Although we stumbled upon the existence of Wii Fit Plus a little while ago through the discovery of an English logo for the game on the Japanese trademark database, we knew little about what the next installment in Nintendo’s highly popular franchise would include.

Even though Wii Fit was released just a little over a year ago across North America, it is still selling like crazy as evidenced by the latest NPD figures which showed it to be the best-selling game in the US for April, selling a whopping 471 000 copies. Its success story is similar across the globe, with the title appearing regularly in both the Japanese and UK’s software chart each week. In fact Wii Fit has spent a total of 16 weeks since it launched in the UK in the number one spot, even spending seven consecutive weeks at the top this year so far, while its life-to-date sales now stand at 3.4 million in Japan.

Yet, despite the title’s continued success Nintendo most likely thought it prudent to release a follow-up in light of the fact that third publisher’s titles such as My Fitness Coach and EA’s Sports Active are no doubt making inroads into their share of this market share. And so last night Nintendo announced that Wii Fit Plus will be arriving on our shelves as early as this fall.

Wii Fit Plus features a range of games and customisation options, six new strength training and yoga exercises as well as the ability to combine workouts from the original Wii Fit activities and selections from 15 new balance games. The game enables players to input the amount of time they want to spend on the workouts (20, 30 or 40 minutes) or select an area for personal improvement with Wii Fit Plus then suggesting specialized workout routines.

Players will also be able to mix and match which strength and yoga activities they prefer with “seamless exercise flows” making it easier for players to maintain their daily workout routines. You will also be able to keep track of the number of calories you have burned, while another feature allows you to weigh your cat or dog (couldn’t we do this in the first game?)

You can also look forward to some new tasks, such as completing an obstacle course across different platforms, whizzing across a beach on a Segway Personal Transporter or even flapping your arms to help your chicken-suited characters aim for targets. Other new activities include Skateboarding and Rhythm Kung Fu.

Wii Fit Plus will be available bundled with the Wii Balance Board or as standalone software for those who already own Wii Fit.

Take a closer look at how the game will work in this debut trailer. The E3 conference announcement trailer follows below along with some more screenshots.

E3 Conference Announcement Trailer