Nintendo on Wednesday said it would start selling its Wii Fit home fitness game in Japan in time for the critical year-end shopping season.
Nintendo's announcement comes just a day after Sony said it would cut the price of its PlayStation 3 by 10 percent in Japan and launch
The board can also be used for such activities as yoga and aerobics.
The new software is likely to be the next major sales driver for Nintendo's Wii game console, after initial demand was stirred by popularity of "Wii Sports" software, which lets gamers play a virtual tennis match in the living room, analysts have said.
The Wii has far outsold Sony's PS3 since the two consoles were launched late last year, as Nintendo's strategy to offer easy-to-play but innovative games expanded the gamer population beyond young males to women and the elderly.
"This is our most important product for this coming year-end," Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said during a news conference. "With Wii Fit, we will be aiming to expand the definition of video games as well as our user base."
Sony has packed its cutting-edge technology, such as a Blu-ray high-definition DVD player, in the PS3, enabling lifelike graphics.
But the advanced functions have driven up manufacturing costs and made it difficult and time-consuming for software creators to develop PS3 games.
