Wii Fit Releases to Perpetual Sales
May 21
Our Original Coverage

The success of Nintendo’s lifestyle software/peripheral combos continued apace with the launch of Wii Fit. Wii Fit came with one of the generation’s most ambitious peripherals: the Wii Balance Board, despite being likened to a bathroom scale, represented a completely unique way to interact with a videogame. The shiny newness of the input device combined with ubiquitous marketing in a variety of mass-market venues kept Wii Fit flying off shelves and made it almost impossible to find for the majority of 2008. As for the Balance Board itself, it’s now an integral part of the Wii’s business strategy. Balance Board compatibility has become a major back of the box feature for several third-party developers.



The Wii MotionPlus is Unveiled
July 14
Our Original Coverage

Nintendo performed an end-run around the competition at E3, pre-empting its own press conference to announce the Wii MotionPlus before Microsoft and Sony could take the stage. The timing of the announcement was curious, as it left the publisher with one less major announcement for the underwhelming conference it conducted a few days later. The device itself, however, appeared solid, with early press previews backing up Nintendo’s claim of true 1:1 response to player motion. Nintendo later revealed that the peripheral would ship with the sequel to Wii Sports, making the Wii MotionPlus Nintendo’s most likely sales driver for the first half of 2009.



Nintendo’s E3 Conference Enrages the Core
July 16
Our Original Coverage

Whoops. Nintendo decided to use its E3 press conference to speak to a mainstream audience, focusing on ostensibly mass market-friendly titles like Wii Music, Shaun White Snowboarding and a largely unchanged Wii version of Animal Crossing. But to the core gamers that watch E3 conferences excitedly, this was…boring, and not for them. It felt like a betrayal, leading to outraged comments that Nintendo had abandoned their most loyal customers. Nintendo went into immediate damage control mode—Miyamoto actually casually announced a new Pikmin title later that very same day, while official reps all but publicly apologized for the fiasco. Nintendo eventually held a difference conference which felt like a do-over, revealing the DSi as well as core-friendly titles like Punch-Out and Sin & Punishment 2.



Wii Overtakes 360 in the US
July 17
Our Original Coverage

The Wii became the world’s favorite current gen console in the middle of 2007. But the 360, being an American-designed machines that caters well to American tastes, held its lead much longer than that in the US. It was brave, but against competition with so much momentum, it wasn’t enough. Still, it took nearly another year before the Wii finally reached the 10.9m sales point and overtook Xbox in its home region. From that point on, no matter how you counted, Nintendo was in charge everywhere.