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FOX6 shows us how patients recovering from spinal injuries are getting help from the Nintendo Wii. Doctors have found that using the video game system helps patients recover more quickly.

Last week, Steve Ballmer claimed that Microsoft was in talks with Sony about Blu-Ray support. But now Aaron Greenberg is stating that there are no plans for the Xbox 360 to support Blu-Ray.

Greenberg spoke with Reuters saying, “Xbox is not currently in talks with Sony or the Blu-Ray Association to integrate Blu-Ray into the Xbox experience.”

Sounds like a negative to me, but there is a lot of talk about a new Xbox 360 sku that may be coming out with a larger hard drive and integrated Blu-Ray. But that is all rumor. The only thing we know is that Microsoft will make the announcement when they are ready to. It’s hard to believe that they won’t support Blu-Ray at all, but when speaking at the Microsoft Blogger Breakfast at GDC, they made it clear that the Xbox 360 is a ‘gaming machine’.

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During the 2008 Game Developers Conference this week in San Francisco, Nintendo has announced that May 19th will be the launch date for the much anticipated Wii Fit. It’s done really well in Japan so far (over 1.4 million units sold so far!), and it would seem that “exergaming” has become more popular than some would have thought. No price has been announced yet, but I’m sure we can count on Nintendo to keep it affordable. GameSpot obtained a copy and posted their findings after lengthy testing. It looks great, I can’t wait to get one!

(H/T: GeekSugar)

“Turok, Son of Stone” is a warrior who fights evildoers and dinosaurs in a land lost to time. Now he appears on DVD for the first time. An original animated movie coincides with the release of a new Turok video game.

The DVD arrives February 5, 2008. Turok first appeared in the 1950s, in a Gold Key comic book series. In the 1990s, Turok obtained a new generation of fans with several video games. Now he returns again, in an intense epic that revisits his 1950s comic book origin story.

“Turok: Son of Stone” features the voice acting of Adam Beach (”Flags of Our Fathers”), Robert Knepper (”Prison Break”), Cree Summer (”A Different World”) and Irene Bedard (”Pocahontas”). Comic book writer Tony Bedard wrote the screenplay, and the movie’s producers include Frank Squillace (”X-Men: The Animated Series”), Curt Geda (Marvel’s “Ultimate Avengers”), Dan Riba (”Batman Beyond”), and Tad Stones (”Hellboy: Blood and Iron”).

The DVD contains a history feature on Turok from comics to video games to, for the first time, animation. The DVD is priced $19.95.

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Anyone who thought video games were a waste of time have probably been surprised about Nintendo’s latest and greatest, the Wii. It gets people active by using their arms and motions to simulate sports such as tennis, baseball, even bowling. But it doesn’t stop there! A new useful application is emerging: surgical training.

Resident surgeons were found to perform better on simulated operations after playing a bit of Wii than those who opted out of the fun. How much better? They scored nearly 50 percent higher on tool control and performance.

Of course, not all games are going to improve coordination. Games that require subtle movements and precision are obviously better than those that require you to swing a bat. But this approach could be a very valuable medical training tool for countries which can’t afford higher-end solutions. They are developing special software for the console, which costs only $250, that could hone surgical skills even more. Imagine bringing home your own copy of “Surgery 101″ in the future!

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Owen MacLeod, born in Gaul over 2000 years ago, was the son of a tribal chieftain whose village was crushed by the Roman Empire. MacLeod was sent in chains to the gladiatorial arena in Pompeii where he faced what he imagined to be a short life of battle. However, it was in the Coliseum where he was killed, only to miraculously recover and begin a new life as an Immortal. Fighting through centuries against other Immortals in legendary battles ending in death by beheading, MacLeod now faces a mysterious and almost all-powerful Immortal who is hunting him down in New York City. With his mentor, Methos, guiding him, MacLeod learns that the only way to destroy this ultimate nemesis, is to search out the three fragments of a mysterious stone that when pieced together, yields unlimited power to the Immortal who possesses it.

“Eidos is excited to present the classic Highlander franchise for the next generation of video gamers,” said Robert A. Lindsey, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Eidos Inc. “Gamers will get the chance to explore the powers and abilities that only being an Immortal has to offer. Highlander boasts an incredible level of graphical quality and gameplay capabilities such as an advanced sword fighting combat system and destructible environments.”

“For the first time, Highlander comes to fans in a new medium that allows players to dive into the Immortal universe,” said Peter Davis of Davis-Panzer Productions. “The interactive experience permits players to gain a completely different perspective of the mythos, and experience the powers and advantages of immortality through the eyes of a MacLeod.”

Highlander enables gamers to exploit the powers of immortality and manipulate situations that death would normally prevent.

Sony is certainly hoping many people believe that it’s now a good less-risky decision for not only gamers to purchase the Sony Playstation 3 but also home DVD movie watchers who may or may not also be casual gamers. If Blu-Ray has won the new movie format war, or is winning, or likely to either win or permanently share the spotlight then maybe plopping down $550 or so for a Playstation 3 starter bundle that also plays the high-quality next-generation DVD format may be worthwhile since the Blu-Ray players, alone, already cost as much as the Playstation 3 starter bundle, if not more. If one is strongly considering moving to a newer format player then, with much of the recent news, it’s hard to find a reason to not consider a Playstation 3 since you get the player as well as a pretty powerful gaming system.

Warner announced on Jan. 4 that it would release only high-definition Blu-ray movies starting July, ending its support for the rival HD DVD format. Winning Warner’s backing was a coup for the Blu-ray camp, which counts Sony, Samsung Electronics, Matsushita Electric Industrial (MC), and dozens of other consumer-electronics makers among its members. Warner has the industry’s most extensive offering of movies and consistently churns out blockbusters. With five out of seven major studios now on-board, Blu-ray has the upper hand—perhaps decisively—in the struggle over the next-generation DVD standard.

Nikko Citigroup’s Kota Ezawa estimates the games division will lose $1.4 billion this fiscal year, following last year’s $2.1 billion loss. And while he doesn’t expect the business to be prosperous until late 2009, Ezawa applauds Sony’s efforts to shrink the PS3’s chips and tweak its design.

It’s 2006 all over again.

Sources tell me that Best Buy is sitting on a stockpile of Wii which they plan to unleash on the line-waiting masses in the coming weeks. I assume this will be done as some sort of weekend event advertised in their weekly circular. Now the real question is how many of the people willing to sit on cold asphalt overnight will be doing it for themselves and how many will be doing it to turn around and sell the console on eBay.

I’m not sure which I would prefer: Best Buy selling the system as they show up, or selling them in one big weekend blow-out.

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Next time you go and see a Physical Therapist, they might send you home with a prescription to play your Nintendo Wii. A rehab hospital in Alberta, Canada is using the Wii as a way to rebuild muscles in patients.

Franklin Perry used the Wii to regain his strength after suffering a stroke.

The hospital has been using the Wii for about four months to help people like Perry that have suffered a stroke or traumatic brain injuries. Part of the three hours of daily therapy is a 30 minutes per day on the Wii.

“This is more fun. It makes it more exciting. It gets me to work harder,” said Perry, who has a fierce video game rivalry with his teenage nephew.

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Wii Fit is a hit in Japan selling over 250,000 in it’s first week. Wii Fit is the balance board where players can actually work on their balance and use games to lose weight.

No date yet though on when Wii Fit is coming to North America.

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