.

Perhaps avoiding the humiliation of getting back on the board himself, JC Fletcher over at Wii Fanboy has been throwing all sorts of crazy stuff on the Balance Board, and seeing how inanimate objects, and also a kitty, measure up.

What has he learned? For one, the latest year of birth possible in Wii Fit is 2006, and the shortest height is an astounding one foot, eight inches. This means that a two-year-old can actually play Wii Fit which is, if nothing else, creepy.

Also, Fletcher's bagless vacuum cleaner is sadly underweight, with a body mass index of 7.11. His cat, on the other hand, could stand to lose a few pounds (BMI of 21.5!), and has very poor balance. Check out the post for a few more fun experiments, such as how Wii Fit performs on Wii Fit. The mind boggles.

Nintendo has had its fare share of first-party peripherals. Does anyone remember – or still own, perchance – the Game Boy printer? The Nintendo 64 Pikachu microphone? Our friends and archivists at Nintendo Wii Fanboy have composed a pictorial history of Nintendo's tendency to avoid the standard controller. From the Power Pad to the Balance Board, click here to see it all.

Those wascally wabbits are back. Ubisoft has announced Raving Rabbids TV Party, due out this holiday season for the Nintendo Wii and DS. Said the press release, "The Rabbids plan to invade televisions worldwide, providing players with a variety of games and comedic exploits spoofing TV shows, pop culture and even advertisements."

As was hinted in a recent video (embedded after the break), TV Party will make use of the Wii balance board. Early screenshots indicate the balance board is not required for every game, but will involve sitting on the board and shaking your butt. Said CEO Yves Guillemot, "The inclusion of the Wii Balance Board into the game was a huge source of inspiration for our development team and I guarantee you will see the Wii Balance Board used in ways that will be surprisingly unexpected!" More details are to come at this year's E3.

Wii Fit used to be that thing you threw when the guy behind the counter told you the store was sold out of Nintendo's insanely popular console. Again. Nowadays, it's a video game and balance board peripheral claiming to make exercise "fun." Yeah, right!

No, seriously, right. The critics have done the whole Yoga thing and declared that exercise needn't be the terrifying and punishing physical activity you've dreaded all these years. It might not be the sort of game you want to play all day long, but if you're set on shedding some pounds, it sure beats going to the boring ol' gym. You can do eat!

• 1UP (83/100): "I guess I'd hoped an exercise videogame would make fitness a lot more fun -- and easier to do. And, though it doesn't quite exceed those expectations, Wii Fit will get you moving -- especially if you're looking for a gentle, fun introduction to an exercise program."
• Eurogamer (80/100): "You can compare your results with others, but really it's about setting your own targets and seeing how your performance improves. So far I've found this provides enough motivation to play Wii Fit every day - sometimes for ten minutes, sometimes for an hour. I don't know how long I'll keep this up for, but I do know switching on the Wii is a lot easier than going to the gym. Wii Fit is not as beneficial, undoubtedly, but a lot more fun."
• IGN (80/100): "But for a title that is so geared toward the everyman, it clings onto one hardcore fundamental -- unlocking challenges. So if you're the type who wants to jump right into everything that Wii Fit has to offer from the beginning, you're out of luck. You'll need to spend days upon days partaking in all of the modes to earn Wii Fit minutes, which eventually add up and open up other portions of the experience."
• GameDaily (80/100): "Like Miyamoto said a few months ago, Wii Fit won't necessarily make you fit. If you're looking to get ripped, you're better off buying some protein powder and heading to the gym. For everyone else, this is a clever way to sneak in a little extra exercise every day."

In the above teaser video, which Gametrailers has labeled "Rayman Raving Rabbids 3," you'll note the appearance of one of Ubisoft's lovable and inherently demented hoppy things. While that is often amusing in its own right, this particular Rabbid appears to be figuring out how to properly operate a Wii Fit balance board. While his time with it ultimately results in weight gain, we get the feeling he's trying to tell us about some new use for the peripheral in his next mini-game miasma ...

[Thanks, StarFoxA]

When none other than Reggie announced that the Wii Fit Balance Board was being used in "over ten" games currently in development, we probably should have made the connection with Don King vanity project Prizefighter. Well, we didn't, but, luckily, the developers at Venom Games did, revealing in an interview with CVG that their game will include Balance Board-compatible training games designed by "top boxing trainers."

The interview doesn't go into many details, but it does mention a "jump rope game" which involves bouncing on the Balance Board with "the Wii Remote in your back pocket." Developing a joke asking whether that pocket Remote indicates we're "just happy to see you" is left as an exercise for the reader.

Is Nintendo an ancestor of Aperture Science? A dummy corporation? We recently recorded the North American voice of the Wii Fit Balance Board, and it bears an uncanny resemblance to Portal's happy little turrets. Even the hierarchy of henchmen follows Portal. Aperture science has GLaDOS, and Wii Fit has a male- or female-voiced personal trainer.

Yes, there are still a few differences. The Balance Board voice -- and we presume nefarious AI -- comes through the Wii and out a TV, while the turrets are all self-contained. Plus the balance board might not be trying to kill us. The verdict is still uncertain, but be warned.

Aperture Science turret


Wii Fit Balance Board

No big surprises here – Gamestop already let the pricing details slip out from under Nintendo's iron grip – but just as impressions of the game slash exercise peripheral are being published all over the web, the Big N has made it all official. Wii Fit (and the Wii Balance Board of course) will be released on May 19th for a suggested retail price of $89.99.

But if you're not content with just a game and balance board peripheral and you happen to reside in or around the island of Manhattan, Nintendo has a special treat for you.The first 1000 people to drop a $5 pre-order for the gear at New York City's Nintendo Word Store from April 18 - 20 will be rewarded with a Wii Fit t-shirt featuring the likeness of game designer (and weight watcher) Mr. Shigeru Miyamoto. We're really hoping he's rocking the Richard Simmons short shorts, tank top combo.

According to a blurry GameStop release list image posted by WiiCast over the weekend, the charge for admission into the Wii Fit club will be $90. We've confirmed with various local GameStops that the game is listed in its system for $90. Pre-orders are being offered for $10 instead of the regular $5, but the two-fold increase is something we've heard has been in the GameStop pipeline for a while.

Nintendo confirmed with Joystiq that the only thing released is that [Wii Fit] will be under $100 when it debuts on May 19. North America is the only announced region for Wii Fit without a confirmed price tag, with Europe and Australia ready to pay over $100 USD for the pressure-sensitive sweat board.

[Via Wii Fanboy]

Narrowly avoiding the obvious and overused pun, Namco Bandai has announced intentions to bring its Japanese Wii title Family Ski over to North America as We Ski. Like the Japanese version, We Ski will be fully compatible with the Wii Balance Board, allowing players to shimmy and slalom their way down the virtual mountains.

We Ski matches Nintendo's family-friendly aesthetic with cutesy customizable characters, and the option to import your Mii's and let them join in on all the snowy action. In addition to the standard ski modes, the game also includes free-style and photography modes, and allows up to four players to ski free on over a dozen courses.

With the title announced for a spring 2008 release, and the Wii Balance Board making its way to North America on May 19, We Ski will undoubtedly become the unofficial companion game to the Wii Fit package, as the first third-party software to support the peripheral.

Many of us assumed that when we got done riding Nintendo's latest one-trick pony we'd simply relegate the Wii Balance Board to stepladder duty -- for those pesky household items that rest just an inch or two out of reach. But, speaking to IGN, Reggie Fils-Aime altered this certain fate by suggesting there are "over 10 games in development that take advantage of the Balance Board," putting a number to earlier whispers that the board would be supported by more than just Wii Fit and Namco Bandai's Family Ski. We're not expecting much more than a minigame cesspool, but there's potential for someone -- please -- to use the technology for good.