E3 2007: Nintendo Keeps It Casual

Miyamoto shows his new get-fit Wii game.

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By Alex Wollenschlaeger

Nintendo has made playing games fun for decades. Now the company wants to do the same for staying fit.

Miyamoto shows off Wii Fit

As part of its press briefing at the E3 Media & Business Summit, running this week in Santa Monica, Nintendo showed off Wii Fit - a new game from Shigeru Miyamoto that Nintendo is hoping will carry on where the ground-breaking Wii Sports left off.

The game is built around the Wii Balance Board, a scale-looking device that uses your body to power simple games such as swirling hula-hoops and guide you in various aerobic exercises.

It's a simple idea, one that anyone can immediately understand, and it's the latest example of Nintendo's disdain for the status quo.

Wii Fit

The past few years have been good to Nintendo. First the DS came along, introducing players to new ways to play, and people bought into it, to the tune of 40 million handhelds since launch.

Then came the Wii, which after just over six months since launch is already well on its way to becoming the most popular of the three new home consoles. The Wii has been so popular it's been hard to find for most of its short life and Nintendo is forecasting shortages this Christmas.

Why? Wii Sports is a big reason. The game has done what very few others in the long history of video games have managed: it's seeped into the mainstream consciousness.

Reggie Fils-Aime brings the numbers

Nintendo punctuated its hour-long presentation with TV news clips showering praise on the Wii and its easy-to-play games. Wii Fit is just the start. There's a new Brain Training game for the DS, a game called Flash Focus that tests your vision, and My Word Coach and My Life Coach, which dish out practical skills and common sense tips.

These games, if you call them that, are a far cry from the usual fare companies, even Nintendo in the past, have built their names on. And it's because of these games that Nintendo is reaching out to new audiences, from girls and women to older folks.

This focus on the casual player is great for them (and for Nintendo), but what about the crowd that got Nintendo where it is now? What about the regular players?

Nintendo went to great lengths to convince the gathered audience of game experts that they have not been forgotten, showing off soon-to-be-released Mario and Zelda games that give veterans what they love while still keeping things accessible for everyone else.

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