Nintendo launches 'Wii Fit' in December

Nintendo on Wednesday said it would start selling its Wii Fit home fitness game in Japan in time for the critical Christmas season.

Nintendo's announcement comes just a day after Sony said it would cut the price of its PlayStation 3 by 10 per cent in Japan and launch a lower-price PS3 model to battle Nintendo's dominance.

The new game, which goes on sale on 1 December for ¥8,800 (£37), features a pressure-sensing mat called the 'Wii Balance Board', which looks like a set of bathroom scales and can sense when a person moves and leans, enabling players to 'head' virtual footballs and experience ski jumping on a TV screen.

The board can also be used for such activities as yoga and aerobics.

The new software is likely to be the next major sales driver for Nintendo's Wii game console, after initial demand was stirred by popularity of Wii Sports software, which lets gamers play a virtual tennis match in the living room, analysts have said.

The Wii has far outsold Sony's PS3 since the two consoles were launched late last year, as Nintendo's strategy to offer easy-to-play but innovative games expanded the gamer population beyond young males to women and the elderly.

"This is our most important product for this coming year-end," Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said during a news conference. "With Wii Fit, we will be aiming to expand the definition of videogames as well as our user base."

Sony has packed its cutting-edge technology, such as a Blu-ray high-definition DVD player in the PS3, enabling lifelike graphics.

But the advanced functions have driven up manufacturing costs and made it difficult and time-consuming for software creators to develop PS3 games.

Nintendo, locked in battle with Sony and Microsoft in the global video game industry, said Wii Fit will be launched in overseas markets in 2008.

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