Are you looking to get in shape for the summer? How about following JR Cook's example? The 27 year old lifelong gamer has already lost 20 pounds since he started his Wii weight loss plan, and aims to ditch another 60 by the end of the year.

JR realised the Wii's potential for weight loss after a 90 minute gaming session left him sweating and physically sore. Now he plays for around 35-40 minutes a day, seven days a week. JR has been sharing the results of his plan through his blog every day.

This story of gaming changing people's lives for the better is just the sort of thing that keeps our hearts warm and our minds confident that our cholesterol filled diets need not be the end of us.

How about you fanboy readers? Has anyone noticed the pounds dropping off since picking up Wii Sports? Any transformations from coach potatoes into hyper-fit superpeople? If that's the case, be sure to tell us about it!

The educational charity D&AD loves Nintendo. Last year, they bestowed a Yellow Pencil award upon Nintendogs, and this year, Wii Sports is nominated for one of the awards, alongside Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training for the DS. The other nominees (soon to be known as the also-rans) are LocoRoco, Shadow of the Colossus, Buzz!: The Big Quiz, and CDX, an online game from the BBC.

D&AD's Yellow Pencil awards recognize "creative excellence." No wonder they're looking to Nintendo.

We talked about some of the best and the worst games according to the reviews, but we want to know what your favorite game has been so far on the Wii. Did the latest Link steal your heart? Are you a Wii Sports devotee? Or are you passionate about something else entirely? Tell us what you've loved the most, and tell us why.

The Lego hackers at BattleBricks have created a robot that throws Wii Bowling strikes every frame, dominating any human that dares face off against this plastic giant. The robot looks like a spastic uneven bars runner-up, but it does the trick; its controls move the bowler off-center, hold B for the swing, and release it at the perfect time. It even resets itself -- and its Mii -- after each frame.

And yes, of course the robot is supported on each side by Linux and C++ guides -- it just doesn't get any more perfectly geeky. See a video of the robot in action after the break.

[Via Engadget]

So, we've had both dry weeks and deluges -- overall, a fair number of offerings to distract us from Wii Sports over the past few months. And yet, it remains in the news as a media darling. But let's not worry about the rest of the world at the moment; let's talk serious, f'real gamers. Are we still playing Wii Sports? For fun, for profit exercise, or just out of sheer boredom -- if you're still whacking the racket or throwing punches, we want to know. And if you are still playing, we want to hear about those crazy, off-the-chart scores.

In Japan, Nintendo is doing well with the casual games. According to last week's Japanese sales charts, Wii Play has joined Wii Sports with one million in unit sales; Wii Sports broke the million mark last month.

Vinnk of 4 color rebellion has put this milestone into perspective. The Wii now has two platinum titles 3 1/2 months after its launch. The GameCube had only one million-seller in Japan, Super Smash Bros. Melee, that took longer time to reach that point.

However, other titles are not selling nearly as well, including The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. As arguably the only Wii epic, Link's adventure hasn't yet reached the half-million mark in Japan. In fact, it has dropped out of the top 30. Other Wii titles in that top 30 last week include Fire Emblem (23), Wario Ware (26) and "Eye sealed 21 field strongest soldier" at 30. (Did we mention we love Google translations?)

What does this all mean? Expect to see ample amounts of casual games -- in Japan, at least.

Victorious Boxers snares our video pick of the day, although much of our interest is based on imagining how this title will play on the Wii. The Japanese trailer shows clean art -- versus bad attempts at photo-realism -- that we've been waiting for on Nintendo's new system, but we're in it for the controller. How well will Victorious Boxers mimic player movements? Wii Boxing is a fun diversion, but we never feel quite in-sync with our Mii. Will this be import-worthy?

See the trailer after the break.

The idea of using the Wii as a workout is becoming pretty common, but do you really think it will work? Can something as simple as Wii Sports transform the lifestyles of a generation of gamers? Well, no, probably not. But can the Wii provide the seed of motivation? A long session with the Wii remote can definitely inject a little energy into a sedentary lifestyle, but should it be the lynchpin of weight loss program? Or is the inspiration unimportant so long as people are getting on their feet?

6:20 p.m.: The Joystiq crew walks the red carpet, because we're just that important.

6:33 p.m.: Gnarls Barkley's cover of the Violent Femmes' "Gone Daddy Gone" is blasting as we find seats in the press section. Cushy seats with recline-able chairs.

6:42 pm: Sam and Max introduce the start for the independent games festival. The mention of projectile vomiting is disturbing, but welcoming somehow.

6:43 pm: Jamil Moledina and Simon Carless march onto stage, noting that the show is being broadcast to the entire world. We sense somewhat sinister undertones.

The awards continue to pile up for Nintendo. Both Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Wii Sports have taken awards at the GDC Choice Awards. Twilight Princess nabbed an award for Best Writing, beating out top contenders like Sam & Max, Oblivion, Dreamfall and Bully.

Wii Sports picked up the award for Best Game Design, beating other hopefuls, such as Okami and Viva Pinata. The Best Game award, however, went to Microsoft Game Studios' Gears of War, proving that sometimes, graphics do make a game better.

At tonight's Game Developers Choice Awards, Epic Games' Gears of War took home three awards: best technology, visual arts, and the coveted Game of the Year award. On the independent side of things, Bit Blot's Aquaria won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize from the Independent Games Festival.

Okami picked up a win in one of the four categories it was nominated in (take that, AIAS). Unfortunately, Loco Roco did not pick up any awards despite two nominations (character design and audio). Independent game Everyday Shooter won two awards and a distribution deal from GameTap.

View the full list winners and nominees from both events below.

So the Wii has opened up new gameplay possibilities, new control methods, more immersion, and all that. But, unless the Nunchuk is involved, it's also opened up one of your hands. This has created the possibility for completely immersive snacking, wherein you don't have to stop playing even for a second while you stuff your face full of delicious, crunchy tacos (and, possibly, non-taco food items), totally sabotaging your Wii Sports exercise program.

We want to know-- are you guilty of the crime of convenience? Have you succumbed to a sudden banana craving after picking up hundreds and hundreds of them in Super Monkey Ball? Or have you refrained from eating during gameplay, afraid you'll accidentally transfer some Cheeto dust onto the Wiimote?

Media Create's Japanese sales data for the past week has just been released, revealing a plummet for Virtua Fighter 5 (number one a week earlier, number 25 last week) and a great start for this week's WINNER, Professor Layton:

1. Professor Layton and the Mysterious Town - 136,736 units sold last week (new entry / Level-5, DS)
   
2. Tales of Destiny 2 - 73,022 (new entry / NamcoBandai, PSP)
   
3. Bleach DS 2nd - 45,486 (new entry / Sega, DS)
   
4. Death Note - 44,600 (new entry / Konami, DS)
   
5. Soul Cradle - 43,253 (new entry / Nippon Ichi, PS2)
   
6. Picross DS - 41,105 (156,664 sales to date / Nintendo, DS)
   
7. Dragon Quest Monsters Joker - 39,598 (1,134,069 / SquareEnix, DS)
   
8. Wii Sports - 39,128 (1,043,683 / Nintendo, Wii)
   
9. Wii Play - 29,342 (908,774 / Nintendo, Wii)
   
10. More Brain Training - 28,254 (3,991,966 / Nintendo, DS)

And here are some lessons we can learn from the big figures:

• Professor Layton, you are the WINNER
• PS2 is still a viable format in Japan, with four titles in Media Create's Top 30
  
• Very soon, Nintendo will have provided More Brain Training to four million Japanese minds

An entire retirement home full of elderly people passing their free time in heated Wii competitions. It may sound like a Nintendo press release, but it's actually a Chicago Tribune article about the Sedgebrook retirement home in Lincolnshire, where Wii Sports Bowling is taking the living community by storm. The game is so popular among the residents that grandparents are teaching their grandkids how to play and a 20 person tournament took place over the weekend. Sure beats watching Matlock reruns all day.

Previously: Wii appeals to the elderly

What better way to wrap up the weekend than with those efforts that stood out in our recent contest? While these entries didn't snag their creators the Wii Sports Pack from Brando, they did make us giggle ... even though some of them didn't quite fit the contest criteria. Check out these selected entries after the jump.