Nintendo: Wii Fit Plus Announcement Next Week?

You guys down with Wii Fit or what? Loose talk around the internet seems to indicate that we’ll all be hearing about something called Wii Fit Plus at E3 next week.

Back in April, Nintendo apparently filed a Japanese patent for Wii Fit Plus along with the above logo. Certain financial analysts are speculating that the game will be targeted towards existing Wii Fit users and will be sold both as a standalone title and as part of a bundle — presumably with the Balance Board.

I’d say it all makes sense. There aren’t a huge amount of exercises in Wii Fit and there hasn’t been any downloadable content as far as being able to purchase new exercises, so some sort of expansion pack that adds a bunch of new strength training, yoga poses, and mini games seems perfectly logical.

Also, stay tuned for our upcoming Fitness Week here at CrunchGear. I’ll be comparing Wii Fit to EA SPORTS Active for those of you trying to decide on a fitness game for the Wii.

Source

The 3-in-1 Retro Adapter for the Wii

Technology moves so quickly that many gadgets get tossed out and forgotten.  However, gamers aren’t always so quick to toss aside old gear.  After spending so much time bonding with and getting used to an old controller, using a new one is just never as good.  There is the Classic Controller that was created for the Wii, but it’s still just not the same.  So for those that still have their old Nintendo controllers, now you can put them to good use on your Wii.

This 3-in-1 adapter will allow for you to hook up the original NES, Nintendo 64 and Super Nintendo controllers to your Wii.  For those of you that tossed out your old controller, you might want to be on the lookout for replacements.  Komodo and Innex are supposed to be officially announcing the adapter at this year’s E3.  It’s supposed to be priced right around $19.99 once it does come out.  Of course, that won’t be until mid-June, which isn’t all that far off.

Source

Sony Charges Publishers For PS3 Bandwidth

We as gamers have it much better these days, as there are free content and demos floating around on gaming networks and download kiosks for us to enjoy a sneak peek of a particular title before deciding to drop some serious coin for the final product. Unfortunately, are these really “free”? After all, somebody has got to pay - and according to a report by MTV Multiplayer, Sony has started to charge publishers a per-gigabyte fee for bandwidth used when downloading content. This deal would seem rather strange as it gives off the vibes for not releasing popular content or demos on the service instead.

It also goes against conventional wisdom at this moment in time as Sony surprisingly has a large advantage over the Xbox 360 as this platform offers free online gaming and content downloads. While Xbox Live costs approximately $50—less if you get a deal, where there is a treasure trove of content made available to Gold members first and Silver members down the line, Sony will instead pass the bill onto publishers for these online features. We suppose the high road that Sony could take would be to absorb the bandwidth costs and hope that this incentive will cause publishers to be more enthusiastic about the PS3 by releasing better quality games that will let more and more people sign up for this as the gaming platform of choice instead of the Wii and Xbox 360.

It seems otherwise though as MTV Multiplayer has managed to get hold of a memo sent to publishers from Sony which changes the fees associated with hosting content on the PlayStation Store. Publishers will now have to pony up 16 cents per 1GB downloaded via the store for the first two months where free content is concerned, and in perpetuity for paid content. That’s not chump change by any means as a demo which is downloaded one million times will cost a publisher approximately $160,000 - all this on top of the regular fees that Sony charges to put content and games up on the store. Do you see a solution out of this, and is the Xbox Live model a better one to follow?

Publishers charged for PS3 bandwidth

Punch-Out!! Coming To The Wii on May 18

Nintendo just announced a May 18 release date for Punch-Out!!, giving Little Mac plenty of time to find a pair of diminutive gloves just his size before he waggles back into the ring this Summer.

The game is among the more hotly-anticipated efforts in Nintendo’s coming lineup, promising a return to form as everyone’s favorite underdog throws down against the likes of Soda Popinski and King Hippo.

According to sources, both are downing crates of Jolt and cheeseburgers on their road to get back into fighting shape.

Source