Wii Fit Launch

Nintendo sent out an invitation today to anyone and everyone who wants to come out to Central Park in New York City on May 19 ^th for the launch of Wii Fit , the company's aptly titled up coming fitness game for Wii. The invitation reads, “ Discover for yourself at New York's Central Park Merchants' Gate on May 19, as Nintendo hosts a spectacular all-day launch event for Wii Fit , the highly anticipated new program for the popular Wii home video game system that combines fun and fitness.” Event attendees will have the chance to try their hand, or whole bodies rather, at various Wii Fit activities.

Better yet, the event is doubling as a celebration of May as National Physical Fitness and Sports Month, and Nintendo is using it as an opportunity to educate people about fitness and good health, as well as supporting the American Heart Association with a fundraiser. For every attendee who “gets on board” (on the Wii Balance Board) for a Wii fit demo, Nintendo will make a donation of $5 (up to a total $25,000) to the American Heart Association in support of its effort to help Americans live healthier.

The event will run from 8:00 a.m. To 5:00 p.m. at the Central Park Merchants' Gate, located at the intersection of Central Park West, Central Park South, Columbus Circle and Broadway in Manhattan. If those instructions are as confusing for you as they are for us, here it is in simple form: The event is taking place at the Southwest corner of Central Park near Columbus Circle and Broadway.

Legends of WrestleMania

THQ and JAKKS Pacific announced today that WWE Legends of WrestleMania is currently in development for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. The new WWE game is scheduled to release in March 2009, coinciding with WrestleMania 25 in Houston, Texas. Aside from the approximate release date and development announcement, and a couple of quotes, not much else has been announced about the game yet. We'll have more information as THQ announces more of the game's features.

New EA SPORTS Sub-brand

Electronic Arts announced the launch of a new sub-brand for the EA SPORTS Label today, called EA SPORTS Freestyle. The new sub-brand is aimed at the growing casual sports gaming audience. The games will be sports-based, but be more “playful, inclusive, casual and easy to pick up and play for kids and parents, women and men, casual and hardcore sports fans of all ages”. To us, this pretty much sounds like Wii Sports to the next level, but likely for all consoles.

The new logo

“ The launch of EA SPORTS Freestyle is an exciting milestone in the evolution of the EA SPORTS brand,” said Peter Moore, president of the EA SPORTS Label. “EA SPORTS Freestyle will be a perfect complement to our core portfolio of games that our loyal fans are deeply passionate about, and will provide compelling opportunities for new audiences looking for a lighter gaming experience and an easier entry point into EA SPORTS.”

EA will be using EA SPORTS Freestyle as a home for new intellectual properties (IP), including three new games that are currently in development and scheduled for release over the next 12 months. The first of these three titles is FaceBreaker , an arcade-style boxing game, which is currently slated for release this September. According to EA, it is also the first new console IP from EA SPORTS since 2002 (has it really been that long since Freekstyle released?). I guess the Street titles don't count officially as new IPs, since they are taken from existing sports. Look for the new logo, coming this September.

XBLA update

This week's Xbox Live Arcade update lets gives players the ability to win trivia games without necessarily knowing the right answers. Wits & Wagers is the trivia party game where you don’t need to know the right answers to win! Awarded Official Xbox Magazine’s coveted Editor’s Choice award, Wits & Wagers brings an inventive and accessible party experience to Xbox Live Arcade.

Just like the award-winning board game, players don’t have to be trivia experts to excel at Wits & Wagers , which balances social and betting skills with trivia knowledge. Choose your wacky dancing character and then dive into the game. You can win by making educated guesses, playing the odds or just knowing the interests of other players, whether they are local or online.

Break out the Big Button pad controllers (finally, a use for them other than Scene It? )and invite friends over for an entertaining couch vs. couch multiplayer experience on Xbox Live, supporting 1-4 players offline and 2-6 players in online multiplayer mode. With 700 trivia questions, great character costumes and dance moves, catchy music, achievements, leaderboards, support for the Xbox Live Vision Camera, the Xbox Big Button Pad and more, Wits & Wagers is the fun party game you can play with your family and friends starting this Wednesday! Wits & Wagers will be available tomorrow morning at 9:00a.m. GMT (1:00 a.m. PDT) for 800 Microsoft Points and is rated E for Everyone.