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Wii Fit Preview

Writer: Adam Shurey » Blog
Posted: 22nd Mar, 2008

Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
Release: 1st Quarter, 2008

On the 20th of April, near the top of Melbourne’s tallest building, Nintendo held a media release for their latest development for the Wii. I am of course talking about Wii Fit, a new peripheral and game for the Nintendo Wii. Wii Fit makes use of the Wii Balance Board, which you stand on (there’s a marked indent for each foot) to weigh you, detect how much weight is being put on each side of your body, find your centre of gravity, check your balance and much more. It’s a rather clever piece of video gaming technology, and Nintendo wanted us to see it in action, as well as try it for ourselves. After a demonstration by two of the staff members, we were invited to go over to any of the six Wii Fit stations that were set up around the room, with a member of staff at each. Some people clearly didn’t fancy the idea of getting on a board and wiggling about in public, but quite a few rushed over to have a go.

The software component of Wii Fit is a package of around thirty different activities, which can be put into two categories, Yoga and Games. According to Nintendo there will be fifteen yoga activities in the final version, with about the same number of games. The yoga activities are slow and relaxing, while the games are much more active. One of the yoga activities was the Tree pose, where players stretch their arms above their head and place their feet in a certain position on the board. The games on offer included skiing, headbutting soccer balls, rolling balls into holes and guiding a person in a capsule down a river. The variety is great, and helps keep you interested.

Anyway, enough about the package, I’m sure you’re wondering, what’s it like to play? Actually, it’s a lot of fun. I had a go at the soccer ball game, rolling ball game, and the capsule down a river game. I began with the soccer ball game. When you first hop on the balance board before doing an activity, the board will quickly measure your weight and adjust the sensitivity. Once you’re on the Balance Board and ready to go, you shift your weight from your left foot to your right foot, or keep it centered to control an on screen avatar. Shifting your weight to your left foot makes it move to the left, while shifting it to your right foot makes it move right. Keeping your weight balanced keeps it in the centre of the screen. The game is played from a third person perspective, viewing the action from behind your avatar. Soccer balls fly towards you rapidly, coming from the left, right and centre alternately, and you have to move the avatar accordingly so as to hit them. The more hits in a row that you manage, the higher your score. It takes good timing (continued next page)