Wii Fit

[dazzybee]

To be honest I don't care I'm away filming my short until the early hours of friday morning! My girflriend is coming down that weekend though so she'll love the fact I'll have this! Mario Kart and Wii Fit all weekend!

[tetra_tracker]

To be honest i don't really care about Wii Fit. Unless not until a game come out supporting it. But i have to admit it's really catchy as a project. All the non gamers i know are, at least want to know "what the hell this thing is" plus the girls are already convinced. Mine actually has already decided to buy it so i will have it anyway!

 

Nintendo has an awesome strategy on this one and if they support it with more games/mini games etc this thing will be a gigantic success!

[Owen]

Why is everyone saying 'To be honest'? Are you all taking the piss out of me?

[ShadowV7]

Why is everyone saying 'To be honest'? Are you all taking the piss out of me?

 

Was about to say something about that actually

 

Found out there's 40 odd activities on this so this should keep me busy for a while.

[Owen]

Was about to say something about that actually

 

Found out there's 40 odd activities on this so this should keep me busy for a while.

 

Nevermind, it doesn't bother me, to be honest...

 

I'm really looking forward to the Yoga/Sit-up type games for some reason...

[Cube]

NGamer Review

 

We're sweating bullets - and we haven't even stepped onto the board yet. Of all Nintendo's wacky lifestyle experiments there are none that skirt as close to the game/non-game border as this.

 

Ninty's previous jaunts into the realms of mental and ocular betterment have always had gamey connotations - we cannot, after all, pull homemade eye and arithmetic tests out of thin air. But exercise? That's free to anyone willing to whang around a few cans of baked beans as impromptu dumbbells.

 

Not only does it sit on the edge of what we understand as gaming, but it challenges our way of life to boot. It states in our contracts that all games must be played slumped in a chair with at least one can of Pepsi within grabbing reach.

 

We're not part of the National Union of Journalists, but aligned with the National Union of Sitters. In fact, our standing on the balance board elicited gasps from our sister mags teams, so shocked were they to see we actually had legs.

 

The main sweat-maker? The idea that Nintendo may be resting on their laurels - they're creators extraordinaire, not in the idea-repackaging business.

 

This particularly applies to the muscle conditioning and yoga posing segments in which an on-screen mannequin guides you through a common catalogue of stretches and pulls.

 

Bending to touch your toes? You don't need Nintendo to tell you to do that. Turning contortionist with an ankle under the armpit? People were adopting the lotus position long before Nintendo was even a glint in Fusajiro Yamauchi's eye.

 

And it's all so lacking in that Nintendo charm. The expanded audience titles may not be brimming with cute characters and silly touches, but at least we had Kawashima's boxy head giggling at coriander and Professor Lobe strolling the academy to remind us exactly who was behind the steering wheel.

 

But here? Well, there's the metallic piggy bank that measures time accumulated through in-game activities, but bar his ecstatic squeals as you burn away the calories, this has all the personality of a cold, sterile gym.

 

You're guided around by an anthropomorphic balance board named Wiibo, but he/she/it's an uncharismatic presence. Very much of the Microsoft Office Assistant variety - though not as unholy as Clippy - he teeters around spouting out reams of instructions and dull acronyms.

 

Your BMI (body mass index), your COG (centre of gravity), your target lb loss over X amount of time, a rough calculation of your GROF (gross rolls of fat); people said weight measuring couldn't be fun, we think 'people' may be right on this one.

 

As in Nintendo's other training games, the actual testing - the weighing process - is limited to one shot a day. Importing your Mii avatar, you adjust the conditions of your session - although it's a tad tricky to judge the weight of your clothes when asked (so, best play naked) - and off you go.

 

Having scanned for fat cells, there's a basic leaning exercise and standing still task to measure your COG - after all, there's no point in being skinny if you're a horrific freakazoid hunchback, right?

 

As far as tests go it seems more trustworthy than Brain Age or Sight Training. In those games it's possible for your stylus inabilities to contribute to a sloppy rating.

 

With Wii Fit any fool can stand upright and be judged. Adding your own weight goals is a nice touch; a set aim is much more attractive than casual whittling down over time.

 

One does wonder if this idea is in place to remind people that Wii Fit has health implications - while a young brain is desirable to all, adult organs need adult-sized bodies to live in, perpetual weight streamlining leading to an unpleasant, and bony, place.

 

Divided into four categories the activities work towards three goals: working up a flab-frightening sweat, improving your balance and toning your muscles.

 

Of the task groupings, yoga is as expected; your typical new age faffing with silly names like 'The Tree', 'The Chair', 'The Sun Salutation' and 'The Sarcastic Taxidermist'.

 

You follow the lead of the on-screen trainer and if you're doing it right your centre of balance should lie in a certain location, and success is judged by keeping it there.

 

Call us crazy, but isn't yoga meant to be relaxing? Having to keep a red dot floating in a sweet spot - this is how your COG is represented on screen - adds unnecessary stress.

 

Yoga isn't a game, so don't rate the yogi as if they'd just finished one. Final star ratings make sense for the traditional minigame selection, but are massively out of place here.

 

It's a similar story with muscle conditioning - activities not unlike the warm-up stretches our classmates would perform at the beginning of PE while we skived off with claims of 'feet problems'.

 

Leg-yanking, torso-twisting muscle hurters, they are well demonstrated by the trainers, but what's the point of forcing you to perform them with a preset COG?

 

It's as if Wii Fit is suspicious of you not doing the exercises, so it forces you to stand atop the board where your movement can be observed. Big Wiibo is watching you.

 

As mentioned in the opening paragraph, these are exercise options open to you whether or not you decide to invest £70 in Wii Fit and board.

 

Will handing over 70 big ones really motivate you into doing something you weren't before? We're not so sure. It certainly hasn't made tying our bodies in knots any more fun. And so we turn to it as a games device.

 

Twelve games in total - divided into aerobic exercises (the hectic hip-flailing ones) and balancing games (the straight-up lean-to-control ones) - the resounding vibe is of Wii Play.

 

Simple graphics, Mii incorporation, not too hard to master, little in the way of replay value; this seems to be the tick list for all the titles packaged with Nintendo peripherals (Wii Play and Crossbow Training), raising the question over which bit of the package is worth what.

 

Are we getting a free game with the £70 balance board or a slightly rubbish game with, say, a £40 board? It's all a bit of a mystery.

 

Saying that, like Wii Play and Crossbow Training, it's not without its charms. Board calibration is impressive, the ease and enjoyment of ski slalom, snowboarding and the Kororinpa-like marble drop is testament to the one-to-one mapping.

 

Other games translate simpler actions to delightful effect. Wobbling your hips and seeing your hula-hooping Mii follow suit is hilariously out there, as is heading invisible footballs in your living room.

 

Stepping on and off the board for some step aerobics and boxercise shows more hidden depths, even though these games play like Dance Dance Revolution redesigned for the fun allergic.

 

Problems are more evident in the iceberg tilting penguin challenge and tightrope task. Angling the 'berg to slide your Mii towards fish and teetering to stay atop a wire are both technically fine, but the fun is soon exhausted.

 

Contrary to popular belief, your face in a penguin costume is only so funny. Difficulty levels add new obstacles, but the skill that wobbled you through the first iteration is rarely challenged.

 

This isn't to mention the god-awful 'sit still and stare at a candle' task, one of the laziest 'games' since Ninja Reflex asked us to stare at a pause, sorry, meditation screen.

 

You can look at Wii Fit in two ways. On one hand it's a pretty comprehensive selection of exercises, cleanly presented and given a novel twist thanks to the board.

 

Alternatively, you can see it as a series of lacklustre tasks that beautifully demonstrate the technical abilities of the board, decorated with the silly lifestyle trappings we're willing to overlook as long as Ninty keep delivering the proper gaming goods.

 

We have no doubts that the board will eventually become a must buy, but here and now, for £70? That's heavy.

[tapedeck]

I love how journos still cannot rate titles which are meant for "a different purpose". Why give this a rating at all? I know the elders in my family are really looking forward to this. Try telling my 70 yr old grandad that snowboarding in your living room, heading footballs and actually getting fit doing this is a waste of time or is a percentage out of 100 and he will just stare at you. Journalists still rate these types of titles? Why bother? They should just say "if you like the look of it and want new ways to exercise, this is perfect for you. If not, don't bother". View it as a new product, not in comparison to Mario Kart/Halo etc... (Or even links crossbow training).

 

There are good points in the review but giving it a score out of 100 is silly.

 

Perhaps they should have a mom/elderly person/kid review it and mix all of their impressions into a whole point. It would be better than a (self confessed) sitting-down, Pepsi guzzler rating something he/she has little to no interest in.

[Hellfire]

WiiFit can't even be reviewed as a game, it's moronic.

[Tellyn]

My sister's decided to give me £35 to get Wii Fit (which is more than she contributed to the Wii fund). I'm quite looking forward to it.

[Sparko]

I'm thinking about getting this, but the price is pretty steep.. Equally painful is the fact that if it was converted directly from the American price it'd be just under €40 cheaper. I might order it from England actually, the Euro price is just too much, can get it for about £70/€85 from GAME, which is €10 cheaper than the €95 I've seen advertised in shops over here.

[Ramar]

I was meant to get Wii Fit but delayed pre-ordering it because of its closeness to GTA IV. Now I'm regretting not pre-ordering it.

[Owen]

I was meant to get Wii Fit but delayed pre-ordering it because of its closeness to GTA IV. Now I'm regretting not pre-ordering it.

 

You should be ok with going to your local game shop and argos, comet, currys, pcworld, toys r us etc..You might as well give it a try!

[Maiky-NiSuTe]

mario kart, link crossbow, Wii Play, and wii sports were all supper cheap and incl the extras. and now we have to pay 100,- euro for this... there must be a really good reason for it.

[darksnowman]

mario kart, link crossbow, Wii Play, and wii sports were all supper cheap and incl the extras. and now we have to pay 100,- euro for this... there must be a really good reason for it.

 

Yeah, well the Zapper should never cost the same as WiiFit anyway!

 

This will be so dear because we can only assume that the Wiibo has lots of expensive technology in it... well that and the fact that we seem to always get screwed over with pricing.

[spirited away]

mario kart, link crossbow, Wii Play, and wii sports were all supper cheap and incl the extras. and now we have to pay 100,- euro for this... there must be a really good reason for it.

 

Well most of those peripherals were just casings. If the technology inside the Wii board will enable Dev's to make some fresh new games with innovative gameplay; I don't mind paying £30/35 for it. Only really the price of a Wiimote/Nunchuck combo!

[david.dakota]

i'm really, really looking forward to this. I was undecided for so long, but pre-ordered. I'm just worried that our lounge is too small now!

[Gizmo]

mario kart, link crossbow, Wii Play, and wii sports were all supper cheap and incl the extras. and now we have to pay 100,- euro for this... there must be a really good reason for it.

 

MK + LCT were just plastic shells. Wii Play was barely a proper game. Wii Sports is just a tech demo.

 

This is a proper new piece of equipment with a full "game" along side. I'd liken it more to Guitar Hero than Links Crossbow Training.

[Owen]

GAME has dispatched this today and by 'Parcel Force' as i have a tracking number etc..

 

I'll be quite surprised if i get this any earlier then Wed/Thurs, but people may get them Tuesday if they really have dispatched em!

[Coolness Bears]

I wish this didn't cost so much! I don't have that kind of money... (time to get a Job. :/)

 

I'm wearing a Wii Fit Sweat band that came with ONM Though....

[dazzybee]

Yeah mines dispatched too, hmmm, if I get it monday I may take the Wii filming with me. That way I can do a bit of wii fit every day before filming; get my body active for the day

[Ten10]

Mine has been dispatched by gameplay which makes me feel good I didn't waste extra Money on first class delivery. Said delivery in 3-5 working days so maybe Wed the earliest.

[D-Day]

So with the word that Wii Fit won't be counted in software sales in N.A. I wonder if it will be the same over here? There is no denying how successful it will be, it will be interesting to see the numbers.

I'll have to wait atleast a week before I can purchase this though, still kind of excited.

[GigaPlay]

I'm probably going to pass on this. Personally I don't really see what's so appealing about it.

 

Don't really see what was so wrong about that review either. =/

[dazzybee]

Can you not see that the balance board is an amazing bit of kit with insane amounts of potential?

 

Can you not see that if people wanted to do some exercise but didn't have much spare time or couldn't afford the gym or felt to embarrassed to go this would be a great alternative?

 

Can you not understand that some people like new experiences and there hasn't been a game like this ever?

 

For me I want the board. I want some motivation to exercise and I am so effing bored of playing the same games - I love and crave new gaming experiences, however brief or gimmicky some people think they are.

 

I mean my housemates who play the 360 all the time have played games in this order - Gears of War, Ghost Recon, Bioshock, Halo 3, CoD 4, Rainbow 6 etc They're good games, but god is the experience getting samey and boring!!

[Retro_Link]

UK IGN Preview

 

http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/867/867690p1.html

 

Best of all, Wii Fit comes emblazoned with a huge sticker proclaiming anyone over 23 st 8lb need not apply.

lol!