Makes sense to me. A lot of people who bought Wii's weren't gamers, I.e. the Wii Fit crowd. They want to target more of that audience.

I think I know what it is. They are going to make new hardware that is an at home hospital.

I don't think non-wearable means non-hardware related. That conception of 'non-wearable' could hardly be said to leapfrog mobile or wearable technology. I think it is something that at least Nintendo think is highly innovative technology. Either an expansion on sensor technology that would sit in your home, something that could monitor input that is seldom done now or in ways that are not currently done. I think they are leveraging their device knowledge for whatever it is.

Frankly, if I could imagine what they mean, I'd love to tell you because the mystery about it is killing me! I guess I just get a very different sense of what they mean: they must at least THINK they're being very clever about whatever it is to talk it up as a 'leapfrogging' of not just the current dominant technology (mobile) but the one that many industry watchers consider to be ascendant (wearable). They are trying to display ambition and that famous Nintendo 'surprise' they love so much.

So I think that it is something that at least has the potential to surprise, for sure. I'm just not sure what it could be. But 'a fitness center' you would go to doesn't seem like 'non-wearable technology.'

I mean this is imaginative and not what I think it would actually be, but ideas are:

• a device that automatically kept track of how many calories worth of food were in your fridge/freezer and told you how many you took out and ate (fridge cam/sensor)
• a device that picked up room oxygen/carbon dioxide levels to detect how much energy you were burning (via breath sensing)
• a whole-house IR cam that could sense body heat and track your movements each day
• a digital 'placemat' that suggested meals via an e-ink and sensed how much your food weighed
• a fridge magnet that showed healthy meals and the reciepes for them

I mean I don't know that any of these are good ideas, but this is more the kind of thing I am thinking they mean, if that makes sense.

But that's just my sense of the words, VERY MUCH led by the idea of 'leapfrogging mobile and wearable.' If that's just a weird translation, or me taking the words too literally, then the whole theory I have is garbage. :)

What you say here really does make sense. Either way, Nintendo are very clever to state something so ambitious in such a mysterious fashion! It will surely be discussed for a long time before they are finally ready to announce it. And as our discussion has revealed to me - it's very easy to imagine a wide range of interesting things that this proposition can mean, so hopefully whatever they do reveal lives up to the potential the concept has. 

Good convo!

It is what it is. Personally as someone who plays two sports and lifts weights 5x a week, the honest truth is there's no gimmick or gadget that's going to make you healthier than taking a simple jog around the neighborhood or something a couple of free weights and 10-15 minutes of weighted lunges couldn't do.

That said, I understand that Nintendo is facing up to a future where they may be irrelevant in the traditional console space, and the portable space is a bit scary for them right now too. They need new business avenues, so I can't fault them for going this route business wise.

It's not about doing something that jogging and more mundane exercise can't do, it's about making it fun. Gamifying exercise. There are a lot of people, myself included, that are bored to tears from the mere mention of "taking a simple jog around the neighborhood" or "free weights" or "lunges", yet they still want to get healthy. Providing a way to get healthy in fun and exciting ways can meet the needs of those people.

This is a new business for them. There may a little overlap, but I don't see a ton. Even on the Wii, Nintendo couldn't really convince those soccer moms to go play Zelda or Xenoblade or something. They're probably smart to just spin this off into its own business that isn't hampered or held back by the "rules" of the game business. Seperate it from the Wii/DS is a smart way to go, you don't need a game console to give someone a Wii Fit type experience and nothing else. If I want a hamburger stop trying to sell me a bottle of wine. 

They are smart to diversify their business in the sense that I think they see the writing on the wall for their game consoles at least. Like Sony has other divisions (cameras, movies, music, etc.), Nintendo has to manage it though so no division is a giant money pit. 

aw man I just woke up and I get this? I'm confuse...

Truth be told, the other issue with fitness products is it's the biggest fad based market out there. There are hundreds of different diet crazes/fitness products, that even get popular, but fizzle out after 2-3 years of popularity. 

If you want to improve your fitness level, honestly speaking you have to have some level of commitment and be willing to work/sweat to achieve it. It's no wonder people buy some ab cruncher and then stop using it after six weeks because they aren't magically ripped (protip: an ab cruncher doesn't even give you abs, do all the situps you want). 

My sister has Wii Fit and she hasn't touched it in like 2 years. 

Reminds me a lot of what MS is already doing with XBox Fitness. 

EDIT: MS already has one of the Beachbody trainers, lol.