Woman Loses 112 lbs., Thanks Wii Fit
A 38-year-old British woman, once so large she was afraid to have sex with her husband, now parades about her home in sexy lingerie after losing 112 pounds, a dramatic change in physique she credits to a Wii Fit regimen.
Lara Roberts specifically thanked the Wii for allowing her to work out in her home, because she was very self-conscious about visiting a gym or jogging in public. As a result, she went from 252 to 140 pounds in a year.
Note: There absolutely was a dietary component to this change. British tab News of the World says she “ditched the comfort eating,” which had surged to nearly 4,000 calories a day until a friend pointed out her nonstop consumption.
“I knew if I didn’t do something, chances are I wouldn’t live to see my girls grow up,” she said.
But while this sounds like the textbook definition of “results may vary,” I find it believable. First, it took a full year of getting up at 5 a.m. to work out. That’s not a quick-fix miracle program. Second, she recognized fully how her eating habits required a very disciplined change in behavior. And third, she was motivated by concern for her children and she had the support of her family. Shame or embarrassment are powerful feelings, but they can’t motivate you without a support network, you’ll just give in to defeatism. I also buy the fact Wii Fit appealed to her because it allowed her to work out in private.
The benefits? Lara’s become quite the cougar. She says her daughter’s male friends have eyes for her, and an appearance on BBC 3’s “I’m Hotter Than My Daughter” backs it up.
I’m a Wii Bit Thinner [News of the World via Go Nintendo. Image by News of the World]
Gears of War 2 Sends Us a Bloody Valentine
Epic took more than 20 suggestions for experience bonuses in a Valentine’s event and Cliff Bleszinski and Rod Fergusson chose three. Epic’s Valentine’s Day “date” with Gears of War 2 will run between Feb. 8 and Feb. 14.
For at least three days in that span (and maybe the whole week; they haven’t decided yet), Gears of War 2 will offer the following XP bonuses:
• Revives are double points in all game types
• Wingman is double normal XP (4x XP)
• Horde is double XP
I’d advise checking back at the Epic forum thread for final details on when it starts and ends, but it sounds like it’ll be quite the romantic experience.
Epic, will you be my Valentine? [Epic, via VG247]
The Return of the Return to Ostagar
Is BioWare actually letting Charlie Brown kick the DLC football? Looks like Return to Ostagar, the DLC pack for Dragon Age: Origins, came back sometime yesterday to Xbox Live Marketplace and for PC download.
The DLC originally went live on Jan. 14 but had to be removed because a title update created a bug within it. That followed earlier bug-related delays in development.
The pack is 400 Microsoft Points or $4.99 US. As of publication, it is still not on the PlayStation Network and is classified as “coming soon” on the BioWare page.
Return to Ostagar [Bioware via Blue's News]
The Return of the Return of Ostagar
Is BioWare actually letting Charlie Brown kick the DLC football? Looks like Return to Ostagar, the DLC pack for Dragon Age: Origins, came back sometime yesterday to Xbox Live Marketplace and for PC download.
The DLC originally went live on Jan. 14 but had to be removed because a title update created a bug within it. That followed earlier bug-related delays in development.
The pack is 400 Microsoft Points or $4.99 US. As of publication, it is still not on the PlayStation Network and is classified as “coming soon” on the BioWare page.
Return to Ostagar [Bioware via Blue's News]
Your Final Shot at 100 Gamerscore Just for Showing Up [Update]
Friendly reminder that beginning in about 30 minutes, Xbox 360 Achievements.org is staging one last run on NBA Live 07’s “Online with 1,000 People” achievement. This is the last chance to do it before EA shuts down the servers on Tuesday.
The boosting session starts at 1 p.m. U.S. Eastern/10 a.m. U.S. Pacific. Trueachievements.com said 217 people had joined the boosting session as of an hour ago. Basically, all you need to do is have a copy of NBA Live 07 and hang out in a lobby – not play an online game – the same time as 1,000 other people are signed in. Specific instructions on what is required may be found here.
They tried this back in October but it didn’t work, so it’s now or never. I’ll update this post with news of whether they pulled it off.
[Update] I’m getting word they have more than 1,100 in the lobby. I’ll try to confirm the final numbers. This event will be running for another 90 minutes, so if you have the game, it’s an easy 100 Gamerscore, just sign in. [updated 11:30 am MST]
Final Update, 12:30 p.m. MST: Xbox360Achievements.org confirms that the boosting was indeed a success. “The achievement popped for everyone an hour early and the numbers were above 1,000 for a couple of hours then, so plenty of people got the chance to net it.”
IMPORTANT Information For The 1000 People Online Event [Xbox360Achievements.org]
Bungie Definitively Shuts Down Halo: Reach/Natal Speculation
Rumors that Halo: Reach might be Natal-enabled were close to flatlining of late, but the subject never got a flat-out “no.” Well, now it has. The studio says emphatically that it is not a Natal title.
That’s the newsy news out of a fun-filled “mythbusters” post Bungie put up about Halo: Reach’s development. Natal rumors had been fueled by two things. One, studio head Harold Ryan’s comments over the summer that he “absolutely” thought Reach could be Natal-enabled. Two, a screenshot showing an off-center crosshair (above, annotation by Bungie), which some took to mean as evidence of motion-controlled shooting.
Well, Bungie says the screen shot was a mistake and even provides the bug report to go along with it. (”Impact: This makes the Internet freak out.”) And then the studio says: “Halo: Reach is NOT a Natal title and is being developed expressly with the traditional Xbox 360 controller in mind.” So there.
They also clear up issues regarding the HUD color (and HUD color customization) and other topics, so check it out at the link.
Bungie Weekly Update 01.29.10 [Bungie]
System Shock 2’s Surprise Ending — for Ken Levine, Anyway
Widely acclaimed when it released in 1999, System Shock 2’s cinematic conclusion nonetheless disappointed Irrational Games creative chief Ken Levine. The reason: The video that was shot wasn’t anything like what he had scripted.
“Due to miscommunications or differing ideas, a different cinematic video was created from the one that I originally scripted,” Levine says in a behind-the-scenes story Irrational published on its Web site yesterday. “We didn’t have much to work with. It was like when you look in the cupboard and you’re trying to make soup, and you have a bag of salt and couple of pinto beans.”
Levine says they bulled ahead anyway, having to rewrite parts of the game’s story to fit with the video they’d been given. “We completely ran out of time and that cut scene wasn’t the right ending for the game,” he says.
System Shock 2 was developed by Irrational and Looking Glass Studios, which led to some tension during the project’s creation. I’m wondering if this wasn’t also a manifestation of that. The anecdote is one of several about the shooter’s development, what could have been in the game, why it was left out, and how they arrived at the finished product. Like, for example, they considered a zero-gravity level, but the technology they had in 1998 would have made its development prohibitively time-consuming, especially for something that wasn’t a core feature of the game.
Although the game is more than 10 years old, it is a classic that some may wish to play, so, consider yourself spoiler alerted.
What Might Have Been [Irrational Games]
Wii Magic Stick Cover Ditches D-Pad For Analog Stick
If you can’t wait ’til spring, and you want to give your Wii-playing thumbs a rest with an analog stick, slide the $7 Magic Stick cover on your Wiimote. It ain’t pretty but it’ll do the trick. [Brando via Technabob]
No Mature Games Allowed In Xbox Game Room
One of the biggest potential stumbling points for the 360’s (and PC’s!) Game Room – having to secure an endless stream of ESRB ratings – has been solved in a fairly unique way by Microsoft.
Whereas similar platforms – like Nintendo’s Virtual Console for the Wii – submit each game to the ratings board individually, Microsoft has had the Game Room itself classified, the virtual arcade given a E10+ rating.
This means Microsoft can release as many games on the service as often as it likes without having to submit them to the ESRB, which should not only speed up the delivery of titles onto the Game Room, but prevent ESRB listings from spoiling the fun in advance, something that happens all too often with Virtual Console titles on the Wii.
There is, of course, a catch, and it has the potential to be a big one for fans of certain titles: the “universal” rating means that no games rated over E10+ will be released onto the Game Room. While this won’t affect the majority of the retro titles due to appear on the platform, it will affect a few of the biggest potential releases, like Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and Metal Slug.
Still, those are in the minority, and as GamerBytes points out, you’ve probably already got them on your 360 in some form or another.
Microsoft’s Genius – Rate The Room, Rate Every Game – But Those Rated Teen And Up Left Out. [GamerBytes]
Borderlands DLC Gets Bundled, Burned To Add-On Pack Disc
Gearbox Software and 2K Games will take the currently release downloadable content for their hit Borderlands and slap it on some DVDs next month with the release of the Borderlands Add-On Pack.
Retailer GameStop is listing the double DLC disc for a February 23 release date, bundling the add-on we liked a lot (The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned) and the add-on we liked less (Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot) and releasing them for $19.99 on Xbox 360 and PC.
Not included is the recently announced, but not dated Secret Armory of General Knoxx. GameStop doesn’t list a comparable PlayStation 3 version of the Borderlands Add-On pack, but we’ve asked folks at Gearbox if that’s happening.
Borderlands Add-On Pack PC & Xbox 360 [GameStop]
