Nintendo announces sponsorship of the 2008 Australian Open as Official Gaming Console Supplier. Now everyone can play tennis at the Australian Open thanks to Nintendo. Those attending will have the opportunity to relax in the Nintendo Sight Training™ Lounge, or to test their skills in the Wii™ Championships. The winner of the Wii Championships will also be able to battle it out on the big screen against tennis ace Mark Philippoussis.

The Australian Open will run 14 – 27 January, with the Wii Championships giving Australian Open visitors the chance to play tennis on the game Wii™ Sports. Wii Sports transforms the Wii Remote into a tennis racquet, allowing players to compete by swinging the Wii Remote like a racquet to hit the ball.

Entrants will need to hold the court for as long as they can to become the daily champion. The daily champion will take home a Wii which includes Wii Sports, and the two highest ranking daily champions will be invited back to compete in the Final on 27 January.

The Final will be played out on the big screen in Garden Square, with the grand champion winning tickets to the Men’s Final and a Wii Sports tennis play off against Philippoussis.

Philippoussis will also appear at the Nintendo stand, Tuesday 15 January 11:00am.

The Wii Championships will be held at the Nintendo stand located in the Fan Fest area, outside Vodafone Arena.

After battling it out in the Wii Championships, Australian Open visitors will also have the opportunity to relax and cool down in the Nintendo Sight Training Lounge while testing and improving their five visual abilities with Sight Training: Enjoy Exercising and Relaxing Your Eyes on Nintendo DS®.

Available January 17, Sight Training is a Nintendo DS game, which works on exercising the eyes, much the same way as Brain Training™ and More Brain Training™ stimulates the brain. Created under the supervision of Dr Hisao Ishigaki, a leader in the field of Sports Vision and Sports Optometry at the Aichi Institute of Technology Japan; Sight Training concentrates on five aspects of vision: hand eye-coordination, peripheral vision, eye movement, momentary vision and dynamic visual acuity.

The concept of training your visual abilities has been used by many people, including top athletes for years.

Those that trial Sight Training, will have the opportunity to win a Nintendo DS and a copy of Sight Training, with one prize pack given away each day. The Nintendo Sight Training Lounge will be located at the Trade Show area, eastern car park, Carnival Area.

“Both the Wii Championships and Nintendo Sight Training Lounge at the Australian Open, will showcase the diversity and broad appeal of Nintendo’s products”, explains Rose Lappin, Managing Director Nintendo Australia. “We have games for everyone”.

“We know Mark Philippoussis is a fan of Wii, and there will be a few Wii fans lining up to take him on”, says Rose Lappin.

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