There was no saucy saunter down the red carpet, but Nintendo's casual darling Wii Sports did manage to surprise gamers with a guest-spot at the 2008 Academy Awards. In one of the night's many gags, host Jon Stewart gets caught off guard when the show returns from commercial break, to find him using one of the event's gigantic projection screens to play a quick round of Wii Tennis.

The entire segment lasts only thirty seconds, but it's chuckle-worthy, to be sure. Check out the video after the break.

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It seems the school is still the eminent source of name calling, as the Wii, which has managed to shrug off all the "little fad" comments thus far, has been subjected to yet another "another gimmick" label. This time, however, it's in relation to the UK Department of Health's endorsement of an in-school "active" games scheme designed by the Droitwich and Worcester City School Sport Partnership. Nick Seaton, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, was unconvinced by the program's weight-loss merits, saying, "Pupils would be far better doing serious competitive sports and games than this sort of thing."

Channel 4 reports that this sort of thing has already been implemented in five schools in Worcestershire as "virtual PE," with the hopes that active gaming would lure children to participate in other physical exercise. Seaton, however, believes it "looks like another gimmick," one that's "pandering to the views of the physically idle." The Department of Health argued that the Wii makes for a good "first step" towards other forms of exercise, though failed to mention the benefits of the many, many steps required to excel in the physical strenuous Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party.

Mind you, the embarrassing view of the physical idol in school would likely result in even more nasty name calling.

[Via GamesIndustry.biz]

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts announced the winners for their British Academy Video Game Awards and BioShock came out on top, with Wii Sports winning most categories. The full list can be found after break. Wii Sports won six of 13 awards, Crackdown won two awards, as did Okami.

Crackdown developer RealTime Worlds was the most successful European studio at the event, winning Best Action and Adventure and an audio award. Phil Wilson, producer of Crackdown, said, "BAFTA's are awards that are recognized and respected both outside the games industry and internationally, so we're incredibly proud that everyone's hard work has resulted in not just one but two of the prestigious gold masks." Great, now does that mean you'll finally start working on a sequel?

Are you reading this on your Wii right now? Have you fired it up and played anything lately? According to Famitsu, almost seven out of ten Wii owners aren't using the system at all, which seems like a fairly high number. This came out in a report from Enterbrain President (and Famitsu publisher) Hirokazu Hamamura which was praising Nintendo and citing big things ahead, especially for the DS platform, which he predicts will have 30 million units in Japan in 2009.

However, it makes it hard to understand how the Wii will continue to be a success if the majority of people who bought one aren't playing it. He goes on to say that part of the problem is that the Wii hasn't had a second hit that was as big as Wii Sports. In other words, he's calling the Wii a novelty. A fad that is starting to wear thin. Remember how big Tamagotchis were? If not, then we've just dated ourselves, but if so, then you'll probably also remember how quickly they vanished after they rolled in.

While he cites the attention that Wii Fit is getting, and the coming (sometime) Monster Hunter 3, we'd like to know what sort of a polling system they're using to get these numbers. It seems like these figures are pure speculation at best. We'll start our own very unofficial Joystiq poll:

Have you used your Wii recently?
	Yup! Wii Sports still isn't old
	Nope. Well, there was that one system update ...
	Wii is 4 old peeple n girls LOLZ!

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced the nominees for its 2007 Video Game Awards. Topping the list with most nominations is Wii Sports with seven, including the Innovation and Best Game categories. There is four-way tie for second most nominations, with Crackdown, Gears of War, Okami and God of War 2 having five nominations apiece.

Other best game nominees include BioShock, Crysis, Gears of War, Guitar Hero II and Kane & Lynch. Of those, two titles haven't yet been released. If Crysis and Kane & Lynch somehow get delayed until 2008, will be the eligible for next year's awards, too?

There are 15 categories, including Artistic Achievement and Best Story/Characters. Winners will be announced October 23; you can view the full list after the break.

When announced, we were concerned that EA Playground would be another mini-game fiesta for the Wii. While it won't be a Rayman-like game with dozens of scenarios, it comes off like Wii Sports in a schoolyard.

After about a half-hour of hands-on time with the game, I have high expectations that nearly all of the playground-based sports will be entertaining. Some will even be excellent, although the family-friendly simplicity occasionally makes them boring.

Nintendo and Lexus hosted an intense Wii Tennis competition in Rockefeller Center yesterday. After competing for three consecutive days, the winner will get a free one year lease on a Lexus IS F and VIP tickets to the US Open finals. In the end, Benjamin Melinger proved to be the most hardcore of this typically not-so-hardcore game, with his heightened reflexes and appropriate attire. The matches, as you can see in the video above, end up being less about careful position of shots, but the ability to flail your arms as quickly as possible. Nintendo once again captured the hearts of the non-gamer, as onlookers couldn't help but be amazed by the spectacle, and wanted to try Wii for themselves.

The Electronic Arts sports titles on Nintendo Wii are making every effort to appeal to every Wii owner possible. In addition to throwing on minigames like they were free gifts in an informercial offer, the publisher is also introducing Family Play controls to their upcoming Madden, NBA Live and FIFA Soccer releases.

According to the press release, those who opt for the Family Play controls play without the nunchuk adapter and handle the key actions (e.g., shooting, passing, snapping, and throwing) while the game handles everything else. It sounds a lot like how Wii Sports handled tennis and baseball.

More fleshed-out and advanced controls are still available and can be used alongside a Family-style player. Let's hope the Family Play-assisted AI isn't too helpful and gives them an unfair advantage in multiplayer.

Though the exact word used by the Financial Times article is "over-engineered," a word we deemed too complex for today's headline. Yoichi Wada, chief executive of Square Enix, feels that consoles such as the PS3 and 360 are over-engineered and out of place in today's gaming market, noting that handheld platforms will be the ones to dominate this year. After handing Dragon Quest IX (and thus the keys to Japan) to the Nintendo DS and inundating the PSP with remakes, Wada's belief should come as no surprise.

"There is a new breed of gamers in the market – we have to make games for all kinds of people," he says. "In the old days, we could just focus on the PlayStation or the GameBoy, but the environment has changed completely." It's the same story we've been hearing for months, that one filled with flailing grandmas and casual players shouting "Blue!" at the top of their lungs. Wada isn't giving up on the hardcore gamer just yet, though. Despite thinking that "there are too many specs" on the more advanced systems, he reckons they'll fare better in "a year or two years." Isn't that about the time Final Fantasy XIII comes out?

Bored with the Wii versions of table tennis, golf, and baseball? The folks at Loading.Ready.Run were, so they decided to create mock-ups for several "rejected" Wii Play games. Write your name in the snow in Wii-Pii, grab a harpoon and hunt whales, then perform a perfect Cii-Section! After you finish clubbing seals and blasting haters in WiiDriveby, keep your Wii remote wrist warm for Female Pleasure (hint: it's not what you think). Click the 'read' link below to give it a gander. [Note: The video is probably NSFW due to sexual innuendo, animated urination, and a short scene of vacuuming.]

[Via Engadget]

MTV ninja Stephen Totilo infiltrated the tooth-decaying sugar-fluff of Sony Gamers' Day and shoved his mic into High Velocity Bowling developer Scott Rohde's face, asking him the tough question: Dude, like, you know everyone's sayin' you just copied Nintendo ... so, like, you did, right? Maybe not. With the lens carefully trained on his San Diego tan, Rohde's fired back with a little-known factoid, "Before we knew that Wii Bowling was coming out we were building [High Velocity], absolutely." You sure about that, Scott? 'Cause Nintendo confirmed 'Bowling' back in September '06. "We started working on it, literally, right before that ... and we had a prototype up in place when [Wii Sports] came out," alleged Rohde.

But why argue about who was first to the gimmick? Considering price, Wii Sports and High Velocity are categorically different. Wii Sports is free, but as a PSN title, High Velocity will likely cost in the $5-to-10 range (and planned expansion packs could balloon the total price). If Rohde's statements are accurate, then High Velocity will end up more akin to Rockstar's Table Tennis or maybe the Outlaw sports series, as it will apparently feature a more robust physics engine than Wii Sports and pre-built unlockable characters. Wii's Bowling will ultimately be matched up against PlayStation Home's built-in bowling game, which is being developed separately from High Velocity, but, like the others, will probably incorporate motion controls.

The CBC reports that Canada's Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital is having a lot of success using the Wii to help hours of physical therapy fly by. The point is illustrated with the story of Albert Liaw, a boxer who suffered a brain injury in the ring that left him wheelchair-bound. But after four-and-a-half months, he was back on his feet.

His therapist, Don Simoneau, gives much of the credit to the Wii, saying "now when I see him playing today it's incredible to think back to where he was." The article goes on to say that Glenrose is the only rehab center in Canada to use the Wii, but doesn't mention if they're just the only place that could find one.

[Via GamePolitics]

Perennial commenter Ken tried to calm the fanboy flames of the Wii-Xbox One post with this stunning picture -- nay, work of art. Even if we can't get along and apparently be tolerant of other people's opinions, we can still laugh, right? Check out the highlights for today:

Joystiquery
Joystiq tour: Xbox 360 Spring '07 Dashboard update
Today's most 'behind the lines' video: the making of C&C3's cinematics

News
Optional Hellgate: London subcriptions set at $9.95 per month
GRAW 2 gets 'Throwback Pack' for $10
Level designer defends Counter-Strike Texas school creation
Final Fantasy IV getting the 3D treatment on DS
Final Fantasy Dissidia looks to be a brawler
Rampart fortifies PSN this Thursday
Nintendo stays in Redmond; sales, ad, and marketing moving to SF or NYC
Shadowrun lands on Xbox and Windows May 29th
Ron Gilbert (ie: our hero) working on Penny Arcade Adventures
Spielberg's Wii project to be released before April 2008
Soul Calibur Legends adventures onto Wii
First Postal III screens emerge, bore
EA announces The Simpsons for every console known to Man

Rumors & Speculation
Rumor: Sega Vintage Collection heading for Xbox 360
Rumor: Command & Conquer 3 for PS3, Wii
Rumor: Jessica Biel as Chun-Li in Street Fighter flick
Rock Band's dubious $300 Gamestop price

Culture & Community
Nerfing your DS with a case
Team works to send Sam Fisher back to high school
Is Wii less powerful than Xbox One? N'Gai investigates
NES + PDA x CELL = OMG!
Mario and Luigi hats invade your couch

Still trying to find a Wii? Get in touch with your local YMCA. Nintendo recently donated Wii party packs to YMCA chapters around the country for the upcoming Healthy Kids Day. The event celebrates "making fitness fun" and could finally live up to that promise with remote-waggling wackiness.

This isn't the first time Wii games have been used to promote exercise. One blogger lost nine pounds in a month on a Wii Sports routine and subsequently appeared on NBC news.

Now Wii Sports weight loss needs a mascot. Somebody give John Madden a call. Slim-Fast is so 1985.

The Lego hackers at BattleBricks have created a robot that throws Wii Bowling strikes every frame, dominating any human that dares face off against this plastic giant. The robot looks like a spastic uneven bars runner-up, but it does the trick; its controls move the bowler off-center, hold B for the swing, and release it at the perfect time. It even resets itself -- and its Mii -- after each frame.

And yes, of course the robot is supported on each side by Linux and C++ guides -- it just doesn't get any more perfectly geeky. See a video of the robot in action after the break.

[Via Engadget]