Nintendo’s latest brainchild, Wii Fit, could send ripples through the home-fitness market. Released last week in North America, Wii Fit is not meant to replace a gym. But in a world of $3,000 (around Rs1.26 lakh) elliptical machines and $150-an-hour personal trainers, it has at least a chance of becoming a global, affordable, mass-market interactive home-fitness system (on its overseas debut last month, it became one of the fastest-selling games ever in Britain).
Weiss using the Wii floor-based pressure board that, along with hand-held motion sensors, tracks the user’s weight, posture and movements (Photo by: Beatrice de Gea)
Exercising with Wii Fit is like having a personal trainer gently cajoling you through exercises, praising, nudging, even reminding you to eat a banana once in a while. It also lets you see how you stack up against friends or family members.
The system costs $90, plus $250 for the basic Wii console. It uses a television and a sensitive “balance board” placed on the floor to present a few dozen activities, from push-ups to yoga, to more entertaining challenges such as balance games and aerobic contests. Wii Fit is meant to appeal to the person busy with work and family who just wants to have fun getting a little toned at home.
To evaluate the system, we recruited two fitness professionals, an avid exerciser and one work-at-home parent to try Wii Fit at the Chelsea Piers sports complex in Manhattan. Here is what we thought:
THE MULTITASKER
Shira Weiss, a 33-year-old mother of two and a publicist for small businesses, wants Wii Fit because it fits both her lifestyle and her doorway. “Let me put it this way: I clean with vigour. I like aerobic exercise and would like a treadmill. But we tried to get one, and the door of our house was too narrow.”
Looking at the 12-inch by 20-inch Wii Fit board—“but this could work,” she says.
Wii Fit’s almost 50 exercises are divided into four categories: strength training, aerobics, balance games and yoga. Each user creates a personal profile, including a potential weight loss (or gain) goal. The system tracks a user’s weight and body-mass index as well as performance on individual exercises. To help prevent novices from over-extending or frustrating themselves, only a few exercises are initially available in each category; more advanced activities are unlocked only after completing simpler options.
Weiss found her groove in Wii Fit’s aerobics section. She proved a quick study with the hula hoop game before finding her long-sought treadmill replicated in the running game. In Wii Fit, running does not use the board. Rather, the user puts the TV-remote-size Wii controller in her pocket or hand and runs in place while the motion-sensitive controller serves as a pedometer.
“I enjoyed it,” Weiss says. “It’s more interesting than running on a treadmill because it gives you something to look at. It’s like an interactive exercise game. In some ways, it’s like playing Nintendo, but with your body.”