14-6-09 Can't believe I haven't written a review for the whole of 2009, watch this space...
14-6-09 Can't believe I haven't written a review for the whole of 2009, watch this space...
Member since:02.06.2007
Reviews:180
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IN A DARK, DARK, BEDROOM...
..are some tightly shut curtains, disguising behind them the blocked out sun as a 'geek' sits there watching the live feed of Nintendo's E3 press conference and the shock unveiling of what is their biggest new title -- unfortunately for this slightly tubby individual, this video game is not the Nu Celda but instead the revelation of Wii Fit.
This is all happening on July 11th, 2007. Of course.
So whilst the gamers have in their millions trashed Wii Fit for being a disappointing end to the biggest Nintendo press conference of the year, the rest of the general public have been getting on with their daily routine unknowingly awaiting the release of the next Wii must-have. And all these people thought the fun just stopped with Wii Sports.
Codenamed the 'revolution', it is no surprise that this name was used when you see the way in which Nintendo have created a console that is one of the few pieces of technology that wide audiances are not afraid to pick up. I am sure Nintendo would argue that the Wii is the biggest breakthrough since the internet, but the success has not all been down to the arrival of motion sensing. Without the family-friendly software, things would be different.
But how did a little man from Japan become such a genius? Shigeru Miyamoto is the man with the vision, and for Nintendo fanboys they will know him as the creator of the Super Mario franchise. For the 'casual gamer', and the bulk of the public that have picked up Wii Fit, the name of the creator just won't mater. What matters is Miyamoto has designed yet another momentous video game based off the idea of peoples daily routines. This fits right in with walking your dog on Nintendogs, and the rest.
WHO NEEDS SCALES?
December 1st, 2007 arrives in Japan and whilst we are blissfully unaware of the impending release of the biggest Wii media-garnering title to date, they are beginning to pick up their first copies. Our release of the game would then follow in late April 2008, which is quite generous when you consider the time span between the announcement and release. For those that do not take note of what they hear on the internet, Nintendo can announce a game a good three years before actually releasing it.
I was strongly considering putting in a preorder somewhere as I felt the game could definitly be a decent aid to fitness, but decided I would be willing to wait until after release to make my decision. Of course I was unaware that people had began to go pre-ordering crazy, and whilst the game did not reach dizzy price ranges on eBay, there was certainly a shocking demand for the title. Nintendo benefited from the fact that they had actually put advertisements on television for the release, which they seem to be doing a lot with Wii games. What annoyed me the most was how these advertisements continued following the release, when there was clearly no stock to be found anywhere in the country.
Over the pond they would not receive Wii Fit until May, which is a bit odd considering with their recent obesity crisis they are probably the ones that need it the most. Whilst it is difficult to say an exact amount of sales, a million copies sold in a month in Japan. Critical reception was generally positive as well, with 4/5.. 80% and B being popular scores.
HOMEMADE GYM
The main tackling point for purchasing Wii Fit was for me the price point, and at £70 this was clearly way above what I would generally like to pay for a video game -- especially when you consider I am the sort of person that would only buy the 10/10 games. If you consider Wii FIt as an investment for your family you may feel a little better, especially if you are planning on splitting the cost between you. On the other hand, if you are a single person you maybe best just paying out for the one month gym membership, and who knows where that could lead. Just as Wii Play included the free controller,
Mario Kart included the free steering wheel, you now have Wii Fit including the 'balance board'. And that is probably where the bulk of your money is going, but this new accessory is likely to become a must-have.
Currently my main focus for health would be to begin getting some more muscle mass on me, Stuart off Big Brother here I come! I was very sceptical that Wii Fit would have the features on it that would aid me in doing so, as there's certainly not a set of weights in the large suitcase box. Certainly something for Ninty to think about for the future.
So, about a month too late I finally jump on the Wii Fit bandwagon and with two weeks up I can now see how I did as my first target date for improvement arrives. I managed to pick my copy up from Tesco after finding they had one of their 'take this to the checkout' cases. I wondered if perhaps it was a joke, had been left out by mistake, and then I toyed with the idea of whether I wanted to make the rather-large purchase or not. I hid the case behind other, lesser games as I stood at the end of the aisle pondering my decision. Then when I went all nervous seeing someone hovering around the Wii game section I knew my mind had made my decision for me, and anxiously pushed my way forward to pick up the last Wii Fit case. Sure enough it wasn't a joke, and I had my 'gym in a box'.
BALANCE BOARD
Modern technology has led me to believe everything comes in small sizes, which explains why I was so surprised by the large size of the Wii balance board, even though I failed to think that it does need to be big enough for people of all sizes to step on to it. I would say it's surprisingly heavy, but as someone who has already mentioned building up muscle I would not want to sound like a wimp. Lets just say no one should suffer any real difficulty, and if they do they can just drag it across the floor.
The sleak white design matches to that of what all the Wii accessories have had, and even has Wii engraved at the top so your less clued-up relatives can see what it is. A cross splits the board into four equal squares to help you align yourself when standing, and the board even has a slightly raised area to mark where your feet should be and to aid grip. The power button is very similar to what I have seen on some electronic scales, in that you can kick the button to turn it on. A blue light also marks that you have activated your board.
Four AA batteries were supplied with the board and when you first start Wii Fit there are clear instructions for how to sync the board and your console together. These are very simple and just involve pressing a red button under the front flap. By pressing the home button on your Wii remote you can see the battery power of the balance board as it appears as the fourth connected controller -- this certainly threw me at first, wondering if someone was standing behind me with their Wiimote for some fun. After using the board almost every day my batteries seem almost untouched, but for those that wish there are unofficial rechargable battery packs on sale. I also do not recommend allowing people with dirty feet anywhere near your board, as the colour means stains will show easy, of course there are covers you can purchase for the board to try and protect from the unclean.
I would not say there are any major safety aspects you need to watch out for with the balance board, unless you leave it out for your cat to trip over. As it's actually quite high your main difficulty maybe deciding where to store the board, mine is left slightly poking out from underneath a table as it would not fit underneath my television. There is a whole load of warnings for you to read on the actual board, and it is also worth noting that Wii Fit cannot help people weighing over 150kg (23st 8lb) as that is the maximum weight limit. Presumebly for those people Nintendo recommends serious surgery.
WARMING UP
Everything about Wii Fit's design as a product has been done with the similar inspiration of the iPod, just as Nintendo borrowed from Google when discussing distinctive names. The green silhouette doing a yoga pose will become universally known as the Wii Fit symbol.
And just as with Nintendo designing video games for you, it once again allows you to incorporate your own versions of you that you have created in the Mii Channel. The first screen you come to will show your family of Mii's with their various heights and weights showing, there is also a graph provided that shows who is doing best. To see your line above someone elses does not mean you weigh mor than them though, as Wii Fit bases this graph off BMI (body mass index), which takes into account the ideal weight for someone of your height. You are also asked your age to further give an accurate assessment.
'Body Test' is the feature you are most likely to go back for daily, as instead of going to the bathroom and putting your feet on the scales you can start up your Wii and be told by a talking balance board whether you are doing good or bad. You will be told to stand still and relax your shoulders as it calculates your weight and then shows you getting fatter. This shows a line go up from underweight to ideal, to overweight to obese. I sit midway in the yellow ideal area, although this feature of the game has recently came underfire for describing an eight-year old girl as underweight. I am almost positive that somewhere down the line Nintendo have said that their sports and fitness games give the best results to those aged 18 and above. To think that an eight-year old girl would be offended by a game as friendly as Wii Fit makes me sick and I feel as though her family are probably just out for money from selling their story to the media, perhaps this family should be sat down on Grand Theft Auto 4 to see what a real offensive video game is like.
With my rant over, I believe your recommened BMI is about 23.00, and claims if you have this BMI you are less likely to get sick. For those that BMI means nothing to, you can translate this information into your actual weight and it will show you how much you have lost/gained. You will also be shown your centre of gravity (COG) as worked out from how you stood during the weight test, and you will be given advise on how to stand up straight. I thought this was really quite incredible at first and believe it probably has made me slouch less (when I'm playing at least) but if you're having an off day and lean to one side you will find the same messages popping up. Perhaps Wii Fit doesn't know as much about health as I thought it did!
Continuing on with the 'body test' you are then asked to take part in two balance tests that will reveal the age of your body. Shockingly I believe I was in my 50's on my first day, but I have since improved this to my actual age. This is a similiar feature to the fitness test that was on Wii Sports, only there is less of a range of activities in the Wii Fit age test. And I always seem to be told that no matter what test I do it wasn't my cup of tea. Most pointless of all, it then gets you to stamp your progress on a calendar and by taking more body tests you are able to unlock different designed stamps. Wow wee.
BREAKING A SWEAT
You are asked to select a male or female trainer, and I guess it depends if you want to show off or if the opposite sex will embarrass you during exercise. Personally, I would probably choose whichever sex you are as if your trainer is demonstrating an exercise you should be aiming to do it exactly the same way -- not that I have seen any real differences with the way different sexed trainers take part in exercise. I guess there are just some things that I have seen the woman do in yoga training that I do not think should be possible for me, I certainly wasn't expecting to have as much difficulty doing the 'tree' pose as I actually did. Lets just say my foot went somewhere it shouldn't and I ended up on the floor.
I certainly now have a new respect for those of you that can pull off yoga. However, I was confused when as the exercises went on there were yoga tasks that do not even include the use of the balance board or the Wiimote so there is no evidence you are actually doing them. I guess the message would be you are only cheating yourself.
Whilst from pictures people may pass these training sessions off as easy because anyone could do them in their own sloppy way, but they're only going to make any benefit to your fitness if you do them properly. That is why Wii Fit strictly reads your balance and gets you doing things as smoothly and steadily as possible if you want to receive any 'points'. As you improve at exercises you will then unlock further reps to work yourself harder.
Under the muscle catagorey I was quite pleased to see features such as a press up challenge against your trainer, where you test who can do the most. Unfortunately these workouts that are actually likely to improve your muscles are few and far between as I can only think of about three exercises that involve you putting your hands on the balance board in the place of your feet. As these muscle building exercises go on you do also get ones that do not require the use of your balance board, and ask you to use the Wiimore instead.
WATER BREAK
Nintendo are very polite at every now and again suggesting you should take a break, and also getting you to drink plenty of water. Your cyber trainers are also very friendly, although you may get sick of the sound of their voice. There are also safety warnings on workouts where they feel there is a risk of you toppling over from losing your balance.
STOP SLACKING
Balance games and aerobic exercises are the remaining two catagories, and they are probably the more fun. For the most part you will not even feel as though you are doing exercise. The skiing theme is one that pops up plenty in the balance area, with you even being asked to turn the balance board sideways to use it as a snowboard. These are the games that are most likely to aid you in improving your Wii Fit age, and also at the 'Ultimate Balance test' where you pretty much have to keep your right and left leg balance at 50% each for 30 seconds.. which is not as easy as it sounds.
Aerobics make you feel as though you are doing a bit more work, as you step up and down to the rhythm, throwing your legs everywhere you can almost feel all the middle-aged women around you. There is also a hula-hoop exercise, that always reminds me of the act on 'Britains Got Talent'. For those that are afraid of jogging in public, you can jog around your own little island by putting the Wiimote in your pocket and running around your living room. Wii Fit even gives you a partner to jog with, but advises you to keep at a steady pace to burn the most calories. I would finally like to mention an expansion on the boxing we saw on Wii Sports, only this time it incorporates stepping forwards and backwards from the balance board to get points for your shots to a robotic punch bag.
The fun, games and stress do not end here however with over 40 different activites to choose from and once again, there is a range of difficulties to select from as you improve your ability. Whilst you do only begin with a select few workouts, they are quick to unlock as you accumulate more time on the game. For every minute you spend doing exercise money goes into your Wii Fit piggy bank, and I think that it's a very clever way to unlock new things considering its an exercise game -- keep people on it for as long as possible. Of course if it was any other game where you just unlocked things for spending time on it, the game wouldn't work, but as Wii Fit is what it is -- it works.
SHOWERED AND READY
Originally titled the 'Wii Health Pack', it's no wonder that it was touted as this when you consider what a breakthrough it is. Whilst I would not consider it to be any sort of gym replacement, it has never been advertised as anything more than an aid to fitness. I guess this is for those people that can't get to the gym one day, and for those that do not have a gym membership, Wii Fit is never going to give you a toned physique.
I guess it's unfortunate that I hoped Wii Fit would surprise me and be more than it actually is, and whilst I will use it every day in hope that it will be helpful, it's all about 'using' this game rather than 'playing', and if you do not have self-control over your eating you aren't going to get anywhere. I suppose it's unfair that I am going to be one of the only people in the world to be negative about Wii Fit, as when you consider the message Nintendo are putting across with this product it is good to see them showing a healthy interest in a growing crisis. Teachers should never be thinking about replacing their physical education classes with lessons on the Wii though.
There is no doubt in my mind that Nintendo are done with this fad yet, and I would expect that in a matter of weeks time I will once again be watching another huge announcement that the casual gamer will not hear about until ten months later. Miyamoto has also spoke about how Wii Fit and the Wii internet service could be used to allow your doctor to view your progress, or allow a real-life trainer to help you will your workouts, although these are features that I do feel will never come to anything.
I do really like Wii Fit, and as a family product Nintendo have hit the nail on the head as you watch your family members get fatter infront of your eyes. Perhaps it can get frustrating when body tests end in laughs rather than real progress in having a better lifestyle, and Wii Fit is not nearly stricked enough in making you reach your targets. You should be able to tell Wii Fit exactly what you want to achieve and what parts of your body so the game can create a special workout just for you, instead you are left to your free will and I find myself spending the most time spent playing games I do not even feel improving my body.
Yet, I still get told well done.
My motivation would also be helped probably if I had not made the mistake of putting my target in wrong to say that I want to gain weight rather than lose, I have no idea how I was stupid enough to do this but Wii Fit should have been able to pick up on something like this. I wouldn't have spent £70 if I wanted to gain a stone. Well, maybe on food I would have.
And I can't help but think it's the lazy man in me that gets irritated everytime I am standing on my Wii balance board and have to step off it so that I can press A on the Wiimote. I don't want to stand on the board with my wriststrap on whilst I'm doing exercises, so my Wiimote sits far away. Afterall, you do need a ridiculous amount of space to play Wii Fit. That's why it's lucky it is a family product and you can get away with having it in your living room. There is no way you could ever play Wii Fit in your bedroom.
There are upcoming releases that use the balance board, so it will be interesting to see if these are also able to aid weight loss because that's what Nintendo video games appear to be becoming all about. I like it, but I don't love it.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Get balanced, get healthy! This is the thinking behind the Wii Fit package, which includes ... more
the Wii Fit Balance Board and a range of fitness based programs and mini-games. The Wii Fit is an immensely popular way to get the whole family moving by giving ...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: Out of stock
Start by creating your personal profile Set up your Mii enter your height and let the ... more
Balance Board take your weight In just a few short seconds you ll know your current Body Mass Index BMI a measurement used to determine your Wii Fit age You l...
Wii Fit attracted millions of new players to the world of video games. Now Wii Fit Plus ... more
offers a range of new features and enhancements to help you reinvigorate your workouts, along with exercises and balance games designed to keep them fun. Youll find...
Postage & Packaging: Free Availability: Stock On Order
Includes Wii Balance BoardKnow Your Physique: Wii Fit Plus will now allow you to check and ... more
monitor 4 areas of your physique, BMI (body mass index), centre of gravity, and calories burnt during your workout you can then set your goals, against the...
Postage & Packaging: free Super Saver Delivery Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Advantages: Get fit without going to the gym, use little or often. Disadvantages: Initial Start up Costs Expensive if you don't have a Console, Some Suppliers out of stock
innercircle 30.01.2009 (30.01.2009)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: exceptional
Review of Wii Fit (Wii)
Advantages: Fun way to get fit. Keeps you coming back for the fun exercises. Disadvantages: The muscle exercises are largely for the legs, not much for the arms. Workout quite fiddly.
Rebeccs 09.11.2009 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Wii Fit (Wii)
Advantages: Shows you how to do exercises correctly, balance games are fun, the balance board Disadvantages: doesn't get that hard if you are really looking to build your fitness
rachael23 09.06.2009 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Wii Fit (Wii)
Advantages: great for weightloss, fun for all the family, improves posture, balance and health Disadvantages: expensive, can only register up to 8 family members
ilusvm 29.10.2008 (29.10.2008)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: exceptional
Review of Wii Fit (Wii)
Advantages: fun, easy to use, great for kids Disadvantages: it's not enough to cause a large weight loss so if thats what your hoping for try something else.
boro-babe_123 04.11.2009 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of WiiFit Plus (Wii)
Jun 25th, 2008
exceptional by (50%):
very helpful by (47%):
helpful by (2%):
not helpful by (2%):
