Move Over World Cup: Nintendo of America Launching Wii Games Summer 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 11:34PM 
Shawn Johnson and Mario in training For the Wii Games Summer 2010.June 29: 2010: Look out World Cup, Olympics, World Series and X Games. Nintendo of America is planning to stage a competition featuring its Wii system that it plans will bring "players of all ages and backgrounds to step out of their homes and into the active-play spotlight."
The "Wii Games: Summer 2010” national competition is being scheduled for locations nationwide to include tournament events in 24 markets beginning July 16. The event will culminate with a national championship in Los Angeles in early September. Eight of the events will be held at Six Flags theme parks "highlighting Nintendo’s ongoing relationship" with the family park destination. The other 16 events will take place a major shopping malls.
Nintendo plans to support with regional multi-media marketing at each site with national spokesperson Shawn Johnson, who won a gold medal on the balance beam and three more silver medals in gymnastics at the 2008 Summer Olympics and was a Dancing with the Stars champion in 2009. Johnson will serve as the Wii Games: Summer 2010 ambassador for the competition and appear at select Wii Games: Summer 2010 events. An online sweepstakes will also be held to allow additional consumers to participate in the Wii Games: Summer 2010 national championships. (Full details here.)
Open to kids, teens, adults, seniors and families, the Wii Games: Summer 2010 events will focus on five activities: basketball and bowling in Wii Sports Resort, the Hula Hoop challenge from Wii Fit Plus, the platforming adventure of New Super Mario Bros. Wii and the high-speed racing Mario Kart Wii.
Wii Games: Summer 2010 events will also offer activities for consumers and families who aren’t competing in tournament play. Attendees and spectators can participate in noncompetitive demos and sample other Wii games such as Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Punch-Out! Events will be open to the public and designed to give people of all ages and backgrounds a chance to celebrate the one-of-a-kind active-play experience offered by the Wii system.
Wii Games: Summer 2010 will launch July 16 with a kick-off event in Liberty State Park, New Jersey and culminate with a national championship event in Los Angeles Sept. 3-5, with a location and time to be determined. Between mid-July and mid-August, tournaments will be held on five consecutive weekends at eight Six Flags theme parks in California, Texas, Illinois, Georgia, Massachusetts and New Jersey. Mall events include locations in California, Colorado, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia. (Full schedule here.)
“The Wii Games: Summer 2010 events are a celebration of the fun, active, inclusive spirit of Wii,” Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s evp-sales and marketing, said in a statement. “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.”
Added Shawn Johnson, “I play Wii games with my friends and family all the time. I’m looking forward to watching people from all over the country coming together to have fun and compete.”