Wii Fit Guide

Chad Sapieha over at globeandmail.com has been recording his wii fit experiences over the past three weeks.

However, as promised last week, I did focus on Wii Fit's yoga exercises. In fact, I've unlocked them all, including the scary looking Shoulder Stand pose, which had me balancing my entire body on my shoulders and elbows (but not on the balance board—Nintendo had the good sense to keep players on the floor for this one). My Wii coach said the Shoulder Stand was supposed to help my “inner harmony.” Unfortunately, I found the pose made my neck feel as though it was about to snap, making it difficult for me to achieve any sort of accord between mind and body.

Here are his numbers for the week

Weight: 179.9 pounds (Down by 0.2 pounds this week, 2.1 pounds overall. It's not Slim-Fast, but at least I'm heading in the right direction.)

Body Mass Index (BMI): 27.27 (A drop of 0.08 this week, down 0.33 in total.)

Wii Fit Age: 29 (An increase of 7 years. Again, I've found this figure can fluctuate by decades from day to day depending on the random balance tests I am instructed to take, so it seems a somewhat useless indicator of one's fitness.).

You can read the whole article here

Since the launch of Wii Fit a few videos have been getting quite a bit of attention online. We've put together a few here.

This first Wii Fit Video was taken by a guy watching his girlfriend play the hula hoop game. Since it was uploaded to youtube its achieved over 1 million views and one very angry girlfriend!

This next video is from gadget magazine T3.

And finally a very popular Wii Fit parody, ok you might now fully appreciate this one if you love your Wii Fit but there is no denying it's at least a little bit funny!

In case you haven't already, be sure to check out our community message boards. Its a good place to share your experiences so far with Wii Fit or to get your questions answered!

You can visit the message boards here

It seems that bloggers just can't get enough of Wii Fit. We've come across another two Wii Fit Experiments today alone.

Engadget

Ryan Block over at engadget is recording his findings with Wii Fit following a set training plan

• I'll be working with Wii Fit out about 20 game-minutes a day, 7 days a week.
• My program will consist of five minutes each of routines and games from the four fitness categories: strength training, aerobics, yoga, and balance games.
• As a control, I won't be dramatically changing up my eating habits. I'm already a reasonably healthy eater, so any physical changes will be more easily attributable to the Wii Fit regimen.
• I have about a week of travel scheduled this month, so for whatever days I miss on Wii Fit I'll be extending the trial.
• I'll chart my changes in weight, BMI, coordination, etc. and thoughts on the experience in a weekly update for the next five weeks.

You can check out the whole article here

El33tonline

Next its over to Lisa at www.el33tonline.com.

Just when I thought I was getting the hang of this I unlocked new games as well as new difficulty levels for some of my favourites. Oh boy…time to rev things up a bit.

The Wii Fit Reviews are finally starting to come in. Here's a quick overview of just some of them.

IGN ( http://wii.ign.com)

As for the training activities themselves, both balance and aerobic workouts do a great job of masking the science behind them and these are probably Wii Fit's greatest strength. Whether you're heading a ball, steering down a river or performing a synchronised dance-off, the beautifully simple action and stylised presentation really does offer a compelling, stimulating reason to come back for more.

Euro Gamer ( http://www.eurogamer.net )

With Wii Fit, Nintendo has made exercising enjoyable. Not as enjoyable as eating a giant burger obviously, but it's a good effort. It's produced a superbly made peripheral and a piece of software that offers both entertainment and a sense of achievement. It's all very slick and lifestyle, with plenty of white everywhere, but there are the bold shapes, bright colours and moments of sheer charm you'd expect from Nintendo.

The European launch of Wii Fit is finally upon us and Nintendo seem to be pushing it harder than we had ever anticipated. A walk through the local shopping district yesterday uncovered three seperate store promotions. Rep's with Wii Fit t-shirts and stores with Wii Fit bags were everywhere.

Have you picked up your copy yet? If so, share your experiences on the Wii Fit Forums

Staff at popular retailer Game have been trying out Wii Fit and documenting it on the company's website. The team have been trying out everything from Step Aerobics to Ski Jump. They are only one week in but so far things looks positive as they keep a watch on their BMI. You can follow the experiment here

In other news, Game have actually stopped taking pre-orders for Wii Fit due to overwhelming demand.

Interest in Wii Fit seems to be increasing with the European and American launches. As a result we've added a Wii Fit Forum so that you can share your experiences with others. Its only new so don't be shy about signing up!

It looks like Nintendo may be adding downloadable content to Wii Fit at some stage in the near future. Game Designer Shigeru Miyamoto made the indication in an interview with PC World recently.

The only content that seems to be confirmed so far is Nutritional Information but there will surely be plenty more to follow given the massive success that Wii Fit has been so far this year. Expect to see the Wii Fit Bundle flying off the shelves across Europe and America these coming weeks!

It looks like Wii Fit is set to become a huge success in the UK. All pre-orders for the long awaited health inspired game have sold out in a single day.

The figures come from popular online retailer play.com but come as no shock given the phenominal sales figures for Wii Fit in Japan. The game's uk price is set to £69.99 with Free Delivery. Its not as cheap as a regular wii game but given that you get the balance board accessory it's good value. Regardless of the price, it seems that the public are still keen to snap up a copy.

There's an interesting article over on one of the Wired blogs reflecting on one months worth of Wii Fit usage. The findings by the author, Chris Kohler, praise the balance board.

All in all, I'm quite impressed with Nintendo's exercise software, especially the Balance Board. Wii Fit is certainly not the first example, even in recent times, of a product that attempts to turn exercise into a videogame. But it's probably the most successful one, and a lot of that is thanks to the controller. Since the board can determine quite accurately how well you are performing a set of standard exercises, the feedback that you get from the game is meaningful.

The gradual increase of difficulty that Wii Fit provides also seemed to help with making progress with your training plan.

Wii Fit itself has ramped up the challenges for me as I've gotten better at them. Doing six reps of the push-up game used to be all I could manage, but I can now do 20. Finishing that for the first time with 100 points felt great. Same with the jackknifes, which are like crunches but you pull your arms and legs up into a V shape: Doing 30 or more of those with decent form is no longer an issue.

Its a good article that's well worth checking out. Click here to read it.

Came across this nifty little wii fit accessory on wiifanboy. Its essentially a silicone cover for your balance board. The Tsubu Tsubu from Japan Trust Technology will supposedly sooth those aching feet after a hards days working out on Wii Fit. Its one of many Wii Fit balance board covers that are emerging at the moment. More crazy Wii Fit Accessories are sure to follow!