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  Wii Fit
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InnovationSince experiencing immense success with the DS, the rulers of Nintendo-land have become obsessed with providing innovation to the rest of the gaming world. The Wii, with its motion-sensing controller, lovingly dubbed the Wii-mote, has been touted for getting gamers physically involved in the action through titles such as Wii Sports. That, however, wasn’t enough for the man behind Mario; Shigeru Miyamoto decided to step things up a notch by envisioning one of the wackiest peripherals in video gaming history. The Wii Balance Board is a unique peripheral, shaped like your standard bathroom scales that can calculate weight, center of gravity and BMI (after inputting your height). Yes, this sounds like a piece of equipment tailor-made for a gym. But then again, Nintendo’s first outing is aiming to provide a similar experience with Wii Fit, the first title to make use of the new peripheral. Workout at homeThe days of half-hour workout programs are gone with Wii Fit heralding in a new era of electronic exercise. By being able to calculate (with a high degree of accuracy) a player’s weight distribution at any given time, Nintendo has designed a series of activities; some aiming at providing a serious workout while others provide similar entertainment to that found in the Eye Toy range of games. The activities have been split up into four categories: Aerobic Exercise, Muscle Conditioning, Yoga and Balance Games. Muscle Conditioning and Yoga seem to have the most sincere form of exercise while the aerobic and balance categories aim to give players a more enjoyable one. ActivitiesOne of the activities has you balancing on one leg, trying to perfect your weight distribution, represented by a red dot that moves depending on your balance. Another activity has you hitting pose after pose and holding them for a few seconds; both activities getting progressively harder as the margin of error decreases. Those who’ve played The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess will likely remember the highly infuriating mini-game that had you maneuver a marble, balanced on raised platforms, to the end of a course by using the Wii-mote to change the orientation of the box. A similar mini-game has made its way into Wii Fit, requiring players to maneuvers marbles into a hole on a floating wooden platform, controlling the orientation of the platform by shifting their weight. Ski jumping, snowboarding and tightrope balancing are examples of other mini-games, all designed to put the balance of gamers to the test while yoga stretches help one’s mental and physical health. Those more interested in working their muscles can take part in a range of no-weight activities such as pushups and squats. Some of the activities are more likely to cater to gamers include shifting your weight to header an onslaught of soccer balls while dodging any unwelcome objects (such as boots) from hitting you squarely in the nose. Boxing is also provided, where the Balance Board is used to control your weight distribution while the Wii-mote and nunchuck are used to throw punches.   |
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| At a glance |
| The days of half-hour workout programs are gone, with the innovative Balance Board at its heart, Wii Fit is set to give players a game unlike any they've experience before. |