• Reuters, Wednesday, October 10, 2007 12:30 PM

Nintendo will start selling its Wii Fit home fitness game in Japan in time for the critical year-end shopping season. The announcement comes just a day after Sony said it would cut the price of its PlayStation 3 by 10% in Japan and launch a new, lower-priced PS3 model, to battle Nintendo's dominance. Wii Fit will be launched in overseas markets in 2008.

The new game, which goes on sale on December 1 for 8,800 yen ($75), 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 soccer balls 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 say.

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