Nintendo Steps Up the Pace with Personal Trainer: Walking

REDMOND, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– It’s no secret that the Nintendo DS^â„¢ system offers great ways to have fun while on the move. With the May 26 launch of the Personal Trainer^â„¢: Walking game, Nintendo is inviting consumers to turn their most basic daily movements into an enriching, entertaining experience. Whether they walk for fitness or simply to get from place to place, people of all ages and backgrounds can use Personal Trainer: Walking to monitor and enhance their daily walking routines.

Personal Trainer: Walking is the latest entry in the popular software series that also includes Personal Trainer: Cooking and Personal Trainer: Math. After counting, measuring and recording users’ steps throughout the day, Personal Trainer: Walking creates an engaging series of charts and activities to reveal interesting – or even surprising – “life rhythm” patterns. For instance, the readout might show that a user is most active in the evening, or that mealtimes are typically followed by sedentary periods. Knowing these patterns can help people keep an eye on their plans for the day and watch out for pitfalls of inactivity. People also can rate the kind of day they had or set daily walking goals to improve the quality of their lives. Whether it’s used individually or with family and friends, Personal Trainer: Walking provides a fun, interactive way for people to monitor their walking lifestyle.

“Walking is by far America’s favorite physical activity,” said walking expert Mark Fenton. “It’s low cost, safe and can be done just about anywhere and anytime. In my experience, what people really need is motivation – something that inspires them and helps them to be active every day and see the progress they have made. For many people, Personal Trainer: Walking is just the thing to keep them motivated and having fun with walking.”

“Whether you walk for pleasure or exercise, Personal Trainer: Walking will keep track of your movements and help you set goals for yourself,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Like Wii Sports and Wii Fit, Personal Trainer: Walking is about combining fun features and technology with physical activity. It gives everyone an engaging way to enjoy the benefits of walking.”

Two Activity Meter accessories are included with each copy of Personal Trainer: Walking. Unlike ordinary pedometers, Activity Meters count and record steps during a given period of time and can be synced to send data wirelessly to a Nintendo DS or Nintendo DSi^™ system, where each user’s personal step data is converted into visual displays of interesting statistics. Users can track their walking activity over time. Activity Meters can store up to seven days’ worth of information, and the Nintendo DS game card can keep track of up to five years’ worth of downloaded data. Up to four people can store their individual results on a single Personal Trainer: Walking game card. Users can even get their pet dogs into the action by attaching an Activity Meter to their dog’s collar.

Personal Trainer: Walking is the first Nintendo DS game that allows users to import customized Mii^™ characters from the Wii^™ console, or design a Mii character from scratch when creating game profiles. It’s one of the many ways that Nintendo turns an ordinary activity like walking into a fun daily adventure. As users accumulate walking data, they can incorporate their recorded steps into fun activities. “Illuminate” invites users to brighten up a virtual town, while “Walk the World” transforms footsteps into iconic images of interesting locations around the globe. With Nintendo^® Wi-Fi Connection, users who have wireless broadband Internet access can upload their data and team with other users for a “Space Walk,” reaching faraway planets virtually by combining their step totals.

Personal Trainer: Walking is rated E for Everyone and is available May 26 at a suggested retail price of $49.99. For more information about Personal Trainer: Walking, visit www.PersonalTrainerWalking.com.

About Nintendo: The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii^™, Nintendo DS^™ and Nintendo DSi^™ systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System^™, Nintendo has sold more than 2.9 billion video games and more than 496 million hardware units globally, including the current-generation Wii, Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi, as well as the Game Boy^™, Game Boy Advance, Super NES^™, Nintendo 64^™ and Nintendo GameCube^™. It has also created industry icons that have become well-known, household names such as Mario^™, Donkey Kong^™, Metroid^™, Zelda^™ and Pokémon^™. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, visit the company’s Web site at www.nintendo.com.