Hasta La Gadget!

For a product with the word “vitality” in its name, Nintendo’s forthcoming Wii peripheral doesn’t seem to have much of a pulse these days. The oddball controller certainly piqued our interest when the gaming giant showed it off way back in 2009, but aside from some false alarms and an uncovered patent application, we haven’t heard a peep. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata addressed the Vitality Sensor’s conspicuous absence during a financial presentation, chalking the delay up to “differences in biological information in humans.” The peripheral is still coming, according to Iwata, but it won’t be released until the company can make it work well with 99 percent of consumers — a tall order indeed. And what about the other one percent? Well, perhaps they can try these on for size.

Nintendo Wii Vitality Sensor still coming to a hand near you, says Iwata originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 May 2011 20:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What does it take for a gaming classic to survive in a world ruled by titles like Portal 2 and Homefront? A Kinect hack, a Wiimote, and some electronic elbow grease, apparently. Trinity College student Keysosaurus — as he’s know to his YouTube pals — has used a bit of C#, XNA, and OpenNI coding to play 3D augmented reality Tetris using Kinect body controls and a Wiimote. The Kinect gestures do most of the work, rotating the board, zooming the camera in and out, and moving the pieces into place, while the Nintendo controller is used to rotate. Video’s after the break, but beware, the familiar strains of “Korobeiniki” have been replaced by smooth guitar jazz, so turn the volume up at your own risk.

Continue reading Augmented reality Tetris game uses Kinect hack, Wiimote, smooth jazz (video)

Augmented reality Tetris game uses Kinect hack, Wiimote, smooth jazz (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 10:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 15th is still a month away, but the Nintendo Wii’s price won’t wait — both Best Buy and Toys ‘R’ Us already have the motion-controlled console on sale for $170 today. Mind you, this doesn’t look like a permanent price cut — note “Limited Time Offer!” above — but we wouldn’t be surprised if other retailers follow suit in very short order. With rumors swirling around deeper price cuts and perhaps, maybe, possibly even a new backwards-compatible HD machine, every Wii sold at $170 today could be a little extra gold in their pockets and less unwanted inventory to deal with.

Nintendo Wii on sale at Toys R Us, Best Buy for $169.99 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 16 Apr 2011 14:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nintendo’s miniature white monolith has sold like gangbusters for long enough that we’re wary it’ll ever get cheap, but a trusted source tells us a price cut is indeed headed our way — and that the Nintendo Wii will cost just $150 starting May 15th. The timing would make some sense, given how Nintendo’s profits have tanked for a while due to flagging hardware sales, and just last month Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime hinted that the Wii’s price might be a potential variable to change that in an interview with Gamasutra. Still, we’re not fully convinced that Nintendo would announce a price cut then, rather than, say, at the Electronics Entertainment Expo in June, and it’s not like the company to let this sort of announcement leak out. Still, if you find a shiny new copy of Mario Kart Wii in a $150 console bundle this time next month, don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Nintendo cutting Wii price to $150 on May 15th? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Apr 2011 21:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Now that your Wii Balance Board is safely tucked underneath the couch and you’ve long ago discovered that every standard Nintendo title can be played with the flick of a wrist, you might be wondering how you’ll ever convince yourself to exercise again. Well, there are certainly a few dangling-carrot solutions to your problem, and here’s one that actually makes sense — the Blaze U-Move, a Nunchuk replacement (with built-in pedometer) that effectively locks your joystick in place. The idea is that unless you’re moving, your avatar can’t move, and when you do, it can — each time you jog in place, you’re building up virtual momentum. That certainly sounds like a much more graceful and practical solution than others we’ve seen, which turn off the entire controller or (Miyamoto forbid) cut power to your entire game machine. This way, you can stop running when you need to do some precision aiming, and set your mind at ease regarding your save game. Yours for £20, or about $32 in US currency.

Blaze’s U-Move controls your Wii, makes you jog to play effectively (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 06:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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