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If You Are Old/Pudgy/Awkward - Prepare for HUMILIATION

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 138 / 256
Date: June 03, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The same reasons you don't use that gym membership are going to haunt you if you buy the Wii Fit - you're too fat. You're too old. You're too awkward.

I'm 48, fat, and trying hard to get in shape. I exercise a LOT, and was pleased to get the Wii Fit; I thought I'd found a new exercise to keep my enthusiasm up. Instead, every single time I stand on the thing, it announces in a cutesy, childish voice, "That's OBESE." The first time it did it, I was okay; I'm not an idiot. I know how overweight I am and figured it was recording my stats in its memory, where it would brood them until it had some useful information to offer.

But the second day, it pointed it out to me again. Did it think perhaps I was suddenly going to loose the fifty pounds? Or maybe the twenty-five that was going to put me at the (oh how joyous) "That's OVERWEIGHT" stage? Did it think I needed a reminder?

On the third day ("That's OBESE!"), I weighed more - and it actually forced me to select why I thought I'd gained weight from a list of eight items, none of which was "Just drank a massive pot of tea so quit your whining." Then I was treated to a lecture on eating. There's not much you can tell a fat person about eating; I KNOW I should balance my meals and avoid snacking. Thanks for the hot tip.

The Wii Fit offers you your "Wii Age," based on your weight, height, real age, and ability to balance. On the first day, it told me I was 62. I got a little lecture. By the second day, I'd sussed out the balance tests and made it to 38; at that point the Wii told me "you're still in pretty good shape." That "still" is so condescending, isn't it? Methinks we've got a slight bias towards youth and slimness... just like in the average gym.

When I first did the balance tests, the machine actually mocked me. "I see balance isn't your thing. Do you find you trip when you walk?" This is offered as a smile; but it's the smile of a taut twenty-something who has no idea that one day, age will be visiting him or her, too. Time will catch up to the heartless, ageist programmers... in the meantime, I'm going to take my Wii Fit out to the driveway and crush it beneath the wheels of my obese van. It has insulted and demoralized me for the last time. And the exercises didn't even challenge me - so while it was insulting me, I wasn't even breaking a sweat.

If you're a kid or someone who's within the bounds of what insurance companies think you should weigh, go ahead - buy it. It probably won't insult you. But if you aren't the type to preen in every mirror you come to, think twice. It's a pretty expensive way to be humiliated and discouraged.

Where's the action?

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 19 / 399
Date: May 31, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I bought this item expecting an amazing and innovative title, but was sadly disappointed.
There's no storyline. And the worst thing is that it completely lacks action. Not once was I allowed to shoot anyone or slash with a sword.
This title is all talk no action.
The kids grew so bored with it that they hit their cousin with the board.
I honestly can't recommend this to anyone.

[...]

Overhyped!!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 13 / 414
Date: June 01, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This Wii Fit doesn't replace the real thing. It is a video game meant for little kids, disabled, and retards. If you want to be fit and active experience the great outdoors/gym and save your eyes by staying away from the glaring screen. Get some fresh air and stay away from the radiation emitted by these electronics. How pathetic that these toys now are the hip. I applaud the good marketing though.

I Am Very Very Smart and I've Mastered Wii Fit!!!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 45 / 571
Date: May 23, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Wii Fit is so much fun and you're gonna love it a lot, like buying a new car or donating your blood to charity--it will make you feel good every day and in almost every way.

I've been playing it nonstop since I bought it and I have found out some super awesome cheat codes and ways to beat the game!!!

1) When you're doing the running game, the Wii totally doesn't know whether you're actually running or not, so if you shake the controller up and down, it thinks you're doing really well. You won't have to run even a little bit! Me, one point. Wii, zero!

2) For the hula hoop challenge, it wants you to swing your hips a lot as it calculates spins and calories being burned. But if you hold down the A button while you do it, it thinks you're working off many more calories than you are!

3) On any of the balance tests, I recommend getting a book or a large turtle and put it on the Wii board. It will cheat the system into thinking you have perfect balance. Ditto for the Yoga games. Again, book or turtle or (if you prefer) turtle on book.

4) When you're doing the Jacknife ab crunches, the Wii is only measuring when your feet hit the board--not actually anything to do with the crunches. So just sit on the floor and tap the board with both hands every time it thinks you're coming down from the crunch, and you can definitely cheat that game. I usually take a snack break while I do this one.

5) Finally, if you want to get a better BMI and weight reading for the Body Test (and therefore lower your Wii Fit Age), I suggest moving a few couches or chairs on either side of you, support your body with your arms on those couches(chairs) and then just lower yourself slightly onto the board. That way, it's not gonna read your full body weight, but instead you can get it at exactly what you want it to be.

I'm guessing the Nintendo people don't want me revealing these cheats, but these loopholes are indeed there, and that's not my fault, and all I'm doing is sharing them with you so you can do better at the game!

Good as an introduction

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: August 11, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Wii Fit, like all Nintendo Wii (and DS) products, is polished and immaculately presented. Its very approachable and friendly. The Balance Board is a tremendous piece of kit - rock solid and absolutely excellent at what its supposed to do.

As a product dedicated to fitness, though, its pretty lacking. Now, don't get me wrong - it is far better than doing nothing (what I am used to doing), and actually has some nice perks to keep you going (like score tracking and an unlock mechanic). But it doesn't let you customize a workout, and progression advice is minimal. It literally just lets you do whatever activities at any time. Now, I could go to the gym and do exactly the same thing, but I still would want to get some advice from someone or something. Wii Fit doesn't do it!

Another problem is that between activities, you have to stop and navigate menus. It'd be much better if there was a flowchart like menu for setting up workouts so you can go one after the other, keeping the heart rate up. This is a very serious deficiency and I wonder why Nintendo didn't put it in.

All in all, as an introduction to fitness, its pretty good, and at $90 its really pretty affordable if you have a Wii already. but I really hope some other company comes out with a good fitness videogame using the balance board, with more workout and eating tips. That would really be a great thing.

Fun for one, Worthless for family play

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 11 / 18
Date: July 17, 2008
Author: Amazon User

First, I bought this last weekend at Best Buy. They had plenty in stock and it cost around $90. I mention that, because the price currently listed here (almost twice that) made me gasp.

At the time, I had guests and naturally we all wanted to hang out and try the board, which brought its biggest defect immediately to light. It is extremely slow and clumsy as a multi-user platform.

To start with (as others have said) there is an involved setup process where the Wii offers threadbare exercise advice, grunts in pain when you step in the board (I'm not kidding), tells you you're too fat and, should your balance not be perfectly on center, asks whether you trip a lot.

So, OK. That part was fairly amusing. At the end of it, you get a Wii age based on balance, actual age and BMI. Of the five of us who tried it, four came out 15-20 years older than their actual age, and one 13 years younger. I'm not saying which one. Just that all those years of yoga have apparently paid off. :)

That part was amusing too, and it was a one-time investment, so so far s'ok. Now to the games. In this, the WiiFit is very much like the Wii sports package that came with our set originally. The games are slow to load, waste a lot of time in explanations that you can't completely skip, offer one or two quick rounds of play, and then make you wait for cheering crowds, scores to tally, etc. One minute of credited play on the clock (there's a clock-bank tracking how much you've worked out) amounts to about 15 seconds of activity on the board. Personally, I found this tedious. I don't need cheering scores and a hall of fame with little Pikachu noises. I want to reset the game as fast as possible and play again. Can't do it.

That said, the balance games were fun. We tried the tightrope, the soccer (watch out for flying pandas), and the ski-jump, and liked them all.

But here we hit on a nearly insurmountable problem. My sons and I wanted to have fun together. Perfect, right? No. YOU CANNOT USE THE WII-FIT AS A MULTIPLAYER GAME. At least, not with one board. To change players, you have to exit the game, go back to the Wii plaza, change Miis and then do a quick recalibration of the bord. This takes 3-4 minutes, which is just nuts. I thought I'd FINALLY found a physical activity for my family to do together in the home, and we can't do it together!

There is no provision that I found for switching quickly and easily between Miis, a problem that destroyed the fun of the games for us. This is a product killer, as far as I'm concerned. I probably wouldn't have bought it, if I'd known. I doubt we'll take it off the shelf very often.

However, I had some interest in the personal trainer aspect of the Wii, so I gave that a shot, too. I didn't try the strength training. I hate lunges, and don't imagine doing them on the board will make them tolerable, but I did try the yoga, and...sad to say...didn't like it at all. The pace is slow, slow, slow. There is far too much dead time, spent getting lectured by the machine. Conversely, holds on postures are rather long which, I believe, would make them very difficult for beginners. As balance training, the yoga might be OK, but as an asana practice, it's nothing near as effective as a good DVD.

I probably would have given the Wii-Fit 5 stars if they had built in some way for me to use it for group play. It's small, easy to store, and it's a joy to see the kids move something other than their thumbs when playing video games.

As things stand, it's nothing more than a 15 minute novelty and I can only hope somebody will come along and design more multi-player friendly games.

Another peripheral?!!?

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 8 / 14
Date: July 03, 2008
Author: Amazon User

It's a fun gimmick for about 10 minutes but then wears thin. One of the Wii fit activities was jogging in place with the controller in your pocket, not even using the balance board, as you watch the bland scenery, ugly graphics, and annoying Mii's run with you. Another was step aerobics. An actual step DVD program would be more fun then this robotic and slow-paced step on, step off, step on, step right crap. Graphics were bland and games weren't really that innovative in my opinion.

I feel this is a fun little toy, (more or less an expensive scale) but overall, just another short-lived peripheral for the Wii, unless they can find some actual fun and innovative uses for it. How many peripherals until we've had enough. Anyone else tired of those Mii's yet, I know I am.

Not Effective Use of Exercise Time

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 31, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I must say though the Wii fit is mildly entertaining, it was not what I has expected when I purchased it.
I thought I would be able to have a fitness class or some training at home. What the Wii fit offers is a demonstration of very short exercises you can choose to do. There is no 'class' or even substantial segment of fitness routines anywhere on Wii fit. You must INDIVIDUALLY select to do a single yoga pose or a single set of push-ups. After each one, lasting approximately 1-2 minutes, you must choose to "retry" or "quit". When you "quit", you return to a menu to select another individual exercise. There are several things in between each and every exercise you complete providing feedback and a score. Not bad information but terrible to stop constantly and push A and wait again for another menu choice. The menu will suggest doing 2 exercises in a row, but you cannot highlight or select that as an option and have 2 in row come on screen.

The graphing and progress reports are interesting and beneficial. The concept of the board being able to measure and assess balance is great. I just don't have the extra time to stop and wait between each movement. Going through the menus constantly is frustrating when I want to exercise. It takes about 55 minutes of time to accomplish 30 minutes of workout as logged by the Wii fit.

Wii fit not too fit!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 39
Date: June 11, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The second time I used the Wii fit I could not get past the screen that says" step off and press A ". Called customer service twice to find out that I had to send it back to Nintendo. The one time it worked for me it was fun but does not replace real workouts or trainers. Nintendo had no discussion about this issue on their website for customer support. Maybe when I get it back in a few weeks and if it works my attitude might change. For now, the jury is out on Wii fit.

Adjust your expectations and you'll have a lot of fun

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 403 / 453
Date: May 22, 2008
Author: Amazon User

First of all, remember that this is *not* a "game". Its a way to get your 40 minutes of daily exercise without making it feel like a lot of work.

What this means is that you probably won't buy this for your under-11 year old. Before you start the "game", you are asked for an objective ... in terms of how many pounds you want to gain/lose. Whether this question is meaningful for your child depends on many factors - and other reviewers question the use of the BMI measure for kids, anyway.

The only true game component of this are the "Balance Games" which turn your balance board into a snowboard, or into a tightrope, etc. However, I don't expect kids to return to this game everyday just to play. In short, its not a replacement for Wii Sports.

So, how does it fare as an exercise regimen?

Not very well so far. I use an elliptical for aerobics, and a [...] machine for strength training, and I can't see myself as shelving those two in favor of this toy. With the elliptical, I can adjust the resistance, get feedback on my calorie burnout, and can determine how long I want to keep going. Best of all, I can even watch TV, listen to music, or read a magazine if I care to.

With the Wii Fit, the cutesy graphics are good, but once the novelty wears out, I'm guessing the chinks in its armor will begin to show. My TV is taken up by my virtual Mii running along, I get to listen to canned music, and there's really no way I can read along.

Strength training is purely isometric exercise based (such as push ups). So, if you're fairly fit and need to work with additional resistance, this is not the place to come find it.

Yoga is where it truly shines. I tried the breathing exercises and a few of the postures, and the instructions were fairly detailed and easy to follow. I expect that I'll use this as a cheap and convenient personal yoga instructor for months to come.

The final aspect worth mentioning is core muscle control and balance. I particularly enjoyed learning how my body is balanced, and it does highlight whether you tend to favor one leg over the other. I can see this as being a worthwhile tool as part of a physical rehabilitation or therapy regimen.

To summarize - if you have trouble getting motivated to exercise, or get bored by exercise machines at home, or can't get to a gym, and you don't care about its limitations, then this is for you.

For those who are really serious about losing weight or getting fit, either setup a home gym or get a gym membership. This will be fun, but will likely be a large waste of your time. The biggest problem would be the inability to set up a sequence of activities that you could run through one after the other. Having to navigate menus to start up the next set is distracting. There is a Favorites tab that lets you get close to achieving this - but I haven't tried it enough to see if its a good replacement.

I'm still in the "novelty" phase - so I'm going to try and make this work. I like the way it tracks your weight/BMI, which is much better than the paper and pencil approach I use currently. However, as stated before I expect to use it more for the balance and yoga portions, *after* I've completed my aerobics/strength activities on more conventional machines.

Bottom line - as with every Wii product, the apparent "shortage" drives up demand and makes this seem more desirable than it should.

As long as you are aware of its limitations, you're in the best position to determine whether this is for you.
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Update (Week + 1):
I've averaged about 30 minutes/day in the past week using this product, and here are some updates to my initial observations:

(a) I've been surprised with how interesting the kids find it. They can't wait to get higher scores than me, and are constantly pushing to get ranked higher in almost all activities. Every evening I come home to scores that are better than mine, and am forced to play catchup. The balance games were an expected favorite, but I certainly didn't expect push-ups and the tree pose to capture their fancy.

(b) The menus are nagging at best, and annoying at worst. My workout style is to focus on the activities at hand without needless conversation/distraction, and that's hard to do when I have to repeatedly click the A button just to get started. The text has this annoying teletype format as it prints across the screen, and can't be dismissed until it is displayed in its entirety.

(c) This is compounded by the fact that this device can be very chatty. While some of the messages are good to know, I'd really like the option to turn these off. Counting the number of messages that I need to click past has become a running joke for us now.

(d) Because I can't automatically string together activities in a logical sequence, I need to have the Wii-mote handy. Finding a home for it is a challenge when I don't have pockets, or need both hands for balance and can't be bothered to hold on to it (as in some of the more kinetic strength activities, or the yoga poses that need my fingers locked together).

(e) Even worse is that you need to aim the Wiimote at the screen to click the menu buttons, which is an exercise in frustration. I'm mastering the art of using the arrow keys (the rocker switch) and the A button while the Wii-mote is in my pocket, but its still a problem when I hit the wrong button, which I seem to do frequently enough :(

(f) A yoga/gym mat is a necessary accessory - otherwise having to lie on your back when doing the jackknife for your abs means your flooring comes in contact with a very sweaty T-shirt. I'm not so certain about the silicone cover. We've used ours pretty rough, and I don't see any serious stains or dirt on it. And anyway, I like my workout machines to show some wear as a badge of honor :)

(g) There is a half baked interface which allows me to track activities that I do outside of the Wii - such as jogging. So far, I've been logging my other workouts, but since I don't seem to earn Wii points for those, I can't tell how that factors into the overall Wii experience.

(h) The BMI/weight tracking using a line graph, is really a nice touch.

(i) Rather than a primary weight-loss device, I use it as a nice way to wind down from a heavy workout, and it serves that purpose very well. A commenter below questioned its usefulness for yoga. True, it does seem funny to learn yoga from a game console - but the funnier thing is that the yoga poses do seem to work very well to ease up strained muscles. Combine this with the immediate feedback as to how well you are balanced, especially on single leg poses, and you have a really unique combination.

(j) The balance games are fun, but I tend to spend only a fraction of my time on them. I'm willing to take Nintendo's word that its good for me, but I'd rather spend my scarce exercise minutes on the other Wii Fit activities. After all, there's only so many times I can enjoy riding my bubble to the end of the stream.

(k) The fact that the balance board is wireless is a wonderful touch. Its easy to hide it under the couch when its not in use.

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