Meet Adam McConnell: Wii enthusiast... future criminal. See the wee lamb purposely (this time) smashed his father's 42-inch plasma after losing in Wii sports. Father Brian left the lad alone playing tennis to get the boy a drink -- presumably, a pint. While in the kitchen the father "heard two big bangs." Brian returned to find his son "using the handset to smash the TV screen." No claims of a broken Wiimote strap this time folks, the responsibility lies in the kind of pure, seething rage only a 3 year old can muster. Oh we feel ya Adam, we feel ya.

[Thanks, Mark A.]

If a lowly blogger could die from awesomeness, we're pretty sure we'd be keeling over right about now. The Lego Mindstorms geekz0rs over at BattleBricks have managed to reach new heights of human ingenuity, melding a Mindstorms NXT kit, some clever programming and Nintendo's Wii to create an unstoppable bowling machine capable of tossing a perfect game without breaking a sweat, growing a nasty mustache, or sporting a beer belly. While the BattleBricks folks don't provide precise instructions on how to build this yourself, they've got plenty of evidence that it does, indeed, bowl like a champ. So peep the action video after the break, and then start plotting your own NXT creation conquer some other form of automated Wii Sports point inflation -- we never could quite get the hang of tennis.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

No, we don't expect the vast majority of elderly folks kickin' it in a retirement home to honestly show any interest in video games (right?), but apparently, the Wii's at least making some minor strides in getting the geriatric set up and active with virtual sports. While we assume those suffering from lingering hip injuries are apt to join the (admittedly quiet) cheerleading section, a group of athletic 70-somethings from Sedgebrook retirement community are "hooked on Wii Sports," with bowling being the unanimous favorite. The response has been so positive that the locale is actually cranking up a 20-person tournament for an undisclosed reward, and while the residents have often commented about how "realistic" the Wiimote was in tossing the ball, the community actually has a fan for folks to dry their hands off before rolling a strike -- which is probably a smart move considering the potentially fatal injuries that could occur from slippage. Still, an isolated incident of fun-lovin' grandparents getting their game on isn't apt to convince us that the next big gaming market is in retirees, and honestly, how many elderly folks rushed out to snag a Wii for the grandchild, and ended up keeping it for themselves?

[Via DailyTech, thanks Randall B]

After six successful generations of hard plastic accessories, who could've guessed that generation seven would bring with it the Wiimote's penchant for screen destruction and innocent-bystander injury? That's why nobody batted an eye at those shiny and solid Wii Sports attachments for simulating golf clubs and tennis rackets in the beginning, but a few contusions later we're all looking for a way to cut down on risk. Enter Nerf with soft, forgiving, foam-built attachments for a bit of added realism for your golf, tennis or baseball game without all the pain. No word on price yet for these suckers, but we've got a feeling they'll be selling like gangbusters when they hit shelves this Summer. Hopefully next up will be a Manhunt 2 Nerf pack with various, erm, attachments for bumping the realism to Rockstar's upcoming murder simulator -- 'cause hitting your buddies with a Nerf baseball bat is only fun the first 500 times or so.

Sure, we know there's swarms of you out there who'd take a few hours in The Slim Machine instead of being forced to run around your block or pump some iron, but here's a relatively fair compromise. The Wii Weights prototype is nothing more than your average strap-on wrist weight coated in white and stamped with that (likely trademarked) Wii logo, but let's face it, if you've got to burn the calories, you're better off doing so whilst playing Wii Sports. Ideally, the weights would range from one to four pounds, and should do some serious sculpting on your array of arm muscles if you make it a habit to game with these on. So if shedding nine pounds over the holidays training as a Wii athlete just wasn't encouragement enough for you to participate, just imagine the additional pounds that'll vanish (and the muscles that'll surface) when adding these bad boys into the mix.

[Via Crave]

While some folks are struggling just to stay out of the hospital when getting too amped up playing their Wii, Mickey DeLorenzo, a 25-year-old living in Philadelphia, decided to meld exercise and gaming together and further substantiate the most obvious research study of the year. His Wii Sports Experiment started in December of last year and ran for six whole weeks, and while he sought to keep his eating habits constant, he devoted 30 minutes per day to Wii Sports and monitored his weight, BMI, calories burned per session, body fat percentage, heart rate, and physical soreness. Mickey started out at 182 pounds, and after a month and a half of Wii workouts, whittled his weight down to 172 pounds, which he found quite amazing considering that this was the first substantial loss he had attained in over two years, and he never even cut back on the Eat 'N Park cookies (or similar). Moreover, according to The American Council on Exercise, he went from the "acceptable" category to the "fitness" category, and seemed to gain a huge boost of self-esteem in the process. So if the Subway diet just doesn't mesh with your taste buds, and you're desperate to find an excuse to game it up instead of going for a jog, be sure to hit the read link for all the encouragement you'd ever need, and click on through for a bit of footage from the entire process.

[Via SMH]

In what's likely to go down as the most heavily accessorized (and harmful) controller ever, Nintendo's Wiimote sure is garnering a lot of attention from accessory makers. Sure, those Wii Gloves may keep butterfinger disasters from ever occurring, but they really don't give you any sort of competitive advantage when throwing down in Wii Sports. While we knew JoyTech was planning its own barrage of controller add-ons, it looks like Brando is offering up a sweet trio of Wiimote extensions to presumably improve your Wii Sports play. For just $22, you'll get a tennis racket, golf grip, and a baseball bat, which could arguably pull double duty as a sword in Red Steel. Of course, you'll still need to pick up that foam donut separately (or bundled in with another game) for the ultimate Excite Truck experience, but hey, you gotta start somewhere.

So there's this dude who was playing Wii Sports bowling, as his story goes, and his pal rolls a Lebowski and the next thing you know the strap breaks from the force of the swing; his slippery hands let loose, and the Wiimote flies like a missile and cracks his pal's TV. Believe it or not, having played Wii Sports bowling, this is totally something we can imagine. But you can take one of two positions here: 1) dude or his friend weren't using the wrist strap, as is recommended before every game starts, and the controller flew out of his hands and smashed the set; dude(s) cut the strap and put it on display for internet pity points (and possibly a new TV courtesy of an anxious Nintendo). Or 2) somehow the Wiimote strap -- which, for the record, we think feels sturdy enough -- does break mid-game and this guy really is out a 60-inch TV thanks to Nintendo's fabric engineering team. But we know one thing for sure, that's a helluva crack and something tells us it won't be the last.

[Thanks, Sando]

Update: We spoke with Jon Leonard, the guy whose TV is now cracked worse than a Mad mag knockoff. He insisted to us there was zero foul play going on here and that he's not out to get Nintendo to replace his TV, nor is he ready to pursue legal options. Just that his pal got carried away bowling and the strap broke under somewhat normal circumstances. (We asked if they were spinning it around or anything of the like and he said no, it was all normal, non-abusive use.) Nintendo hasn't contacted him yet -- we assume they're just about now shuffling into the office up there in Washington -- but we'll keep you posted.

Maybe you've been itching for some video of Wii gameplay? Watch as Veronica and I make total fools of ourselves playing Wii Sports (Bowling, Tennis, Baseball, Boxing, Golf); we generally tried to stay out of the way of the camera, but weren't always successful. Also, we've got the first ten or so minutes of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess on tape. It's a pretty slow moving start, so only Zelda fans need apply. Check it out!

P.S. -Yes, by the time we hit Zelda we figured out why the TV wasn't formatting the Wii signal properly, and got it going to 16:9.

Download video
MP4 (H.264) - VGA, QVGA
AVI (DivX) - VGA, QVGA

Had enough Wii yet? Yeah, we thought not. So now that you know how much it's gonna cost you ($250, $280 Canadian for our friends up north) and when you have to gather your loot up by (November 19th, December 2nd in Japan), you're probably wondering what the game store clerk will be dropping into your sweating, anticipatory paws. USA Today got the scoop on the consoles retail packaging (as seen above), and in good news for gamers and sports fanatics alike, big bold letters on the box indicate the Wii Sports WILL be shipping as part of and parcel of the system. Wanna know more? The news just keeps on comin' -- we're liveblogging the New York-based Nintendo press event at this very moment. Ok, enough, already; head over to the liveblog post and warm up your F5 key -- we got our best blogging sharpshooter in the audience.