During the period, Wii Fit sold 3.6 million units globally (130,000 units in Japan and 3.47 million overseas), bringing lifetime sales for the game to 21.82 million copies.

Mario Kart Wii sold 2 million copies globally (90,000 copies in Japan and 1.91 million overseas). The lifetime sales total for Mario Kart Wii is 17.39 million copies.

Wii Sports sold 1.91 million copies worldwide, selling 60,000 copies in Japan and 1.85 million overseas. The lifetime sales total for Wii Sports is 47.62 million.

Last year during the same period, Wii Fit sold 3.42 million copies, Mario Kart Wii sold 6.42 million copies and Wii Sports sold 4.76 million copies.

The high school created the “distracted and drowsy driving project” with the help of the Eagle County Sheriff’s Department, the Colorado State Patrol, the Eagle Country Fire Fighters and the Vail Valley Medical centre.

The kids “drive” Mario Kart Wii while trying to contend with text messages, turtle shells and powerslides. We approve of using Mario Kart Wii, because really, it’s the most accurate simulator on the market.

Next up, Vail Christian High School has students play Trauma Center and Phoenix Wright to teach them how to to be doctors and lawyers.

Simulation teaches teens the perils of distracted driving [9NEWS via CVG via VG247]

The MySims franchise generates more spinoffs than the Law & Order series, but Racing seems to be one of the good ones.

The game features many recurring characters from the original cutesy life simulation on the Wii, such as Dr. F and Chef Gino. Like MySims and MySims Kingdom, Racing is organized around Sim towns that require the player’s help to beef things up and make everybody happy. But instead of building things, going on quests or bolstering the local economy by buying stuff, this game asks the player to win races and complete racing challenges to help the local population thrive.

And that would be why it’s called MySims Racing.

What Is It?
MySims Racing is a go kart game for the Wii and DS that supports four player versus (on single or multiple cards for DS). Players can use the Wiimote -Nunchuck control setup, sideways Wiimote, GameCube controller or Wii Wheel to play the game.

What We Saw
I spent a little under an hour with the game in an EA representative’s posh apartment. Don’t give me that look – it was strictly business.

How Far Along Is It?
The build looked near-final. The game is coming out June 16.

What Needs Improvement?
Divorce the Sims: This game isn’t about being a life sim, it’s about racing. So why does EA need to keep it married to the MySims franchise? If anything, that alienates gamers that might otherwise get into the game for the sheer fun of racing.

Who Just Shot At Me?: There are so many Sims on the racing track at one time that’s it’s hard to tell who just shot you with whatever “power up” (the Sims don’t have “weapons”). Unlike Mario Kart or even the old school Diddy Kong Racing on Nintendo 64, the MySims’ vocal gibberish isn’t enough to tell the NPCs apart. You’d actually have to look behind you to see who shot you with down on the D-pad, but it’s risky and the tracks are so long, you probably couldn’t be sure which Sim to hate.

Cluttered tracks: MySims Racing relies on three different types of crystal from MySims as currency to pay for upgrades to you customizable kart. Between the different crystals plus the present boxes that contain power ups and the different obstacles and the boost platforms, the tracks can get cluttered very quickly – especially when other racers start dropping traps.

What Should Stay the Same?
Kart customization: Using the currency that you pick up from different tracks, you can change pretty much everything on your kart from the engine to the body. Different parts affect the handling, top speed and weight of the kart, while special parts obtained from completing challenges can give you bonuses to handling, speed or weight.

Frenetic Pace: To me, what separates a kart game from a “serious” racing game is the pace. In a real racing game, the pace is steady; so if you happen to spin out and hit a wall, it’s very hard to get back in the top three. In a decent kart game, the pace is frenetic such that you could still come back and win it even if you caught purple shell in the final lap. Frenetic pacing keeps kart racing fun even when you’re constantly getting nailed by vindictive AI – a lesson Mario Kart Wii seems to forget.

Familiar territory: If you’ve ever played a kart game, you will not need much of an explanation to play MySims Racing. The karts control exactly like you’d expect them to (A to go, B to drift or break, C to deploy pickups, etc.), the courses scale from basic to elaborate at a steady rate and the gameplay is a mix of being the fastest and getting lucky with the power ups. The game feels more like Mario Kart 64 than Mario Kart Wii did – and that’s saying something.

Final Thoughts
I’m on the fence about the motion controls in the game. Some of it’s basic, like jerking the Wiimote upward to perform a jump, but then there’s the elaborate stuff that could be getting into “tacked-on” territory. Like when you hit a wall or when a certain power up is inflicted on you, the game requires uses playing with the Wiimote-Nunchuck combo to shake the Wiimote to “clear” the screen. When I saw someone else doing it, it looked stupid, but when I did it, I barely noticed it. However, it got awfully annoying when the same screen-blocking power up hit me three times in a row.

The bottom line for me is that this is a game that does everything it promises to do and doesn’t make any silly pretentions toward reinventing the go kart racing wheel. I would gladly buy this game for a child and probably play it with them, too. Thought I wouldn’t be caught dead playing it alone – I’ve got a reputation to maintain and there are no classic Nintendo characters to justify my Wiimote flailing.

Amazon.com, still bursting with self-promotion from what it called its best holiday shopping season ever, has revealed its “Best Of” products from 2008. In the video game category, it was all Wii, all the time.

How did Amazon decide what was the “best” of the past year? It let its customers decide, breaking down the accolades into “bestselling, most positively reviewed, most-wished-for and favourite gift products,” all of which sounds pretty self-explanatory to anyone who’s ever shopped with the online retailer.

Here are your Wii retail winners.

• Best Selling Product In Video Games: Nintendo Wii
• Most Love Product In Video Games: Wii Fit
• Most Wished-For Product in Video Games: Wii Fit
• Most Popular Gift Product in Video Games: Mario Kart Wii with Wii Wheel

Shockingly, the Amazon Kindle digital book reader also scored tons of “Best Of” kudos. For those rooting for the Groom Mate Platinum XL nose and ear hair trimmer, you’ll be pleased to know it walked away with the Health & Personal Care bestseller award. Suck it, Panasonic!

Hopefully, Nintendo of America will be offering something a little more exciting than these particular wares when the domestic version of Club Nintendo launches… later this year? Frankly, they’re no these or even this. Given that all this stuff has been manufactured with Club Nintendo American-style already in mind, we should set the bar at this level and no higher.

Club Nintendo Prizes [Nintendo of Japan]

「Wii用 ハンドルコントローラースタンド」 [Game Watch Impress]

They’ve both done some risqué stuff in the past — nothing X-rated. Google if you like! Just know: These sorts of celebs advertise all kinds of stuff in Japan, so it’s not totally unusual to see that here. Either shows how mainstream these models are or how progressive Nintendo’s Japanese advertising is. Hit the jump for the Hoshino ad from earlier this year, via Jean Snow at Game|Life.

Watch the Eiko Ad [Wii]

Quoth Don:

Was the weight difference, a very noticeable one, messing with the ‘mote’s center-point?

Yes, in fact. Replacing the rechargeable pack with a standard set of crap-assed gas station batteries made our karts dead centre again.

Now I’ve got to figure out how to add weight to my charger packs. That or play Kart at an odd angle.

So, fair warning, considering that the React dock runs about $AU 53.22, if you Kart like hell and are considering eco-friendly ways to keep your ‘Mote juiced. Does anyone else have the same kind of issue, or just this guy?

Peripheral Disdain [Videolamer, thanks taidan]

If you haven’t had a chance to play Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Connection Tour 08 will give you the perfect opportunity. Otherwise it’s not a terribly exciting event, though there are promises of Mario Kart Wii comps and “heaps of giveaways”. Kind of hard to belittle anything that involves free stuff, so I won’t try.

Hit the jump for times, dates and mentions of pokemon.

Nintendo On Tour

- Connection Tour 08 -

Australia, 30 May, 2008

People of all ages will have the opportunity to play the latest Wii™ and Nintendo DS® games, as Nintendo announces Connection Tour 08, running 28 June – 15 July in Westfield shopping centres nationally.

Come down and check out the hottest games including the highly anticipated Super Smash Bros.™ Brawl, Pokémon® Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time, Pokémon® Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness, Mario Kart™ Wii, Guitar Hero® Aerosmith, Guitar Hero® On Tour and a host of other games.

You’ll have the opportunity to play Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the first time, and if you think you can handle the challenge, be there early to register to compete in the daily Brawl competition. One person will be named Brawl Champion per day, and that could be you!

There will be live gaming demonstrations, Nintendo trivia, Mario Kart Wii competitions as well as heaps of giveaways. Further information will be forthcoming, so check http://www.nintendo.com.au/ for Connection Tour 08 updates.

Dates and locations:

WESTFIELD SHOPPING CENTRE LOCATION	DATE
QUEENSLAND
Chermside	28 June – 29 June
Carindale	30 June – 1 July
NEW SOUTH WALES
Chatswood	4 July – 5 July
Parramatta	6 July – 7 July
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Carousel	7 July – 8 July
VICTORIA
Fountain Gate	10 July – 11 July
Southland	12 July – 13 July
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Marion	14 July – 15 July

Of course it might not be the best quality product on the market, but you can’t beat the price. The Realistic Racing Wheel can be yours now for only $US 5.87, plus shipping. Quick! Someone buy one and let us know how it is so we don’t all make the same mistake!

Nintendo Wii Realistic Racing Wheel [Success-HK via Wii News - Thanks Wraggy!]