See the Wii Fit in action on YouTube

Nintendo expects that its new fitness game involving a "balance mat" and virtual yoga could deliver a “killer blow” in the Japanese company’s effort to dominate the world of next-generation consoles.

According to sources close to the company, hopes are high that the title Wii Fit will play a central role in attracting 20 to 40-year-old women — a group long since given up as irrelevant to many games makers.

As the company attempts to convert non-traditional audiences to video games, worldwide sales of the Nintendo Wii console have already overtaken those of the Microsoft Xbox 360 and the Sony PlayStation 3.

But Wii Fit is expected to increase dramatically Nintendo’s lead over its rivals.

Some analysts estimate that globally Wii Fit will drive sales of as many as one million additional console units.

Analysts in Japan are particularly excited by the prospects of Wii Fit because of recent sales of an exercise DVD series titled Billy’s Boot Camp.

The series, which retails for about £65, recently sold its millionth copy in Japan in a marketing success that has baffled the traditional sports goods industry and revealed a surprise appetite for fitness instruction in front of a screen.

The Nintendo game, which is likely to be released before the end of the year, requires potential players to buy a “balance mat” — a device costing about £50 that resembles a set of bathroom scales and registers the movements of the person standing on top of it.

The game itself virtually recreates a series of exercises — twirling a hoop around the waist, step aerobics, yoga and others and offers users a running progress report on their conversion from couch potatoes.

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