Wii Fit

Preview from Jae - Tuesday, 29 April 2008 @ 7:47pm

I was convinced that this game was going to be gimmick of the year and I still stand by that. Nintendo has already stimulated our brains, vocabulary and ability to beat Kieren Perkins at anything but swimming. So the next step to world domination? Combine video games with ‘personal training’. Wii Fit is Nintendo’s title that is set to appeal to the masses.





The first component of the game, like its little sister Brain Age, has you measuring yourself up. First you enter in your height, age and it measures your weight. A/S/L much? 185cm/25/82kg measured me up with a BMI of around 24. It’s basically your weight divided by your height². Fitness education teaches us that a BMI of between 19 – 25 is the best to be but I tend to not rely purely on that fact. You could be at the right weight for your height but that doesn’t mean that you’re fit. That’s where Wii Fit can help you! The next test was to find out your initial Fit-age. Much like Brain Age, your ideal target is to reach an age below your actual. The test I did was the yoga balance one where you try to precisely focus your weight on the centre of the balance board with one leg only. I did quite well, if I say so myself, with a Fit-age of 20. Jane Fonda and Richard Simmons eat your heart out.



I managed to play a few of the exercises in my time there. Skiing seemed to be a common theme. The basic one been steering your Ski Mii between the red and blue flags, simple concept but the sensitivity means you can sometimes put too much weight and veer too far to the sides. The other Ski game was more focused on your weight distribution towards the front and back. Your Ski Mii would be trying to gain momentum in a downward slide before making a huge cliff jump to the snow below. The trick to it is to bend low with your chest forward and when its time to jump lift your body up with your chest still forward. Now for those of us who don’t naturally perk up our chests this can be a difficult motion. A lot of the ladies trying it out made it seem so simple but it took me three turns to finally get the jump right. Even so my jump was a measly 57m. For shame fitness boy, for shame.





Using 4x AA Batteries and lightweight it sure does fit comfortably underneath your coffee table or couch. Now a warning for the fatties in Oz. The Wii balance board is only designed to handle up to 150kgs. Are you more than that and not participating in Australia’s Biggest Loser? Then give me a call. I’ll get you sorted in no time. (Disclaimer: Or maybe not). I did notice standing on this board that it has lost its pure white colour and been replaced with light brown wear and tear. If you plan on purchasing this with the notion of letting everyone play it I suggest you get everyone socked up or wearing shower caps on their feet. Otherwise you can end up with one dirty board that makes you cringe every time you got to do push ups on it.

If you’ve ever played Kororinpa or Super Monkey Ball for the Wii then one of the exercises will seem familiar. You have a ball, or balls depending if you’re anatomically equipped, that you have to tip into the hole. Tipping your weight around the board will make the platform incline or decline on the same angles. I managed to get up to level 5 before I lost which was a pretty good feat considering I had to get three balls in the hole. The music stepping game was mildly fun, like a dumbed down version of DDR. After each exercise you will be graded on a 4 star system. The best I ever managed was 3 stars so with more practice the more you can look like one of them Abs roller advertisement folk.



Wii fit is poised to make the PTs of the world cry on 8th May 2008. Not because it’s going to take their bread and butter away, but because it’s fun. A personal trainer can’t give you stats on the fly, measure your ‘fitness-age’ or teach you precise balance so dump that $59.95 per week habit and stick to the one flat $149.95 price. Seriously though, Wii Fit can definitely improve your fitness but don’t think of it as a replacement for real life exercise. It more or less complements any healthy lifestyle you may be living. It will be interesting to see what developers do with the new peripheral. I’m hanging out for the Time Crisis Wii title and Space Channel 5 balance board editions. I can only dream. Now get up off that boob tube, drop and give me 25!



Being a fitness expo Wii fit was not the only videogame-centric title on show. A game that worked up a fair bit of sweat was Jackie Chan’s Studio Fitness. Oh. My. God. They created a game about me! I’m still waiting for the royalties to come in, but I’m sure the cheque is in the mail. This game appears on the interactive Xavix producs allowing you to exercise with the most famous Asian stunt man in the world. In one of the games Jackie takes you along the streets of Hong Kong, ducking left and right, jumping over hurdles to get to those nasty ninjas. Interacting with the aptly named J-mat is surprisingly fun and hard work. Working on your cardio fitness this will help you shed those kilos but it can be pricey (all up over $200). The XaviXPORT has other titles for purchase including Bowling, Golf, Baseball and Tennis. Sorry guys but I already got Wii Sports, for free too.



I managed to score myself a Wii fit pack which has a fitball, Yoga mat and sports bottle in it. To be in the running send an entry into jae@australiangamer.com stating in 25 words or less why Wii Fit is better than getting a Personal Trainer (like Jae). C’mon I dare you.