A 12-year old Canadian boy on the road to delinquency had his Nintendo Wii confiscated by a Judge in lieu of bail money.

The boy’s nine-month crime spree has included such transgressions as smashing school windows, braining another boy with a pool cue and punching classmates, reports the Winnipeg Sun. Judge Marvin Garfinkle granted the child bail in his last court appearance, but only if he put up his prized possession—the Wii—as security.

The kid risks forfeiting the Wii if he does not live up to release conditions, which include “keeping the peace, appearing for court dates, living with his grandmother and participating in a bail management program.”

The boy’s lawyer added:

I know it doesn't look good. I've never seen him enraged, I've never seen him upset. He's a 12-year-old who is generally quite scared.

Via Kotaku

Developer Destineer Games, sister company to Atomic Games (the group behind the ill-fated Six Days in Fallujah), is about to release a Wii-game based on Marine activity in modern-day Beirut.

Marines: Modern Urban Combat is due out on November 10 according to the Marine Corps Times, but “is far removed from the realism that would be portrayed in Six Days in Fallujah, should that project ever move forward.”

Termed a “small-budget” game designed to be “family-friendly,” the new title is based on a Marine Corps simulator Destineer created back in 2005 and will have players attempt to stop Syrian and Iranian factions from inciting a civil war in Beirut.

Peter Tamte, President of both Destineer and Atomic Games offered:

We as a society tend to glorify heroes from 50 years ago, as we should, but there are individuals whose sacrifice and courage and commitment is just as strong who are walking around with us right now.

Tamte added that his company “remains committed” to making Six Days in Fallujah and is seeking out new partners in the wake of Konami bailing out on the project.

Via GameCulture

A school located in the Sengkang area of Singapore has added the Nintendo Wii to its physical education repertoire.

North Vista Primary School is using the videogame technology to help teach sports to its students, with two weeks out of each five week session utilizing the Wii. Asia One reports that the high-tech means of physical education is a way for the school to connect with its students, who principal Phua Kia Wang called “digital natives.”

The indoor PE classes also overcome the problem of oppressive heat in the region. Outdoor PE classes were previously limited to early mornings to avoid the heat, now PE classes can be scheduled with impunity throughout the day.

The school has also invested in heart rate monitors for older students to ensure they do not over exert themselves.

The article further notes that researchers from Nanyang Technological University are eying the effect videogames can have on children’s attitudes towards exercise.

As airports turn to new types of technology to use for screening air travelers, videogame technology may play a role.

An article on CNN details a new Homeland Security-backed project, dubbed Future Attribute Screening Technology (FAST), which measures physiological signs—heart rate, breathing, eye movement, body temperature and fidgeting—in an attempt to decipher whether or not the person being scanned intends to do harm.

The component currently used to monitor fidgeting? A Wii Fit Balance Board modified to show the weight shift of the subject in question. Unfortunately there doesn’t appear to be a concrete correlation between weight shifting and intent to terrorize, as a study is currently underway to determine what level of fidgeting would necessitate a secondary security screen.

Via Kotaku, thanks Mdo7! Image from CNN.

A BusinessWeek list of the Top 40 companies in the world is topped by none other than Japanese videogame maker Nintendo.

The list, commissioned by BusinessWeek from consulting firm A.T. Kearney, started out with the 2,500 largest publicly listed companies in the world, then took only those with a minimum of $10 billion in sales. Further extrapolation thinned the herd to companies with at least 25% of their earnings coming from outside their home region. Finally, companies were rated on sales growth and value creation over the past five years.

Nintendo’s sales have risen 36% annually over the past five years according to BW, which added:

Despite the hard times of the past year, Nintendo's continued emphasis on innovation has helped the company develop must-haves such as the DS handheld game machine and the Wii console, which outsold rival offerings from Sony and Microsoft .

Google took second place, followed by Apple in third.

In a move that has been rumored for awhile, Nintendo announced today that it had dropped the price of the Wii console to $199.99, a savings of $50. The price cut takes effect on Sunday and it marks the first price drop for the console since it was released in November 2006.

Sales for the Wii have been slipping in Japan and the United States, and price cuts on Sony's PS3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360 have only fueled the increased competition. Sony released a statement yesterday saying that PS3 sales had risen 300 percent in the United States with a $100 price cut and the release of the slimmed down version of the console last month.

Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's VP of sales and marketing, said in a statement:

"Our research shows there are 50 million Americans thinking about becoming gamers, and this more affordable price point and our vast array of new software mean many of them can now make the leap and find experiences that appeal to them, whatever their tastes or level of gaming experience."

NPD released numbers last week that, among other things, gave a breakdown of console ownership in the United States. Kyle Orland analyzed much of the data available to get a better picture of the console landscape.

Have these price drops affected your decision to buy a new console?

The Wall Street Journal has an article on the benefits San Diego Padres pitcher Heath Bell reaped from using Nintendo’s Wii Fit in the off season.

Bell was driven to work out more—not to lose weight—but to make his avatar smaller, after the game declared his character obese. The baseball player ended up losing 25 pounds and credits the game with increasing his balance. Bell is enjoying his best season to date, with his 37 saves ranking among the league leaders, though he did give up a game winning, ninth inning two-run homer last night.

Perhaps The New York Mets should look into ordering a full compliment of Wii Fit’s for their entire roster?

Clearly, Vice-President Joe Biden does not read GamePolitics.

If he did, he would have already known that President & Mrs. Obama got their daughters Malia and Sasha a Holy Grail Wii for Christmas.

From the Los Angeles Times:

One White House official recalls the vice president fretting over what to get Obama for his 48th birthday earlier this month. Biden wanted to go with a Nintendo Wii. Told that Obama's daughters already have one, a disappointed Biden said, "You're kidding." Instead, he went with a golf range-finder to help the president judge distances to the hole.

Via: Kotaku

Nintendo has settled a patent infringement case that could have blocked sales of the Wii in the United States, reports Bloomberg.

As GamePolitics noted last September, Hillcrest Labs not only sued Nintendo, but filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission, alleging that the Wii's motion control system infringed upon the Maryland-based company's patents.

Nearly a year (and lots of attorney fees) later, on August 21st, Nintendo and Hillcrest advised the USITC that they had reached an agreement. Financial details were not made public.

If you own the Psyclone Essentials or React Wii 4-Dock Battery Recharge Stations, it's best to unplug them.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a product recall on both units, citing fire and burn hazards caused by potential overheating of the battery pack. A half-dozen incidents have occurred so far, with two gamers suffering minor burns to their hands.

The $50 units were made in China and distributed in the United States by Griffin International. They were sold at Target, Toys R Us, Amazon.com and Best Buy.

The CPSC website explains the process for returning the defective Wii chargers.

UPDATE: Joystiq's Alexander Sliwinski reminds us that these products have been experiencing overheating problems since 2007...

Not for the first time, potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich (left) has mentioned Nintendo's Wii on Twitter.

Gingrich, who formerly served as Speaker of the House and was the driving force behind the conservative Contract with America in the mid-1990's, Tweeted yesterday about playing Nintendo's system at a family gathering. Twitter user Konabess offered some follow-up advice and Gingrich responded. Here's how the conversation went:

NewtGingrich: Wii bowling in stevens point wisconsin home of point beer and callista's brother and his family; seven year old is proving tough competition

 

konabess: @newtgingrich keep your elbow in and follow through!

 

NewtGingrich: @konabess good advice I will try this Any advice for wii golf

As GamePolitics reported in March, Gingrich gushed about the Wii his wife Callista received as a birthday present. In February Gingrich dangled the chance to win a Wii as a means of enticing supporters to sign up for the launch of a media campaign.

Partially Via: Kotaku

Apparently taking note of recent reports that video game sales are in the midst of a four-month slide, Tonight Show host Conan O'Brien dropped this one on the audience recently:

Experts say the video game industry has been dramatically hurt by the economic downturn. Which explains the popularity of the new Nintendo game, ‘Wii Job Interview.’

Source: Political Irony

A North Carolina fitness blog has called for obesity warning labels to be placed on video game packaging.

In a review of Nintendo's Wii Fit, Winston-Salem Fitness writes:

Overall, I give Nintendo credit for trying to make a game that tries to get people to be more active, which is more than can be said for other video game manufacturers. However, this will not do anything in terms of chipping away at the American obesity problem.

 

In fact, I’ll go out on a limb and say that the video game industry needs to follow the route of the tobacco and alcohol manufacturers, and state that excessive use of their product could lead to inactivity and obesity, rather than try to make a half-hearted effort at increasing American activity levels...

By our count, this is the second call this year for warning labels on video games. In January Rep. Joe Baca (D-CA) proposed in Congress that games rated T and higher carry warnings linking violent games to aggressive behavior.

Obesity warning labels have previously been advocated in some quarters for consumables such as soda and fast food.

A new report published by the Joan Ganz Clooney Center at Sesame Workshop discusses the potentially positive effects of video games in educating children and promoting their physical well-being.

Game Changer: Investing in Digital Play to Advance Children’s Learning and Health urges educators as well as government and the healthcare industry to look beyond the stereotype of video games as harmful. The report also calls for increased investment in the medium:

All groups committed to the public interest—educators, policymakers, the federal government, industry leaders, philanthropies, universities—should invest resources in learning how to maximize the impact of a potentially powerful phenomenon that can advance both children's learning and health.

Because a large percentage of American youth play video games, increased investment in their positive aspects could reap enormous benefits for the next generation, the report concludes. The authors note, however, that video games are under constant scrutiny due to their perceived negative effects:

Despite their reputation as promoters of violence and mayhem, digital games have in fact been shown to help children gain content and vital foundational and 21st century skills.

While noting that some stakeholders have reservations about investing in video game tech because of the perceived sedentary nature of games and potential links to rising childhood obesity rates, the report notes the popularity of  the Wii and Dance Dance Revolution. Nintendo’s popular console and Konami’s best-selling dance game franchise have helped to alter perceptions about negative physical effects of video games.

The authors also point to a number of well-established examples illustrating the potentially beneficial effects video games could have on the education and health of future American generations:

Digital games are here to stay and offer the country a rare opportunity to leverage children's already established enthusiasm in order to reform education and promote healthy development.

Via: Kotaku

DOCUMENT DUMP: Grab the full Game Changer report here. Grab the executive summary here.

GP: With this article we welcome Doug Buffone to the pages of GamePolitics. Doug, a student at Georgetown, is interning with GP's parent company, the Entertainment Consumers Association.

When President Obama linked video games to a sedentary lifestyle in a speech to the American Medical Association last week, Peter Moore sensed a marketing opportunity.

On Friday the EA Sports boss posted a "challenge" to Obama on his official blog. As you might guess, there's an EA product involved:

It may be time for the President and his family to put their Wii to good use and fire up the 30-Day Challenge with EA SPORTS Active.  This is a “game” even the President may not want to “step away” from...

In fact, I know [Obama is] in pretty good shape, but I guarantee the President wouldn’t look quite so smooth walking across the White House lawn to Marine One the morning after his first session with EA SPORTS Active (especially if he does those pesky lunges)! ...

Mr. President, here is my challenge to you: Try EA SPORTS Active and I guarantee you’ll need aides saying “Yes You Can!” to finish your first workout.

Still haven't figured out who "borrowed" your copy of Twilight Princess?

Soon your Wii may help you narrow down the list of suspects.

Australia's Herald-Sun reports that the Wii Vitality Sensor announced by Nintendo last week at E3 measures some of the same body responses as the polygraph. In particular, the sensor attaches to a user's finger to measure pulse and skin conductance. The newspaper reports:

Skin conductance response is a measurement of fluctuations in the electrical conductivity of skin -- also known as electrodermal response and galvanic skin response.

These fluctuations in conductivity correlate with changes in emotions, such as experiencing fear, anger and desire. That's why polygraphs - generally called lie detectors - measure skin conductivity changes along with other bodily responses including pulse and blood pressure.

Nintendo hinted at potential Wii lie detecting fun at E3, the Herald-Sun notes:

Games using the Wii Vitality Sensor have not been announced yet, but Nintendo said the Vitality Sensor would "provide information to the users about the body's inner world"...

You can imagine games along "truth or dare" lines being developed for fun at home on a Nintendo Wii fitted with a Wii Vitality Sensor. The Wii could use the sensor to assess whether or not the player was telling the truth.

GP: Turning truth detection into a parlor game? I'm not sure whether that's a positive commentary on the capabilities of the new Wii peripheral or a slam on the reliability of the polygraph.

A few months back there was a minor uproar surrounding "Islam is the light," a phrase which some people thought they heard uttered by both a talking baby doll and a children's DS game.

In a video posted late last week on YouTube, a man claims that a character in Nintendo's recently-released Wii title Punch-Out!! shouts "Allah Akbar," an Arabic phrase which translates to "God is great."

RevolutionOfCG, who describes himself as a conservative pundit in his YouTube profile, posted the clip of fighter Bald Bull and equates the character's supposed utterance of the phrase with terrorism:

Allah Akbar or God Is Great. For those of you that don't understand the implications of this. Let me put it to you this way. Virtually Every Muslim Terrorist has said this before they blew themselves up or in the case of 9-11, before they slammed into buildings...

Hailing from Istanbul Turkey, if we are to understand the implications of culture, Bald Bull is more than likely a Muslim...

 

Not even 8 years after 9-11 and are we going to accept this phrase in a video game Rated E for Everyone. What do the families of these heinous crimes think of this? Someone out there has to be appalled, I'm certain of that.

The narration of the video includes 9/11 footage of the second plane striking the World Trade Center. As to the phrase Allah Akbar, its Wikipedia page lists a variety of uses other than by terrorists:

This phrase is recited by Muslims in numerous different situations. For example, when they are happy or wish to express approval, when they want to praise a speaker, during battles, and even times of extreme stress or euphoria. It is also used by bombers or suicide bombers before they detonate.

The phrase is said during each stage of both obligatory prayers, which are supposed to be performed five times a day, and supererogatory prayers, which are performed at will...

That's, of course, assuming that Bald Bull actually says Allah Akbar, which is unconfirmed at this point.

Via: VC Review

GameSpot Australia reports that government censors have banned Sexy Poker, a WiiWare title for Nintendo's popular console.

The game is apparently a strip poker affair in which A.I.-controled female opponents shed clothing when the player wins a hand. In refusing the game a rating, Australia's Classification Board said in a statement:

In the Board’s view Sexy Poker offers depictions of nudity as an incentive or reward to interactive game play. In the Board’s view, the general rule in the Guidelines for the Classification of Films and Computer Games prohibiting depictions of nudity as an incentive or reward, applies to the game play described above, as the player is shown increasingly detailed amounts of nudity following successful game-play

In the view of the Board, the impact of the game exceeds strong as except in material restricted to adults, nudity and sexual activity must not be related to incentives or rewards. As such the game cannot be accommodated in a MA15+ classification.

The MA15+ classification is currently Australia's highest, although many Down Under believe an 18+ rating is necessary to accomodate the increase in mature content in games.

Joystiq reported last month that Sexy Poker was originally developed as a mobile phone title but is being readied as downloadable WiiWare. It is unclear which regions will be able to access the game, although GoNintendo reports that the game will be released in the European market.

THANKS TO: Longtime GP reader Ryan...

It's not that the Queen of England was seeking a gold-plated Wii, but THQ dropped one off anyway, reports Kotaku.

The publisher delivered the system to Buckingham Palace this week in order to promote its newly- released Wii title BIG Family Games. THQ product manager Danielle Robinson hyped commented:

BIG Family Games is the ultimate Wii game to get all family members, from grandparents to young children, playing together. The Royal Family is arguably the most important family in the country so we felt that they had to have a copy of the new game. But we thought that Her Majesty the Queen wouldn't want to play on any old console, so an extra-special gold one was commissioned. We hope that she and the rest of the Royal Family enjoy the game!

GP: Let's call this one what it is: publicity stunt.

Surely we can all agree that texting while behind the wheel is a very bad idea. But how do you drive such a fact through the thick skull of your average teenager?

Why, with video games of course!

As part of a nationwide contest put on by the National Organization for Youth Safety, Colorado’s Vail Christian High School has introduced the “distracted and drowsy driving project.”  The initiative aims to show kids first-hand how dangerous distracted driving is by having students read and send texts while playing Mario Kart Wii.  And yes, they’re using the Wii Wheel to control their karts.

So, is the program effective?  Said 13-year-old Alli O'Brian:

I ran into a lot of things and it was very stressful.  I don't think I'll text [while driving].

Vail Christian High School is one of twenty schools from around the country participating in the contest.  The school with the best safety program will receive a $10,000 award.

Hit up 9news.com for video coverage of the program.

-Reporting from San Diego, GamePolitics correspondent Andrew Eisen…