Women, parents, even nursing-home residents have been drawn to the Wii�s simple evocations of games such as tennis and bowling. The Wii has become the best-selling game machine of the current generation, selling more than 25 million worldwide, and remains scarce on store shelves across the nation. Now Nintendo�s latest brainchild, Wii Fit, could send similar ripples through the home-fitness market. Scheduled to be released in North America next week, Wii Fit is not meant to replace a gym. But in a world of $3,000 elliptical machines and $150-an-hour personal trainers, it has at least a chance of becoming a global, affordable, mass-market interactive home-fitness system. (On its overseas debut last month, it became one of the fastest-selling games ever in Britain.) Exercising with Wii Fit is like having a Bob Harper or a Denise Austin who talks back � gently cajoling you through exercises, praising, nudging, even reminding you to eat a banana once in a while. It also lets you see how you stack up against friends or family members; each user creates a cartoony avatar called a Mii. The system costs $90, plus $250 for the basic Wii console. It uses a television and a sensitive �balance board� placed on the floor to present a few dozen activities, from push-ups to yoga, to more entertaining challenges like balance games and aerobic contests. Nintendo is not aiming Wii Fit at people with a serious exercise regimen. Rather, it is meant to appeal to the person busy with work and family who just wants to have fun getting a little toned at home. Believe me, I could use some help. As a video game journalist, I live in a world where Buffalo wings, potato chips and jalape�o poppers are considered food groups. The closest I get to serious exercise is flopping around at concerts like a lumpy, overeducated flounder. Then again, most Americans aren�t really in great shape either. So I felt I could reasonably reflect the broad mass market (if you will) in testing whether a silicon coach has the potential to rescue millions of Americans from decrepitude. To help me evaluate the system, Thursday Styles recruited two fitness professionals, an avid exerciser and one work-at-home parent to try Wii Fit at the Chelsea Piers sports complex in Manhattan. Here is what we thought:
THE MULTITASKER Shira Weiss, a 33-year-old mother of two who works out of her home in Teaneck, N.J., as a publicist for small businesses, wants Wii Fit because it fits both her lifestyle and her doorway. Before having the kids, I used to work out every day � I belonged to a gym � but now it really only when I have a chance,she said. Let me put it this way: I clean with vigor. I like aerobic exercise and would like a treadmill. But we tried to get one, and the door of our house was too narrow. It just wouldn�t fit, and my husband was like, �Forget the treadmill.
She eyed the 12 by 20� Wii Fit board. �But this could work,� she said. Wii Fits almost 50 exercises are divided among four categories: strength training, aerobics, balance games and yoga. Each user creates a personal profile, including a potential weight loss (or gain) goal. The system tracks a user�s weight and body-mass index as well as their performance on individual exercises. To help prevent novices from overextending or frustrating themselves, only a few exercises are initially available in each category; more advanced activities are unlocked only after completing simpler options. Ms. Weiss found her groove in Wii Fit�s aerobics section. She proved a quick study with the hula hoop game (gyrating in circles), before finding her long-sought treadmill replicated in the running game. In Wii Fit, running does not use the board. Rather, the user puts the TV-remote-size Wii controller in her pocket or hand and runs in place while the motion-sensitive controller serves as a pedometer. On screen, the user runs through a bucolic park while a pacesetter beckons the player onward. For longer runs, users can watch television while the Wii tracks their progress.
THE MULTITASKER Shira Weiss, a 33-year-old mother of two who works out of her home in Teaneck, N.J., as a publicist for small businesses, wants Wii Fit because it fits both her lifestyle and her doorway. Before having the kids, I used to work out every day � I belonged to a gym � but now it really only when I have a chance,she said. Let me put it this way: I clean with vigor. I like aerobic exercise and would like a treadmill. But we tried to get one, and the door of our house was too narrow. It just wouldn�t fit, and my husband was like, �Forget the treadmill.
She eyed the 12 by 20� Wii Fit board. �But this could work,� she said. Wii Fits almost 50 exercises are divided among four categories: strength training, aerobics, balance games and yoga. Each user creates a personal profile, including a potential weight loss (or gain) goal. The system tracks a user�s weight and body-mass index as well as their performance on individual exercises. To help prevent novices from overextending or frustrating themselves, only a few exercises are initially available in each category; more advanced activities are unlocked only after completing simpler options. Ms. Weiss found her groove in Wii Fit�s aerobics section. She proved a quick study with the hula hoop game (gyrating in circles), before finding her long-sought treadmill replicated in the running game. In Wii Fit, running does not use the board. Rather, the user puts the TV-remote-size Wii controller in her pocket or hand and runs in place while the motion-sensitive controller serves as a pedometer. On screen, the user runs through a bucolic park while a pacesetter beckons the player onward. For longer runs, users can watch television while the Wii tracks their progress.
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