I picked up Wii Fit last week and tried it for the first time. The first thing I noticed is how heavy the balance board weighs; probably eight to nine pounds. The board is extremely accurate and really shows just how much you shake and shift your weight, even when trying to stand perfectly still.

Onto the game itself. I’ve only played a couple of days now and unlocked a half dozen new exercises. I’m a little confused why Nintendo thought it necessary to necessitate unlockable content. Maybe it was meant to give you a goal or to funnel all the exercises in order? Regardless, they open up fairly quickly so it doesn’t seem like too big of an issue.

The exercises themselves range from fairly easy to painfully brutal. It should be noted that I fall into the typical gamer stereotype of being overweight and lacking a daily exercise routine. The yoga exercises aren’t overly taxing but require a lot of flexibility, stretching and balance control. The strength exercises position your own weight against you and are the most difficult exercises in the game. The aerobic exercises drum up some sweat and get your heartbeat pumping. Finally, the balance games are pretty entertaining and simple in design. Irving became particularly obsessed with the downhill skiing game.

The game isn’t without fault. It would have been nice to set up a series of exercises and create a customized workout plan. I remember reading somewhere that having a large ’A’ button on the side of the board would have discarded the chore of picking up and putting down the Wii Remote. Finally, I don’t care for the plumping up of your Mii if it’s considered overweight or obese. Obviously, my Mii fell into that category. I imagine that the thought process was to motivate people to slim down their Mii, but I believe that kind of motivation is wrong and more hurtful in the long run. Weight is something that people can become extremely self-conscious about, myself included. While the game does not openly display your weight, and even makes pains to hide your true weight in a different menu, having a tubby Mii staring at you all the time certainly doesn’t soften the blow.

So the big question is: Is it worth it? That depends. Do you:

Have a normal exercise routine?

Need to lose weight but don’t know where to begin?

Have a significant other, male or female, that would find this fun/useful?

Have a great body and want to finally pwn your fat ass gamer friend on his own turf?

If you answered "yes" to any of the above questions, than I say you should go for it. While $90 is steep, you do get a cool accessory for future games as long as developers give it a chance. With the amount of copies this game is going to move, I think it would be silly for developers not to try and create something for balance board hungry fans.

Being an hardcore or expert player in Wii Fit is going to require more than finger dexterity and map/weapon memorization. As with any normal game, practice makes perfect. The question is how much of a commitment are you willing to invest?

- Dover

For once, Dover and I will use this post to talk about the same topic. Pardon our redundancy, but Wii Fit smacks of newness in the gaming realm, or at least the realm of insanely popular gaming. How does Wii Fit stack up to the competition? I suppose that question would have to start with defining the competition. Not Sony or Microsoft, and not even Konami’s DDR franchise, although that guess does strike closer to the hilt. Competition here would have to consist of your standard workout routine, whether that encompasses a gym, home or local, or even an aerobics video. Wherever and whatever you do to get up and get moving is at issue. Naturally, that means that Wii Fit’s inherent value is intensely personal.

As best I can assess, Wii Fit pushes a more Eastern-centric view of fitness, balancing strength, light cardio, and flexibility against a couple more superfluous (but still entertaining) minigames. Many of the exercises are locked from the start, presumably to avoid overwhelming the user with choices. For those who do not exercise on a regular basis, or have a limited workout, this is probably best. Let’s call it a rare smart instance of locking content. Dover’s correct in stating that many of the tucked away exercises open quickly. My natural, non-Wii Fit workout is moderate to high intensity. I do three days of upper body weights, with an emphasis on repetition for lean muscle, and time totaling approximately one hour per day. On three alternate days, I run, following the Bill Phillips Body for Life plan for cardio. On the seventh day I rest. In other words, I keep in shape without going overboard.

Wii Fit works best when used as a base of operations for those looking to achieve specific body number goals. For instance, Wii Fit assigns you a weight and body mass index (BMI) number when signing in. Understand that this BMI is not necessarily the greatest assessment of your body type. Mine was almost at the apparently magical 22 mark, but if I were more concerned with putting on muscle than staying trim, the BMI would be much higher despite my fine health. Consequently, if I were 190 pounds (86 kg) of muscle, Wii Fit would call me fat. So, bad assessment on this but keep a thick skin if you have a large body type and you’ll be fine. Confidentally, I would have liked some method of including body fat percentage to offset my last complaint. Many deluxe scales use electrical impulses to achieve this effect; I wish that Wii Fit did something similar or included an in-game fat calculator. Perhaps some Wii calipers? Anyway, I don’t concern myself too much with numbers, but these issues should have been addressed in the final product. Unlike Dover, I like that the Mii assumes a body proportional to the player after weigh in. Not to sound too much like a hippie, but I don’t believe that people should be ashamed of their bodies. Barring an eating disorder or physical disability, your body phenotype is one of the few avenues of life in which you can exert nigh-limitless control. Too fat? Too thin? Hair too brown? All of that can be changed, with admittedly varying degrees of success. Still, I think that the Mii aspect is brilliant.

Regarding the exercises which represent the meat of the game, I think that they are mostly good if a little light. This is definitely not a replacement for a gym. Having said that, I can certainly recommend Wii Fit as a workout supplement particularly if you are striving toward a specific mark. It crunches solid numbers and forces the player to move with almost military precision. My first attempt at the push-up-and-turn exercise was embarrassingly pathetic because I wasn’t sure how to keep up. Philbert totally showed me up on those, offering a mad display of his Army training. However, as Dover opined, practice does make perfect. Another positive benefit of Wii Fit is the variety that it espouses. When you’re essentially doing busywork for your body, no feeling is worse than staleness. Wii Fit’s numerous challenges assure thousands of possible combinations sit no further than a button press away.

Finally, and I cannot stress this enough, Wii Fit develops a strong case against the tired stereotype of the lazy, fat gamer. To me, this point is Wii Fit’s greatest contribution. It may not offer total health, but I have little doubt that a regular user of Wii Fit will emerge healthier and fitter than when he/she started. Like intervaled exercise, Wii Fit is intended as a lifestyle product.

- Irving