Wii Fit = Mii Tired

I’ll be honest, when Nintendo revealed Wii Fit at last year’s E3, I was anything but excited. However, once my wife saw the footage — a woman who hasn’t played a video game since Tetris for the Gameboy came out — she immediately said, “We should buy that.” I should also point out that we didn’t even own a Nintendo Wii at this time, so I couldn’t help but raise my ears a little bit.

I know the excitement that comes on the day a game is going to launch, but my wife has never had such a feeling. In fact, it’s probably safe to assume that she could never understand why I got so excited about such a thing in the first place. It is, after all, only a game.

Then came Wednesday, May 21.

My gym-loving wife had already called a few stores and purchased Wii Fit, all before lunchtime. She told me afterwards that she finally knows why I get excited on launch day.

Wii Fit is a great supplement for anyone’s workout routine. Using the slightly heavy and durable Wii balance board, Wii Fit tracks a user’s weight and BMI (Body Mass Index) by measuring the user’s weight and height. After some calculating, the game will tell you if you are underweight, ideal, overweight or obese. Be prepared to hear the truth. The balance board doesn’t lie. In fact, it will go as far as making your preset Miis larger or smaller depending on the result.

From there, the game’s calendar allows you to track your progress as you work towards your goal of becoming more fit.

While Wii Fit may look quite simple, the techniques employed in the game can be quite laborious for people who have never done them before. Players will have the option between various Yoga poses, strength exercises, aerobics and balance mini-games. All present a good level of challenge, even for those who regularly exercise. An exercise trainer is built into the game to offer tips, encouragement and even suggestions as a means to maximize your workout.

The Yoga section allows the player to improve their balance, body control and posture through slow and focused positions. A yellow circle is placed on the screen and players must focus to keep a small red dot in the center of the circle for an extended time, all the while executing proper breathing and posture position. The exercise requires great focus and attention to the body’s center.

Strength exercises have the player doing everything from push-ups to lunges. These exercises are meant to push the player’s endurance as they must perform the activities with precision along a monitored tempo. After four exercises, I was ready to call it quits and retire to the couch to enjoy some much needed rest. The strength building techniques work on all aspects of the body, including upper body, abs and lower body.

The aerobics section is meant to get the player’s heart rate up. There are several activities, including step aerobics, jogging and cooperative running to improve the player’s cardio. The step aerobics are very intuitive and players are judged by how precise their movements are. Jogging and running employ a Mii trainer for you to follow on your desired length of run. Players will need to utilize the Wii Remote by either placing it in a pocket or holding it in their hand while running.

The balance games are used as a way to mask actual physical training. Games such as using a Hula-Hoop, walking a tight-rope and slalom skiing are just a few of the games that players can have fun completing and unlocking.

The game works on all levels. It not only provides an intense workout, but it is presented in a way that makes everything easy and inviting. The latter being the most significant for those who are apprehensive about working out. Exercising can be quite intimidating if you have never touched foot in a gym before. However, Wii Fit provides a very warm and inviting presence, allowing players to ease themselves into the game’s workout routine.

But there lies the rub.

Even though I was able to set a daily, weekly, monthly or even yearly goal, the game doesn’t provide any feedback as to how to actually go about completing your goal. The player is given the tools and techniques, but they are left feeling lost when it comes to actually developing a routine, which is perhaps the most significant part of working out. For people who have never exercised before, how are they supposed to know the frequency and order of techniques to work on? Sure, the game may say that you are obese, but how do you go about improving on your health? It turns into a game of blind darts, where players just close their eyes and randomly select a fitness technique to work on.

This is where Wii Fit fails. The game does a great job of explaining each and every exercise, but there needs to be some way to give people a set routine. Perhaps the game should have launched with preset routines that could be scaled in difficulty. Otherwise, the player is left feeling lost in a sea of fitness techniques, which is sorely the case.

So while Wii Fit provides players with the tools to improve their health, it doesn’t provide a direction for players to follow. It’s like telling someone they need to drive to Albuquerque, New Mexico when they’ve never been there before. The driver is given a car and a full tank of gas, but no map. The end result is a lost driver meandering aimlessly until he finally gets tired of being confused. The basic principle of working out is to develop a routine and stick with it, which Wii Fit fails to provide. Any gym rat will tell you that repetition and consistency is the most important aspect of having a successful and meaningful workout. I’m confident that Wii Fit works at its goal of making the player healthier, but how many people will lose sight and give up when they find out that they don’t have the proper direction and guidance in game?

The Wii balance board then just becomes another useless peripheral that they shelled out hard-earned money for.

This is where I can see the Internet being a major player in the game’s success. By utilizing the Wii Channels, Wii Fit could sponsor an actual instructor to host fitness classes. This way, not only would the player have additional instruction on the techniques, but guidance on how to build a proper workout. Virtual Yoga classes, step aerobics classes and virtual marathons are all things that Wii Fit should be striving for if Nintendo really wants to revolutionize home fitness.

If the game can garner more direction, through the use of online sources, then Wii Fit can become a standard for any home exercise enthusiast. Until then… it just might be doomed to be another fancy paperweight.

Wii: The Green Machine

So most people have always known that the Nintendo Wii is the most user friendly of the next generation consoles, but did you know that it’s also the most environmentally friendly as well? According to this great Power Consumption Guide by Carl Nelson over at hardcoreware.net, the Nintendo Wii uses about one tenth of the energy than that of an average gaming computer, a PS3 and an XBOX 360.

While the PS3 often peaked at 199.7 watts, the Wii only peaked at only using 18.4 watts during game play. During idle the Wii uses considerably less energy  unless Wii Connect 24 is on. When it is on, the Wii uses more energy than both the PS3 and XBOX 360, but still overall is not that bad.

Another thing that I have noticed personally in comparison with my Wii and PS3 is that I have to charge my PS3’s controllers more often than I have to charge my Wii batteries. One of the things I attribute this to is that the PS3 does not have a timed auto shut off for its controllers that will turn them off if they haven’t been used in a while. Thus when I come back to my PS3 after work or school I will often find the controller dead because it was on the whole time.

So what does all of this mean for the Nintendo gamer? Well not only are they saving money on their electrical bill, but they are also helping reduce CO2 emissions that is produced for the electricity we use at home. Will playing your Wii over your PS3 or XBOX 360 help prevent global warming? No, but at least you can feel a little better about it if you are concerned for the environment.