Nintendo To Demo Wii Fit Today In N.Y.'s Central Park

Wii Fit screen grabNintendo is hoping to transmogrify video games from a glassy-eyed pursuit for the physically inert to a kind of cardio-friendly virtual sports gym that exercises the fingers, arms and other appendages.

 

The company will reach out to the body populace today with its biggest grassroots effort ever to tout the new Wii Fit full-body interactive game through an event in the country's best-known urban arcadia, New York City's Central Park.

Nintendo, whose U.S. headquarters is based in Redmond, Wash., will host an all-day event at the park's Merchant's Gate near Fifth Avenue intended to coincide with National Fitness and Sports Month. The event to promote the home video game system will center on live demos of the Wii Fit and Wii Balance Board.

The game maker will offer up some 40 different Wii Fit activities for consumers to try out; for every demo, the company will donate $5 up to $25,000 to the American Heart Association. On hand will be company brass and various luminaries from the American Heart Association.

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The company spent a reported $200 million to promote the Wii platform last year. The Wii Fit platform--literally a platform one stands on--retails for $90, without the console.

The NPD Group, a Port Washington, N.Y. consultancy, reports that Wii was the top-selling console game last month. The company says it sold above 714,000 units in April, bringing total U.S. sales to 9.5 million. The company says sales were driven by "Mario Kart Wii" accounting for 1.1 million units.

This month the company inked a deal with Westin Hotels allowing guests access to a version of the new Wii Fit console for the hotel. Westin will offer the console at 10 U.S. hotels as part of its WestinWorkout program.

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