Nintendo Busting Obesity With Games Tournament

Ever keen to present itself as the video games choice that won't give you diabetes, Nintendo has unveiled a twenty-four-stop tour of the USA combining a showcase of its jumpy-waggly motion-controlled games combined with a national games tournament.

The Wii Games: Summer 2010 tour will invite visitors to rack up a high score across four games--Wii Sports Resort's basketball and bowling plus the hula hoop challenge of Wii Fit Plus, with action coming from New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Mario Kart Wii.

Olympic women's balance beam gold medalist Shawn Johnson has joined up to promote the campaign and encourage you--and Mario--to not be fat.

Regional winners will head to the national championships in Los Angeles, where they can hope to win "great prizes like Nintendo systems and games, home entertainment packages, a cruise, trophies and the national exposure that comes with victory."

"The Wii Games: Summer 2010 events are a celebration of the fun, active, inclusive spirit of Wii," said Nintendo of America executive VP of sales & marketing Cammie Dunaway in the announcement. "I'm sure players will have fun interacting with friends and family members while they train for each event. Even better, they'll get to demonstrate their skills in front of enthusiastic audiences everywhere."

The Wii Games is the latest in a long line of mainstream-friendly marketing campaigns from Nintendo, who have previously reached out to senior communities and the YMCA.