Well what should show up to my house a couple of days before its American release date, but Nintendo's latest foray into getting everyone in the world to purchase a Wii.Wii Fit, the balance-enhancing, get-your-butt off-the-couch interactive exercise coach arrived with everything you see here: Wii Fit Balance Board, game, a pair of Wii Fit booties for me to wear with special non-slip rubber grips, and a towel for me to wipe the gallons of sweat that is sure to pour from my face as I whip myself back into shape- Nintendo-style.
(who, by the way, has the most un-athletic looking mascot I could imagine: a short, stout Italian plumber who looks like he's had one too many meatballs. Really- I'm taking fitness advice from this company? But I digress...)
I remove the Wii Balance Board from its box, sync it wirelessly with the Wii (a wireless board = a very good thing in aesthetics and likelihood of it being used more often), and begin my journey to see if a video game will indeed get me into better shape.
The front-end of the Wii Fit setup is pretty non-gamer friendly. The presentation is crisp, relaxed, and minimalist- a good thing for those who fear that turning on a game system will result in machine gun blasts and car chases. The Wii may not be the most hardcore of gaming systems, but it is definitely the most accessible.
After selecting my Mii avatar, Wii Fit begins to save a body profile for me. The profile will rate my balance, center of gravity, weight, and BMI (Body Mass Index).
Now, I don't think of myself as THAT out of shape, however I do have a terrible body image about myself; as such, having a video game weigh me, determine my BMI, and display it up on my TV isn't exactly the equivalent of fun videogaming as, say, "Call of Duty 4." The moment of truth is here, after monitoring me on the Wii Board for a moment, the next screen spits out:
Ok Nintendo- you're lucky, I will continue to play your fitness game...
And play I do, the balance and strength training exercises, though they look like rehab for stroke patients, are actually really fun and will probably get a lot of folks who feel embarrassed to go to a gym, to get up and start exercising. Wii Fit, and moreover the Wii Board, are just the tip of the iceberg as to how game companies can use the balancing dynamic in their games, or to make a really good fitness coach program- just imagine when Nike gets into the software development gig, now that they have a perfect opening.
And I just want to call it right now: because the Wii Board connects wirelessly over Bluetooth- will someone PLEASE make a fitness program that can utilize the board for my Mac that I can save all of the information, so much so, that it looks like Ivan Drago's training profile?
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