ShareThisNintendo's new fitness game that utilizes an innovative wireless balance board might be yet another gimmick, but after playing with "Wii Fit" and using the accompanying Wii Balance Board for the past couple weeks, I'd say Nintendo has a winner.For an industry long accused of breeding couch potatoes, "Wii Fit" is a real paradigm shift. It showcases a whole different side of gaming that is actually about much more than entertainment. It's about your health."Wii Fit" and the Balance Board, which sell together for $90, are not meant to fully replace a daily workout. Rather, they are aimed at providing a fun and easy way to improve health and fitness."Wii Fit" is like the best of the workout videos of the last 20 years, only more broad, fun and interactive.The game invites people to work on their health and balance, which it says can improve your weight and posture and ward off longer-term problems. Using the 10-pound board, which senses motion and weight transfer, players first check their weight, test their balance and calculate their body mass index."Wii Fit" won't pull punches about your weight classification. But it also doesn't do much to educate people about body mass index and how it differs for growing children or people with muscular builds.After settling on your baseline information, you can set goals for yourself on how much weight you'd like to lose over a period of time. Each day you check in, you can retest yourself and mark off that day on the calendar. The nice thing is you can do that right from the Wii menu, without actually launching the game.Once you get started, the more than 40 activities are split into four categories: yoga, strength training, aerobics and balance games. You'll have to play for a time to unlock all the activities.Step aerobics highlights one of the weaknesses of the game. There are only three step routines, and while it wasn't dull at first, it got repetitive after awhile. Players will need to mix up their overall routine to ensure they don't get bored with a few activities.A good aerobic activity was rhythm boxing, where you punch while stepping on and off the board. It was like a mini Tai-Bo class. But with only one boxing activity, there's nothing else to move up to.Yoga also was effective in getting me to work on my flexibility and strength. It wasn't always pretty, but it got the job done and I felt the benefits pretty quickly. For many people like me, this might be their first chance to try yoga poses.The most accessible portion, especially for kids and the young at heart, is the balance-games section. You can ski, snowboard, ski-jump, head a soccer ball or walk a tightrope. In most cases, you use your body as a joystick, leaning in different directions on the board to control your character onscreen. I was particularly obsessed with setting the high mark on ski jump, where you have to crouch forward as you hurtle down the ramp, then bolt upright to simulate a successful jump.With the balance games, I found the board to be a bit touchy, and it might take players some time to really master it. I found my feet hurt after a short time because I was trying to muscle the board rather than letting my whole body weight dictate my onscreen actions. Even when you get the hang of it, you'll find it's still a bit confounding at times, trying to be precise with your whole body.Still, the board is a pretty remarkable device. It can handle up to 330 pounds and yet is highly sensitive and can chart your movements with ease. I found myself wishing it were a little wider for things like pushups, but overall, it provides a great platform for gaming, not just for "Wii Fit," but a bunch of future titles that will take advantage of it soon."Wii Fit" is not a perfect game. It doesn't offer real multiplayer competitions. You can compete against someone else's high score, but each activity is really meant to be pursued by one person.Overall, "Wii Fit" is a winner. It delivers on its promise. It could stand to have more games and activities, but what it brings is more than enough to engage people and get them actually sweating in their living rooms.At the very least, it'll get you off the couch. And that's actually saying something.(E-mail Ryan Kim at rkim(at)sfchronicle.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Nintendo fitness game a winner
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