Leave it to Nintendo to create something so brilliant and flawed at the same time. Not only is their Wii console very hard to find, but now they have a game that's equally hard to find.
Wii Fit is the newest innovation by Nintendo, which has been innovating and kicking console behind with its Nintendo Wii since its debut. Finding a Wii is a game in of itself. My boys have one at their mom's house and I had to get one as well for my place. Finding it was tough as I had a few friends who frequent Target, Walmart, and Toys 'R Us far more frequently than I do, be on the lookout. I had to do the same thing with Wii Fit.
Wii Fit is a two pronged effort from Nintendo. You have the software, which is the actual game itself and a piece of hardware called a balance board. You need both in order to play Wii Fit. I don't even think they sell one without the other.
The balance board isn't a flimsy piece of plastic. It's sturdy and strong. It's strong enough to carry my frame on it, which isn't small. The balance board acts as a scale and as exactly what it is described as, a balance board. When you stand on it, the board measures the pressure you put on each foot and shows you how far off you are in your balance. It is used for many of the activities including Yoga poses in which you have to hold a steady balance in order to perform the stretch correctly, and strength activities in which you use the board to do push-ups, side plank, lunges, squats and other exercises. There's an aerobic area of exercises that includes hula hoop and step aerobics and then a balance area where you do fun activities such as heading soccer balls, ski jumping, and slaloms.
The game starts you off with taking your Mii and setting him/her up and ready to be tested. You step on the scale and your BMI is tested and your weight is taken. You are then led through a couple balance tests and then given a Wii Fit age. The poorer you do on the balance tests, the higher your age will be. People who are sensitive to a video game system telling them they are fat, won't like this at all. I find it quite humorous myself. It's very straightforward as well. If you miss a few days of exercise, the game will let you know bluntly. Your day to day activity is tracked through the game. You can take your body test every day if you want to.
I put a Yoga mat down on the carpet before I put my balance board on the floor. Unfortunately, I have carpet where my TV is, so I don't think the balance board is as exact as it probably is on hard floor.
There's a training mode that gives you four options, which I described above. Yoga is always where I start as it helps me stretch before I go into the other activities. I've been doing a little bit of yoga from time to time and have enjoyed it. The type of yoga I've done has been more of a power yoga, and this isn't like that. Right now, I have the ability to do six poses, which include deep breathing, half-moon, warrior (you are half on the board and half off), tree (which is hard for me as I'm unbalanced on one foot), sun salutation, and standing knee. As I go forward with my activities, there is a chance to unlock many more. According to the balance board, I'm very average in my yoga training.
After the yoga mode, I go straight to the strength training mode. So far, this mode includes single-leg extensions, push-up and side plank, torso twists, jackknife (think sit ups where you touch your toes), lunge, rowing squat (hindu squat as I know it), single-leg twist, and sideways leg twist. In the few times I've played it, I've unlocked three strength exercises. I'm at the top of the field on most of these strength exercises.
After the strength exercises, I go to the aerobics. These exercises include hula hoop, basic step (rhythm step aerobics), basic run (jogging without the board, but with Wii remote in hand), and tandem run. I haven't locked any thing else here yet. But it looks like there's five more aerobic exercises to unlock. Both the step aerobic and the jogging in place are fun and give you a bit of a sweat.
The last set of activities are the balance games. These are actually the set of activities that are more like games, rather than like a set of tasks. They are also the most fun to do. They include soccer heading where you sway to the left or the right to head soccer balls, but also have to avoid other objects, ski slalom, ski jump, table tilt, tightrope walk, and balance bubble. The table tilt and balance bubble are like virtual games of labyrinth. If you've ever played labyrinth, the object is to direct a marble around a board without letting it drop into one of many holes. These games are very much the same. As you shift your weight forward, backward, and side to side, you move an object around and either drop it in a hole (tilt), or avoid hitting the edge (bubble). They are fun and fairly challenging. They are also the activities that kids might enjoy. What I've found with my kids is that the exercises are too exact and too slow for them to have any fun with. They don't feel like a game. But the balance games do, and they enjoyed them.
I am awed with the engineering that it takes to create a game of this magnitude. It truly is a brilliant concept and I've been able to log over an hour of workout time with it. I've found myself pulling it out when I get home too late from work to go to the gym, or just don't feel like leaving the house. For that, it's great. You're not going to get a heavy workout in, but you will work up a small sweat and become better at balance and posture. But I think where Nintendo went wrong with the set up is that it simply isn't all that fun to "play". And let's face it. For all the grandparents and aunts and uncles that enjoy the Wii for its uniqueness, a main audience for the Wii is still the kids and teenagers. And in my opinion, they simply won't play it. I can see a teenager who is worried about his/her weight, but who doesn't go outside a lot, get some mileage out of Wii Fit. It would be a way to measure oneself without having to compete with others. For that, I can see a positive. But for the younger generation, I don't think they're pulling this thing out every day. They'll lose interest quickly.
But for what it is, I think it's ingenuous and creative, though flawed at the same time.
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