So now that you know what Wii Fit costs, you’d probably also like to know what your $90 will get you come May 19th, aside from a chunk of plastic Nintendo likes to call the Wii Balance Board. Problem is, you’re not going to be able to gauge whether the Wii will actually help you burn calories by reading a traditional game preview. Here are three journalists who’ve dedicated months to better inform you.
Kotaku’s Brian Ashcraft
Looking for a cold-weather, indoor replacement for his traditional exercise habit of powerwalking, Brian spent the month of February Fitting himself for thirty minutes at a time with mixed results, and finished out the month having lost very little weight.
While Brian enjoyed the as well as the fun mini-games, and particularly the Yoga exercises, which he singled out as providing a “sense of accomplishment,” he doesn’t believe Wii Fit provides enough incentive to exercise, saying “this isn’t the magic bullet that many gamers are looking for.” He admits that weighing himself daily made him more aware of his own body, but attributes his minimal weight loss more to eating less as a result of that awareness, rather than Wii Fit’s own regimen — and criticizes the game for making you select each individual exercise instead of suggesting routines.
Furthermore, Brian found that over time, his favorite Hula Hoop-balancing weight training game led to pain in the knees. Burn!
The Bottom Line: “Will I keep using Wii Fit? Probably. It’s going to be Spring soon, you know. And I’ll need something to track my progress while I go power walking by the river.”
Game|Life’s Chris Kohler
Whether he actually needs to lose weight or is just a peripheral freak like our own Jesse Henning, Chris jumped at the chance to get Fit, immediately sending his “crack Japanese secret elite beat agents” out to procure a copy. One month later, he found increased strength and slow but steady weight loss.
Chris praises the accuracy of the Balance Board, as he felt it allowed the game to provide meaningful feedback on his performance, and liked how it ingrained exercise into his daily routine: “Now, I still might skip a day, but the difference is that I feel bad about it, and resolve to exercise the next day.” However, he saw a bit of a disconnect in that most Wii Fit exercises are for building strength, not losing weight — but one’s weight is the only measure of accomplishment. Like Ashcraft, he took issue with having to select exercises one at a time, instead of being able to build a routine.
The Bottom Line: “Wii Fit is a convenient and helpful way for me to get back in shape.”
4 color rebellion’s Kevin “Vinnk” Tambornino
By far the greatest Wii Fit success story yet to reach our ears, Kevin began “The Great Experiment” on February 5th and, seven weeks later, had lost a very noticeable 10 pounds on 30-60 minutes of exercise per day.
For Kevin, Wii Fit was less game than intense training regime. He praised Fit for keeping “fantastic records” which allowed him to track his progress… but not much else:
But like any exercise it only works if the person using it is willing to put in the effort. I could have achieved the same results simply by doing sit-ups and push-ups everyday, and going for a run. In fact, that may have let me obtain even better results. However I don’t realistically believe that I would have had enough motivation to do that.
Kevin exhausted the supply of ‘carrot and stick’ unlockable mini-games after only five weeks, and felt that while the games were fun, they quickly became too easy, and didn’t offer comparable exercise value to traditional offerings like sit-ups and push-ups.
The Bottom Line: The proof is in the pudding, and it looks like this gentleman has rapidly removed his Jell-O.
Can you do the same?
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