Jesse Divnich, newly-installed director of Analytical Services at EEDAR, believes that there should be little disruption to overall sales of Grand Theft Auto IV, even though demand for Wii Fit - released in the UK just days earlier than Rockstar's title - appears to be extremely high.

However, he did admit that there may be an initial hit, based on some crossover, although if so, it wouldn't last too long.
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VG247: Following news that many UK retailers have now stopped taking pre-orders for Wii Fit due to excessive demand, Nintendo UK has made a statement to videogaming247 saying it believes the move is a sensible one and it doing "everything" it can to ensure more stock reaches the UK and Ireland as quickly as possible.
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Ahead of Nintendo's 2008 Q4 report, expected April 24th, Wedbush Morgan analyst has said he expects sales to reach 359 billion yen ($3.59 billion), and adds that the forthcoming U.S. May launch of Wii Fit could "cause a new boom in demand for the Wii."
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Today, Nintendo announced the pricing of Wii Fit. Wii Fit will have a retail price of $89.99 and will be available starting May 19, 2008. A special limited edition Wii Fit T-shirt will be given to the first 1,000 consumers who place a $5 deposit for Wii Fit at the Nintendo World store in Rockefeller Plaza.
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Tech Digest writes:

"Currently seeking a partner to help license their concept, Peekaboo Pole Dancing has sent out an email announcing their idea for a Wii game that'd have you 'shake your booty' and 'spin your thing'.

Little else is said about the project, only that it's a concept, and 'A-list celebs' like Carmen Electra, Kylie Minogue, the Spice Girls and Pussycat Dolls are already fans of the company, who currently sell portable dance poles..."
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Wii Fit, the latest innovative game for the Wii, looks set to revolutionise the gaming community. Core Group today confirmed with El33tonline that Wii Fit will be flexing its muscles across South Africa on the 5th of May.

Wii Fit is currently only available in Japan, and despite the game hitting shelves on the 1st of December in the land of the rising sun it is still keeping up the pace against its competitors. Wii Fit sold a massive 261 226 copies in its first week on sale in Japan and has regularly topped the Japanese software charts since then. It still makes a regular appearance in the Top 10 software titles in Japan and this past week (for the period 31/3 ¿ 6/4) it earned seventh place with 39 000 copies sold. What is also interesting to note is that Wii Fit's life-to-date sales in Japan currently stand at 1.834 million copies and that the title took just seven weeks to reach one million sales in Japan.

Wii Fit will race onto European shelves on the 25th of April and will arrive on North American shores on the 19th of May. Kudos to Core for bringing it here hot on the heels of the European launch and before the US!

Core Group has yet to confirm the price of Wii Fit so stay tuned. The game is priced at £69.99 in the UK and 89.99 Euros across Europe.
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Nintendo of America kicked off its Media Summit event from San Francisco on Thursday. Here IGN provides live-blogged news from the Summit including a demonstration of Super Mario Sluggers, the Wii sequel to Mario Superstar Baseball which has been confirmed for US release later this year. Aslo discussed are Wii Fit,Mario Kart, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon and Guitar Hero DS
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GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that Play.com has sold out of its entire allocation of Wii Fit in just one day, ahead of the games official release on April 25 in the UK.

Pre-order demand has "overwhelmed" the online retailer, following success in Japan that saw the game sell one million copies in just over a month on sale.

"People continually look for new and fun ways to stay in shape and it's fantastic to see exergames in big demand," commented Gian Luzo, head of games at Play.com.

"Wii Fit is going to be huge ¿ let's hope that we can keep up with demand. We are expecting more stock before launch," he added.
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According to Famitsu figures, Nintendo's Wii Fot was the biggest selling game in Japan last year with 1.76 million units sold for the period ending March 30 2008.

Mario Party DS was second with 1.66 million, and Wii Sports was in third place with 1.62 million.

More through the link.
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1. Pokémon Ranger: Batonnage (DS)

2. Deca Sporta (Wii)

3. Armored Core for Answer (PS3)

4. Sim City DS 2 (DS)

5. Tales of Rebirth (PSP)

6. Wii Fit (Wii)

7. DS Bi-Mozi Training (DS)

8. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)

9. Sakura Wars (DS)

10. Crayon Shin-chan: Arashi wo Yobu Cinema Land Katinko Gatnko Daisakusen (DS)
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via Joystiq: 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.
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You think 100 bucks is too much for Wii Fit bundle? Then you'd better watch out for Russia, because the cost of fit-you-up bundle is really hot in there. Our fellow Russian news source ConsolenewZ.ru (obviously, it presents news for console gamers) reports: Wii Fit priced at nearly 200 dollars in Russia (4000 Russian Rubbles). Poor fellows, first Joe Stalin, now this!
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A new exhibition at the Science Museum's Dana Centre in London hopes to answer the question, "Can video games really make you healthier?"

London's Science Museum is set to hold another videogame-based exhibition this month, this time looking at the relationship between games and health. The event, dubbed 'Play Away the Calories' will take place on March 26, and will also offer gamers and fitness fanatics an early look at Wii Fit, due to launch in Europe on April 25.
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"Play Away the Calories", taking place at the Science Museum's Dana Centre in London on Wednesday 26 March, 19:00-21:00, will allow visitors a special preview of the new 'Wii Fit' (due to launch across Europe on 25 April) to ascertain if modern, interactive technology could really increase fitness levels.
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GameDaily BIZ reports that it has received the latest Japanese video game sales data from Famitsu Marketing Data Service covering the month of February (technically the period from Jan. 28 to Feb. 24), and while the overall market was down 7.7 percent year-over-year, largely because of a 24.6 percent drop in hardware sales, software sales did increase 8.1 percent.

Leading the charge was none other than Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which racked up sales of more than 1.3 million units in its first month and broke the million mark in its second week ¿ the fastest sales pace yet for a Wii game in Japan. The popular Wii Fit took second place with over 309K units sold, and the game now has over 1.5 million units sold since last December. Capcom's Devil May Cry 4 on PS3 took third place with a respectable 275K units sold. For comparison purposes DMC4 on Xbox 360 sold 51K units.

In terms of hardware total:

Wii: 331K units
DSL: 230K units
PSP: 223K units
PS3: 89K units
PS2: 38K units
360: 14K units
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Videogaming247 is reporting that Wii Fit will cost £69.99 in the UK and EUR 89.99 across the rest of Europe.
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If this year you wind up using a videogame to get in better shape, you will have to thank a sumo wrestler.

The idea for Nintendo's latest hit "Wii Fit" -- a game that allows players to shimmy and twist their way through virtual worlds -- only came together when Takao Sawano, general manager for Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis and Development division, saw sumo wrestlers weighing in for a match on television.

The result is a sensation sweeping Japanese households, with families sweating their way through aerobics workouts and jogging down virtual mountain trails.
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Wii Fit--the upcoming Wii game which comes with its own balance board and a set of exercises--has already been a massive hit in Japan, with Nintendo finally confirming that the title would reach US shores on May 19, and Europe on April 25. Apparently, health-conscious gamers have none other than Nintendo icon Shigeru Miyamoto to thank for the upcoming game--or more specifically, Miyamoto's quirky habit of having fun when weighing himself.
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Nintendo's finally pinned a solid release date on WiiWare and Wii Fit. Nintendo's original, downloadable games service will be launching on May 12 in North America, just a couple short months after the proposed Japanese launch (March). Following a week later will be the health-conscious Wii Fit bundled with Wii Balance Board on May 19.
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Following NPD's release of January hardware and software sales figures, analysts from Wedbush Morgan and simExchange have said lower than expected Wii sales likely were part of a plan to support Japan's Smash Bros and Wii Fit launches, and that Sony's Blu-ray support may be turning the tides in the PS3's favor.
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