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Nintendo's Wii Fit: Nifty Way To Exercise

By Robert Paul Reyes

I'm not a video game fanatic; I'm still trying to master the intricacies of Pacman. But there are devotees who spend most of their waking hours playing the latest releases, and in their somnolent hours they search the Internet for tips and cheats that will enable them to get to the next level of their favorite game.

If you fritter away time in front of a TV blasting flying saucers, chances are you aren't going to have the physique of a WWE wrestler. Most gamers may be intimidating when they are battling monsters and aliens, but in real life they are as imposing as Napoleon Dynamite.

Generation Y video game enthusiasts may have the hand-to-eye coordination to be skilled pilots or deadly mass killers, but they are wuzzes on the baseball diamond or the gridiron.

But there is hope for gamers with pot bellies and scrawny arms: Nintendo's Wii Fit.

"Computers have often been accused of fueling the sedentary, stay-at-home lifestyle. Nintendo's latest product, Wii Fit, will keep its users at home, to be sure, but its backers claim it is anything but sedentary. But why fork out $149.95 for Wii Fit when you can do the real-world activity, in many cases, free?

Wii Fit is an extension of Wii Sport, released in 2005, which allowed users to "play" simulated Nintendo sports while watching a computer-generated character of themselves competing. Wii Fit, by contrast, uses a wireless motion-sensitive "balance board". Stand on the board, and Wii Fit will measure Body Mass Index and centre of gravity. After that, there are 40 exercises: balance games such as ski jump and tightrope walk; yoga poses; muscle workouts; and aerobic exercises including boxing."

Quotation from Stephen Cauchi/TheAge.Com.Au

I saw a demonstration of Wii Fit on YouTube, and I'm impressed. I would look too much like a wimp if I practiced yoga in public, and too much of a klutz barreling out of control down a ski slope. It would be great to practice all these sports in the privacy of my own home.

I'm not receiving any compensation from Nintendo for this article; I simply want to encourage gamers to put aside their fave game of killing dragons or monsters and engage in a little bit of physical activity.