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Nintendo Wants You Thinner, Smarter

by Tom Conlon on July 12, 2007 at 08:40 AM

Wii Fit
Nintendo, it seems, thinks we're all fat and lunkheaded. The Japanese giant has made it clear at this year's E3 video game conference that it is out to fix us. To target both novice and core gamers with its Wii console and DS handheld, the company has promised a suite of new games similar to the simple-yet-genius crossover titles like 'Wii Sports' and 'Brain Age,' with which it found so much success.

'Brain Age 2' is the first fix-em-up on the way. The game is already out in Japan where it quickly eclipsed sales of the original. If you haven't played the original puzzle/brain tease/brain builder, do so immediately. Your IQ will thank you.

Also in the works is a game called 'Flash Focus,' a so-called "vision training game" that aims to improve your vision and coordination with such exercises as baseball batting practice and basketball passing practice. Ditch your eyeglasses this October 15.

Ubi Soft, the developer of such console hits as 'Splinter Cell' and 'Rainbow Six,' is working on a couple of self-improvement games for Nintendo. One is called 'My Word Coach' and aims to beef up your vocabulary. The other, 'My Life Coach,' we were given no details about, but one assumes it will be a cheap alternative to psychotherapy.

Finally, the big news is the new Wii game developed by game legend Shigeru Miyamoto, the brains behind the Mario and Zelda franchises. 'Wii Fit' comes with a new peripheral called the Wii Balance Board, which you stand on in front of your TV. It measures your balance while you do aerobics, push-ups, dance moves and even yoga poses. Besides measuring balance, it measures your Body Mass Index to help you track weight loss while doing these exercises.

Nintendo: building a slimmer, smarter, better-sighted you.

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Tags: ds, e3, improvement, IQ, nintendo, smart, weight, wii

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