Target and Nintendo have teamed up to bring the Wii Fit Plus experience to select Target stores from Jan. 16-31.  There are only a few Target locations participating in this event, but players can get the Wii Fit Plus experience.

There will be Wii Fit Plus kiosks set up in the parking lot or at the entrance of the store. Players will get the chance to use the game and try out some of the exercises using the balance board. Wii Fit Plus includes the original Wii Fit game and 20 additional activities, customizable workout routines and a way to track the calories you are burning. Nintendo and Target representatives will be present to answer any questions and provide healthy snacks.

“If you’re just embarking on your New Year’s resolutions (or have already abandoned them), the Wii Fit Plus Experience at Target stores will show you how you can have fun and stay active,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Wii Fit Plus has so many customizable options, it’s easy to stay motivated and energized all year long.”

Players that complete the Wii Fit Plus tutorial will be given a $15 Target gift card, while supplies last. The stores participating in this even can be found in the press release after the post.

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NinjaBee announced the upcoming release of The Amazing Brain Train on the Nintendo Wii as a WiiWare downloadable game. The game will be available on Monday, January 18th for 600 Wii points or $6.

Professor Fizzwizzle takes players on a tour around his cartoon world and stops to challenge players to solve mini-games. The train is powered by brain power, which is attained by winning the mini-games. Players can play in either quest, test or practice modes. Players can now get smart by playing games and these games put a different spin on brain games.

“This is no ordinary brain game,” said Ryan Clark, co-founder of Grubby Games. “The Amazing Brain Train! contains features never before seen in the genre. It’s a departure from the minimalist brain games we’ve seen in the past. You can forget about goal-less gameplay: The Amazing Brain Train! is packed with quests, trophies and high scores that add an aspect of gameplay that other brain games just don’t have.”

If you like brain games, check out The Amazing Brain Train on Monday January 18th.

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Exent allows players to customize casual games with their pictures. The service is free to use and allows players to put pictures into casual games and then share the games with their friends and families.

Anyone interested in customizing a casual game can head over to Free Ride Games and then click personalize a game. This feature allows players to upload up to 5 pictures into the game 7 Wonders II. Users can then take the customized game and send it to their friends via email or by posting it on their Facebook Wall.

“We realized the mass appeal video game customization could have beyond the hard core gamer and have extended that value into the casual gaming world for the first time,” said Kobi Edelstein, VP, General Manager of Free Game Services.  “Furthermore, with the growth of social media applications like Facebook, virtually anything can be shared online with your networks.  Our new ‘U-Pic’ games will take advantage of that technology and social behavior to enable players to share their personalized games with friends and family.”

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Electronic Arts has issued a press release announcing Risk: Factions for Xbox Live Arcade, which they claim has “outlandish factions, a unique art style, new gameplay twists and off-beat humor.”

RISK: Factions will offer innovative ways of experiencing the timeless turn-based board game in both objective-based and world conquest modes. Players will be able to engage as one of five playable factions, each with different strengths, as they wage war on new maps with dynamic terrain in their quest for missile silos in order to strategically dominate the game. Additionally, as rivals go head-to-head during unique, animated combat missions, enemies will be able to trigger “Overkill” moments, based on the roll of the dice, and unlock avatar awards while attempting global supremacy. With a new animated art style, kooky humor and a choice of five oddball factions, RISK: Factions is sure to offer something for veteran RISK strategists and newcomers alike.

With all the re-imagining going on, I’m hoping that there’s an option to play Risk Classic, or at least the classic rules. A new version of Risk is nice, but some of us just want to be able to play Risk online with friends. The game will hit Xbox Live Arcade in early 2010.

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Polar Panic is a new downloadable title for Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation 3, and Facebook, a puzzle game that mixes Pengo with Bomberman with a heavy dose of environmental preaching. The object of the game is to escape a maze of snow and ice bricks while avoid hunters under the employ of an over-the-top evil corporation Globoco.

Polar, our hero bear, has to navigate these snowy mazes while avoiding hunters. Snow blocks can only be destroyed, while ice blocks can be slid across the level; otherwise, if they can’t move, they too are destroyed. These ice blocks are one of the very few offensive weapons Polar can employ, sliding them to crush hunters. The more hunters with one block, the higher the score. As the single player campaign progresses, new features are introduced, like tents that produce more hunters and must be destroyed, snowmen and family members who add bonus points to level completion, and new enemies such as rocket-toting hunters. Adding to the complication is the level timer.

There are two more game modes. One is a puzzle mode in which you have to complete levels with as few moves as possible, and an endless mode in which Polar is beset by a constant stream of enemies in an attempt to get the highest point total possible.

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