Wii Fit

What’s the Story?

WII FIT is an exciting way for kids and adults to exercise using the Wii console. It's a compilation of 40+ games to play on the Wii Balance Board, a controller that comes packaged with the game. The Wii Balance Board looks like a giant scale that sits on the floor. When you stand on it, it can detect the slightest shifts in your balance, which means it can tell if you are leaning forward or backward, and from side-to-side. In addition to balance, the board can also determine your weight.

The games are broken into four categories: aerobics, balance, yoga, and strength training. Under aerobics, you can hula-hoop, do step-aerobics, run (next to, not on the board), or rhythm-box. The yoga activities teach you how to breathe and do yoga poses. Strength training shows you how to do a variety of exercises including lunges, torso twists, and push-ups, all using the board. The balance games are the most fun because they have you heading soccer balls, skiing down slopes, performing ski-jumps, snowboarding, and walking on tightropes, as well as pretending to be a table with balls on it you tilt by leaning back and forth, and a bubble that you control through a maze by moving your body.

Is It Any Good?

To make all this exercise fun and a little competitive, the game has a crazy calculation called "Wii Fit Age," which is based on short balance games that are given to you every day. As you play the games, the theory is that your core muscles will get stronger. As you get better at the balance games, your "Wii Fit Age" will improve. In addition, Wii Fit can keep track of up to eight players and record the amount of time spent playing on the board, as well as your daily weight and Body Mass Index. You can set a goal of exercising a certain number of minutes a day, and the game helps you meet that goal.

The aerobics and balance games are particularly well done and make exercising more fun. For ski-jumping, you stand on the board, squat down while you race down the slope, and then straighten your legs to jump when you hit the end of the ramp. Part of the skill of perfecting a long jump is to hold yourself perfectly still while you fly through the air. You can challenge friends and family members to see who can land the longest jump. However, although Wii Fit is very well done and a blast to play, if you are a serious gym rat, these games may not be hard-core enough to satisfy those seeking a sustained high-intensity workout. Many of the games represent an overview of potential new games that could be developed in more depth for the Wii Balance Board.