Wii Fit | List Price: $89.99
Discount Price: $162.06
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Platform: Nintendo Wii
Brand: Nintendo
Binding: Video Game
Release Date: 2008-05-21
ESRB Age Rating: Everyone
Features: - Lean to block soccer balls, swivel hips to power hoop twirls or balance to hold the perfect yoga pose. As you stand on the Wii Balance Board, included with Wii Fit, your body's overall balance is tied to the game in a way you've never experienced before
- Wii Fit also uses the Wii Balance Board for daily tests. These evaluate two key measures that a household can track via progress charts -
- Body Mass Index (BMI) - A weight evaluation based on a ratio of weight to height
- Wii Fit Age - The Wii Fit Age is measured by factoring the user's BMI reading, testing the user's center of gravity and conducting quick balance tests
- Wii Fit includes more than 40 types of training activities designed to appeal to all members of a household. Training falls into four fitness categories -
great way to get some exercise [Posted on 2008-07-17]
If you are like my wife and I you just don't have time for a gym. This program is a great way to get exercise everyday at a time convenient to you and to monitor your progress. I am always surprised when I find myself sweating and a little sore when I'm done.
An exercise bike and treadmill are great but really boring and don't work your whole body - Wii Fit does.
Fun for one, Worthless for family play [Posted on 2008-07-17]
First, I bought this last weekend at Best Buy. They had plenty in stock and it cost around $90. I mention that, because the price currently listed here (almost twice that) made me gasp.
At the time, I had guests and naturally we all wanted to hang out and try the board, which brought its biggest defect immediately to light. It is extremely slow and clumsy as a multi-user platform.
To start with (as others have said) there is an involved setup process where the Wii offers threadbare exercise advice, grunts in pain when you step in the board (I'm not kidding), tells you you're too fat and, should your balance not be perfectly on center, asks whether you trip a lot.
So, OK. That part was fairly amusing. At the end of it, you get a Wii age based on balance, actual age and BMI. Of the five of us who tried it, four came out 15-20 years older than their actual age, and one 13 years younger. I'm not saying which one. Just that all those years of yoga have apparently paid off. :)
That part was amusing too, and it was a one-time investment, so so far s'ok. Now to the games. In this, the WiiFit is very much like the Wii sports package that came with our set originally. The games are slow to load, waste a lot of time in explanations that you can't completely skip, offer one or two quick rounds of play, and then make you wait for cheering crowds, scores to tally, etc. One minute of credited play on the clock (there's a clock-bank tracking how much you've worked out) amounts to about 15 seconds of activity on the board. Personally, I found this tedious. I don't need cheering scores and a hall of fame with little Pikachu noises. I want to reset the game as fast as possible and play again. Can't do it.
That said, the balance games were fun. We tried the tightrope, the soccer (watch out for flying pandas), and the ski-jump, and liked them all.
But here we hit on a nearly insurmountable problem. My sons and I wanted to have fun together. Perfect, right? No. YOU CANNOT USE THE WII-FIT AS A MULTIPLAYER GAME. At least, not with one board. To change players, you have to exit the game, go back to the Wii plaza, change Miis and then do a quick recalibration of the bord. This takes 3-4 minutes, which is just nuts. I thought I'd FINALLY found a physical activity for my family to do together in the home, and we can't do it together!
There is no provision that I found for switching quickly and easily between Miis, a problem that destroyed the fun of the games for us. This is a product killer, as far as I'm concerned. I probably wouldn't have bought it, if I'd known. I doubt we'll take it off the shelf very often.
However, I had some interest in the personal trainer aspect of the Wii, so I gave that a shot, too. I didn't try the strength training. I hate lunges, and don't imagine doing them on the board will make them tolerable, but I did try the yoga, and...sad to say...didn't like it at all. The pace is slow, slow, slow. There is far too much dead time, spent getting lectured by the machine. Conversely, holds on postures are rather long which, I believe, would make them very difficult for beginners. As balance training, the yoga might be OK, but as an asana practice, it's nothing near as effective as a good DVD.
I probably would have given the Wii-Fit 5 stars if they had built in some way for me to use it for group play. It's small, easy to store, and it's a joy to see the kids move something other than their thumbs when playing video games.
As things stand, it's nothing more than a 15 minute novelty and I can only hope somebody will come along and design more multi-player friendly games.
2 months & still going strong! [Posted on 2008-07-18]
My husband and I both love this game. Everyone who has come over falls in love with it and wants one too. It is so much fun, gets you off the couch, offers a competitive workout tailored to each person's needs. Can't say enough about this game. If you are hesitating about buying the game due to the price, trust me, you won't be disappointed! It's a lot cheaper than a gym membership and a lot more fun.
This game is single-handedly responsible for bringing our Wii back from "hibernation" =)
Wii Fit Is Definitely One Size Fits All! [Posted on 2008-07-18]
I got Wii Fit not expecting too much. I thought it might have some games that my kids would like enough to take a break from marathon gaming sessions on the couch. Was I surprised - this thing is fantastic! I'm a middle aged woman with way too many kids and I love it!
Wii Fit consists of a wireless platform and the "game" disc. You must already own a Wii game console to use it. You will also need a fairly large open space in front of your TV in order to do all of the exercises. If you are an older person or someone with balance problems, you'll benefit from a sturdy chair nearby to use for balance during some of the exercises.
The platform is actually a wireless scale with hundreds of little sensors that monitor your constant shifts in balance, as well as your weight. It's the way the platform measures if you are doing an exercise correctly. You have the option of recording your weight at every session but you don't have to - you can go straight to the exercises.
The exercises are divided into 4 categories - yoga, strength training, aerobic and balance training. In general, there are very few reps of each exercise, with a report on how well you performed it immediately following. That gets a little annoying as there is no way to skip through that. Some of the exercises allow you to unlock more reps as you log more time on the program, but not all. The up side to that is that it is perfect for people in less than peak condition to begin an exercise program. As you continue to use the program, you unlock new exercises and/or more difficult versions of the ones you already do. It helps to keep it interesting and progressively more challenging.
You begin by creating a character to represent you and then you input your age and height. Next, the platform weighs you and gives you your BMI. It encourages you to set a realistic goal - weight loss or maintenance of your current weight. Then it asks you to perform 2 balance tests and calculates a fitness "age". From there, you go to training exercises. You select a male or female "trainer", who will coach you through doing each exercise. In many of the exercises, there is a kind of visual bio-feedback on the TV screen that helps you adjust and shift your weight so that you are performing the exercise correctly. At the end of each exercise, you are given a score of 1 to 4 stars and a numerical grade, which is recorded in an area along with other users. Highest grades get a First Place ranking, similar to video game rankings. All of this is designed to record and encourage improvement and it's amazingly effective. We're all a little competitive, I guess!
The basic strategy appears to be to strengthen your core muscles, improve your balance and posture, and then work and tone your muscles in a completely self-paced way. I like that if you are unable to do a particular exercise for whatever reason, you aren't penalized. You don't have to do every exercise in order to unlock new exercises. I think it's a great flexibility that allows a broader range of people to use and benefit from Wii Fit. My mom who has COPD can't do all the aerobics, but she can do much of the yoga and strength training as well as the balance games. My friend's dad can't do some of the more difficult yoga poses due to Parkinson's, but the balance training is almost exactly like the PT he goes to once a week so he is using his Wii Fit daily.
If you are someone who is used to working out heavily several times a week at a gym, I'm not sure you would feel this is worth the investment for a Wii and then the Wii Fit. But then again, you might. For everyone else who knows they need to exercise more or has a sedentary job, this could be just the thing! BTW, the age range of the 6 people using mine is from 5 to 58. How many fitness programs can engage that many different ages and still be fun and effective? I give it a big thumbs up.
This is exersize??!! [Posted on 2008-07-18]
I love it! I'm 41 and my husband is 42. When my friends and kids come over we have a blast with it! It's a wonderful motivator. It's cheaper than any weight-loss program!!!!
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