Wii Street U Update Allows You to Walk the Virtual Streets

Its a neat idea for the BB. At least it gives both the app and the perif some purpose with each other.

so, us free users can still have the app for free even after 31st of october?

pretty cool idea. i think i might try it for grins.

Is this the first use then of the Balance Board in Wii U software?

I still think this whole Google Street View thing on Wii U is a bit of a crappy throwaway gimmick.

I mean seriously, walking down a virtual street comprised of static images that update about once a second as some form of "virtual tourism"

Who's seriously going to use that for more than a few minutes at most?

If the actual App itself were properly free then maybe it wouldn't really matter but it isn't really free because it's only available for free download until October so it's a limited time offer and after that it's actually going to cost money to try this "thing".

Not convinced in slightest.

Nintendo had a couple of decent announcements today with the specifics of Wii Fit U and Wii Sports Club but this is the crap announcement, IMO, to go along with those and bring balance to the Nintendo Universe.

So, anybody try it yet, it looked really awkward while he was describing it. We don't have our balance board synced up yet.

I like the Street view app and use it on occasion - I'm always looking at maps for stuff. But going into the app is 1 thing, going into the app, moving stuff, dragging out the balance board, and navigating while standing on it sounds like way too much work.

I was going to go test it out but think I just talked myself out of it.

On that other virtual view app - if you could control your forwards and backward motion in that while you looked around on the Gamepad, that I could see being more enjoyable. But I'll never pay the $1.99 to DL any of them.

Oh well, guess there was a reason they shoehorned this in between Wii Fit U and Wii Sports (not U) Club.

Combine this feature with a zapper and some aliens invading on the street view screen and that would be an awesome game. Who needs GTAV when you can have the entire (google maps) world as your playing area?

@Kirk it's not a particularly worthwhile feature for street view but the Wii U is the only system that has this feature and it could be applied into a good game.

I would use the Balance board for pedals in a driving game or a light gun game where I could move by moving my weight around. The sad thing is that with the low install base and unbelievable lack of imagination from 3rd parties (when it comes to Wii U games), we may never see experimental game styles like this on Wii U.

Nice.

I'm looking forward to trying this out, just gotta buy 4 AA batteries or finally get rechargeable ones & use them (I already have special rechargeable battery packs for my Wiimotes which obviously aren't compatible with the Wii Fit board). Awesomely fun addition & it'll get me exercising too haha

That is hilariously stupid. I love it.

"the free app will be available for download until 31st October."

Are they going to remove it?

Taking a sweat getting the Balance Board out the shelf and putting it onto the ground?
Just too lazy setting it up?
Too much work, too little gain?
Ironically that's when you know you should actually use it more.

@Kirk Do you ever post anything positive about Nintendo?

Google streetview has its uses. I used it to show my wife where her mothers house is in Bangkok. She got a little misty-eyed being home sick and being able to see her front door like she was really standing there and able to pan the gamepad around.... But hey, its all worthless application that has zero use, right?

"Combine this feature with a zapper and some aliens invading on the street view screen and that would be an awesome game. Who needs GTAV ..."

@Nintenjoe64 Talk about open world sandbox!

It would be nice if third parties would think of some cool ideas for all this unique hardware. But publishers only want the least amount of investment.. If they could program a pile of dog crap and sell it, they would and in some cases (EA, Gearbox, etc) they already have

But we will only get whatever Nintendo comes up with because third parties don't see the point in investing to be creative and different.... Hopefully an indie developer comes up with some cool uses for the unique hardware (both gamepad, wiimote +, and balance board)

@element187

Yup.

In fact, if you quieten your inner fanboy for two seconds and actually check the last few Nintendo Life articles for any of my posts (if you can be bothered), specifically the Wii Sports Club and Wii Fit U ones, you'd actually notice this.

Your selective fanboy brain apparently only notices/remembers the comments you don't like to hear however.

Wow. I've been wishing for this a long time. To walk in different parts of the world. Nice.

I'll download the update, but I'll probably never use the balance board with it.

I remember showing the app to my dad a while back and he asked if he could use the balance board with it and I had to tell him no... So obviously other people had the same idea. He was actually pretty excited to hear about it when I told him.

it's odd how they remove free things, remember the internet browser on the wii? it was free for a bit, then people were charged money, and then they were like "oops never mind, here's your money back"

I'll definitely try it out. Mind you, I could just walk down the street instead.

I actually reckon this is a fantastic idea. Bear in mind the Wii Balance Board is primarily used as a keep-fit tool. I'm sure if the weather's crappy or if you just don't want to leave the house, it'd be nice to have a little bit of scenery pass you by on your cardio exercise.

It is a very creative idea. It could be excellent for a download game, you walk and kill aliens with the wiimote or pointing with the gamepad, while walking with the balance board (or nunchuk if you don´t have balance board or the left stick in the gamepad) 3 options to play!

how to set up my wii balance board to wii u so i can walk around the world without leaving my home

I tired it out last night. Found myself having an incredible amount of fun with it. I set up the map so my 4 year old son had to walk from this ice cream shop I went to as a kid; then had him walk for about 10 blocks to get to the house I grew up in. It was fun, as I pointed out places to him and their meanings to me.

Then I took a "jog" through his mother's small home town. Visiting her dad's place and then "jogging" to his work pretty far away to the coke-cola factory. I acthually build up a good sweat "jogging" in place. I thin I was "jogging" for maybe 40 minutes. My wife was having a blast directing me through her old home town.

Shame it's no longer free, would've loved to test that now that I have a Wii U.