Nintendo generally announces any future Nintendo Directs a few days before they air, but it sometimes surprises with an unannounced Nintendo Direct. That happened to be the case this morning as Nintendo shared a Nintendo Direct that focused entirely on Wii Fit U and a new Wii Sports title for Wii U.
As you may recall, Wii Fit U was supposed to be released this summer. It was delayed until later this year to allow for further development. Now it’s for sure releasing before the holidays, but Nintendo will be trying some new things with its latest fitness game.
First things first, Wii Fit U will ship with what Nintendo calls the Activity Meter. It’s like a pedometer, but Nintendo says it can do a lot more than just track your steps. For instance, the Activity Meter tracks your calories burned, your target for how many calories you want to burn, any elevation differences experienced since leaving home, the time and temperature and a graph of your calories burned over a month.
As was shown last year, the Activity Meter can also pair with the Wii U Gamepad to display information in even more detailed graphs. In an example, the Gamepad shows when you run, walk and climb through different colored bar graphs. It also displays elevation information to show how high up a mountain or hill a person has traveled.
So, how much will all of this cost? Surprisingly, Nintendo of America announced that Wii Fit U will be available to current and new Wii U owners for free between November 1 and January 31. All you need is the Wii Balance Board that came with the original Wii Fit.
Of course, there is a catch here. After downloading Wii Fit U, it’s only free for a month. After that, you have a number of options. First – players can buy the standalone Wii Fit Activity Meter for $20 and sync it with their free download of Wii Fit U. After doing so, the download copy remains theirs to keep.
If you prefer a retail copy, Wii Fit U and the Activity Meter will be bundled together on December 13 for $50. If you need a Balance Board to go with it, that bundle will run you $90.
In another not so surprising move, Nintendo also announced that it would be releasing HD remakes of the five games included in 2006’s Wii Sports. These will only be available as a digital download, and will feature online play.
Wii Sports Club itself is a free download, but the games within it are not. For these, Nintendo will be experimenting with some alternative pricing schemes. The first option is called a Club Pass, and it lets you purchase a sport to keep for $10. That means all five sports will run you $50. The other option is called a Day Pass, and it nets you 24 hour access to all sports for $2.
For more information, check out the Nintendo Direct in its entirety below:
[Image: Nintendo/YouTube]