Wii Fit First Impressions

Nintendo’s new fitness product/game, Wii Fit, came out today. This is a long anticipated product that has been touted since the early days of the Wii launch.

Unfortunately, I was involved in a car accident yesterday so I won’t be able to really try it out for a little while but I am supposed to stay active so I’ve tried some of the lower impact aspects of the Wii Fit.

This $90 bundle comes with the Wii Fit software, a manual, four batteries and a balance board that is not unlike a really big weigh scale with some sensors built in.

Initial impression of the package is that it’s solid. The box is actually quite heavy when you pick it up for the first time and the balance board is all to blame. It’s a combination of plastic and metal that supports up to 330 lbs or 150 kg.

The first thing you do after putting the batteries in is to sync it with the Wii like any new controller by pressing the red sync button on the Wii and the similar button the balance board inside the battery door. There is a familiar blue power light on the bottom of the balance board and it’s meant to be turned on with your foot. You can use it on carpet or hardwood flooring. It even comes with extra feet extensions in case you have extra deep (shag?) carpet….ew.

Once you’re all synced up you’re ready to begin.

You start off by choosing a Mii to use for your profile. Then it asks a number of questions related to you like your height and birthdate.

The program then takes you through a number of tests to gauge your center of balance and determine your BMI (body mass index) among other things. Since the balance board actually is a scale, you can’t cheat on your weight since it knows. Once your BMI has been determined by your height and weight, the program explains what this all means and allows you to set a goal if it determines you’re above or below your ideal BMI. Basically it tells you if you’re fat or not. While at first blush this could be construed as a bad thing, it does so in a nice way. Besides, who couldn’t afford to lose a few pounds – I know I do – and this is why there aren’t any screenshots of my personal progress.

Once you set your goal, you can see a chart that graphs it on a day by day basis with some slick animations when transitioning between different things. Then you can begin your training. You start off by choosing a male or female personal trainer who will guide you through the various exercises and mini-games.

So far I’ve only tried one of the balance games due to my accident (which is actually quite similar to one of the exercises I’m supposed to do) so I’ll wrap this up for now until I’ve had more time with it. I like what I’ve seen so far and hope that this device leads to more of these kinds of exercise games and I’ve heard that there may be other software titles that can utilize the balance board.