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Letter to Dorothy Caravias at Nintendo of America Inc. about The Wii Fit

By Mike Torchia

Dorothy Caravias,
Manager Consumer Administration
Nintendo of America Inc.
4820 150th Avenue N.E.,
Redmond, WA.98052

Dear Ms. Caravias,

I appreciate you getting back to me about my concerns regarding your Nintendo Wii system. I believe that there are many social and physical benefits to the Wii system and with my help it can become an extremely beneficial tool to help eradicate the epidemic of obesity around the World. At this time there are several factors which can cause injuries to those who use it and I would like the opportunity to meet with you in person to discuss some of the changes that I believe can be made in order to make this a better and safer system.

The Wii Fit and sports games are currently being used in retirement homes and it is the elderly who have bones that are like fine China, which can easily break. In addition, besides having fragile bodies, they are in poor physical condition and could easily have a stroke or heart attack from over exerting themselves while playing the Wii games. I foresee these potential dangers becoming a reality, because it is widely known in our country, retirement homes lack proper supervision.

Also, children under 8 years old are using your games unsupervised in school and at home, which is a recipe for serious injuries to occur. I am deeply concerned these specific age groups of game users are in danger of sustaining serious injuries. It's still too early to see problems, but there will be problems down the road from the usage of the system if modifications are not made to your systems and well defined instruction are not added to your game manuals.

In your letter, you mention that there are millions of happy customers using your system and that you are not being "plagued" with complaints from your consumers due to injuries. Of course, when a system is distributed in such massive numbers, you are not always hearing "Joe the Plummer," because you are not interacting with the gamers. I am in the trenches hearing these people...I am constantly active in the inner city communities and in the homes of Middle America...I hear the complaints and I have witnessed people getting hurt, because of various flaws in your gaming systems and lack of defined instructions.

Your warnings are more like disclaimers and your game play instructions are blatantly inferior. After performing extensive research and evaluating the countless reviews of your Wii games on the Internet and publications around the World, my conclusion is your company is marketing the Wii game products as a fitness tool (see quotes below). It is packaged like a fitness tool, there are photos of people wearing exercise clothes on the boxes, and it is being referred to as a fitness tool in its reviews.

As a health and fitness expert with over 30 years of experience, I feel that I can help Nintendo improve on the quality of their system. There are several modifications which can easily be made, such as embedding time codes in the software, creating age appropriate instructions, enhancing sensors and adding sensible game play tips for users. I would like an opportunity to demonstrate and explain the problems that I am speaking of in more detail. Along with providing your team of engineers with the specific modifications. Please feel free to contact me at your earliest convenience.

1) REVIEW LINK: http://www.blinkx.com/video/wii-fit-gamespot-review-rated-7-0/cCYmAvO1W2tYmz78aTUtXw

QUOTES ABOUT THE SYSTEM:

"Wii Fit takes the whole concept of games as exercise to a new level..."

"Unfortunately, Wii Fit is hamstrung by some odd omissions (such as not being able to create your own program from the available exercises) and questionable health advice, limiting its effectiveness both as a fitness tool and as a game."

2) REVIEW LINK: http://www.gizmag.com/wii-fit-reviewed/9358/

QUOTES ABOUT THE SYSTEM:

"This seems like a major oversight - as people are likely to do themselves damage if they push themselves too hard, and your virtual trainer can't figure out you're doing anything wrong. If you're looking for a hardcore cardiovascular workout, Wii Fit is not for you."

3) REVIEW LINK: http://w8lose.com/wii-fit-and-weight-loss/

QUOTES ABOUT THE SYSTEM:

"Still, it seems a little disingenuous for Nintendo to heavily market a fitness tool that's sitting in more than a million American living rooms collecting dust."

4) REVIEW LINK: http://searchwarp.com/swa237872.htm

QUOTES ABOUT THE SYSTEM:

"Nintendo has announced a new fitness game Wii Fit which is a full on exercise product set to give you more of a workout than Wii Sports, while still retaining all the fun of gaming."

5) REVIEW LINK: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/134640.php

QUOTES ABOUT THE SYSTEM:

"...they should seek more information from a health professional who can better evaluate the level of body fat. However, he said the calculation is unsuitable for children. "For children, the BMI calculation has to be expressed based on age and gender growth charts, and it doesn't do that," Dzewaltowski said. "Due to children's age and gender differences in growth, the adult BMI calculators don't work. My use of the Wii BMI calculator showed that it was inappropriate for children and would categorize children incorrectly." The game also gives players a Wii Fit Age, which is measured by the player's BMI and their center of gravity and balance testing. However, Dzewaltowski doesn't think the measurement is credible. For personal goals, he said it is more important to focus on behaviors such as physical activity and fruit and vegetable consumption rather than the game's BMI and fitness age measurements."

6) REVIEW LINK: http://www.balanceboardblog.com/2008/05/wii-fit-set-to-become-best-selling.html

QUOTES ABOUT THE SYSTEM:

Wii Fit set to become best-selling home fitness tool ever<http://www.balanceboardblog.com/2008/05/wii-fit-set-to-become-best-selling.html> Wii Fit hasn't yet arrived in North America, but retailers and experts in the UK are already predicting that the software will go on to break sales records.

Already the eighth fastest-selling title in UK history, Wii Fit has sold over 338,000 units in the country since April 25. And Woolworths boss Jim Batchelor told The Telegraph<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1941532/Wii-fit-on-course-to-become-best-selling-exercise-trend-of-all-time.html>that it will soon become the company's biggest ever fitness tool in terms of copes sold:

"It has already become the fastest-selling home fitness tool and we expect it to surpass the sales of any fitness DVD or piece of fitness equipment that Woolies has ever sold."

7) REVIEW LINK: http://www.idahostatesman.com/entertainment/story/410028.html

Here are some examples of flaws

Using the balance board, the game determines your "Wii Fit" age based on your actual age, weight, body mass index and a short fitness test. Don't be discouraged if your "Wii Fit" weight is 10 pounds different from your bathroom scale, or your fitness age bumps you up a generation. Therein lies the major flaw of the game - the calculations for weight and "Wii Fit" age are wildly fluctuating. My first day with the game, my "Wii Fit" age was my real age, 30. I had a so-so workout that day, more an exercise in learning the game than anything else. On the second day, I got a regular workout incorporating all four areas of the game - strength training, aerobics, yoga and balance. I exercised for 45 minutes, and by the time I was done, I was sweating.

According to the game, I was sweating so hard, in fact, that I lost 9.5 pounds. Yet my "Wii Fit" age jumped to 40. Dissatisfied, I re-took the fitness test and dropped back down to 32. This unreliability of key information might prove frustrating to anyone who relies on statistics to keep motivated to exercise. Luckily, there's another motivator built into the game: The more points you earn exercising (time exercised equals points), the more activities are unlocked. And don't worry - you don't have to be an Ironman athlete to get full use of the game. Once you get going, the rest of the activities start unlocking pretty quickly. The balance board also is flawed in its ability to gauge how well the user is doing the exercises. The board cannot see, per se - it responds to the amount of applied pressure - and therefore it can be fooled easily. I know I don't have "great ab strength," for example, but the game told me that after I suffered through a set of jackknife reps.

8) REVIEW LINK: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34377183@N04/3198139329/

The product has descriptive photos with people posing in exercise position which create an illusion that it is a fitness tool! The advertising firm has created a subliminal message in the packaging to make people think it's a fitness tool.

9) REVIEW LINK: http://wii.kombo.com/article.php?artid=11937

QUOTES ABOUT THE SYSTEM:

"Disappointingly, although Wii Fit is supposed to help you get in shape, it could do a better job of guiding you along the way." When you first start the game, it walks you through everything, and you feel like you truly do have a virtual trainer who will be there to tell you what you need to do.

"It would have been nice if the game recommended exercises to you based off your body <http://wii.kombo.com/article.php?artid=11937#> test and performance during exercises, that way you have some kind of general direction."

"Last but not least, there is at least one technical problem with the way Wii Fit measures your fitness level. The game uses your BMI - a number that is formulated based off your height and weight - to assign you your Wii Fit Age, which represents your overall level of fitness. The problem is that your BMI is not an accurate gauge of your physical condition because it does not take into account your body's ratio of body fat to muscle. So, for example, Wii Fit does not distinguish between a person who has a lot of body fat and a person who has a lot of muscle, even if the two people weigh the same and are the same height. This is an inherent problem with using BMI to grade your fitness level, unfortunately, and thus you can't take what Wii Fit tells you about your physical condition too seriously."

10) REVIEW LINK: http://www.gamespot.com/wii/sports/wiifit/review.html

QUOTES ABOUT THE SYSTEM:

The Bad

- No way to create your own exercise program - You're forced to unlock most of the activities - Some games are rather shallow - Health and fitness assessments can be problematic - Board is sensitive, but you can still cheat at exercises.

"...Nintendo is heavily marketing this innovative title as a mixture of fitness and fun, and for the most part it works..." "Unfortunately, Wii Fit is hamstrung by some odd omissions (such as not being able to create your own program from the available exercises) and questionable health advice, limiting its effectiveness both as a fitness tool and as a game."

"Wii Fit's included exercises do have the potential to positively impact your health, but thanks to its lack of exercise options, poor support for multiplayer, and shallow health advice, this title isn't a gaming fitness revolution."

Sincerely,

Michael Torchia
Health and Wellness Expert
800.933.8633
michael@operationfitness.com
www.operationfitness.com
www.holistichealthfoundation.com
www.healthypetnation.com