Wii Fit + Wii Fit Plus

[dan_tm]

Definitely. It was chuckle city when they demo'd it, but really it's a logical step.

At the end of the day todays consoles are hugely adaptable pieces of electronics with multiple functions. If you want to spend endless years running around with laser rifles blowing away aliens then rest assured, you will always be catered for. You have nothing to fear!

WiiFit shows that there are many untapped uses for consoles that when marketed correctly could prove a huge boost to the industry. I can tell you now that there will be sooo many Japanese grannies and housewives buying WiiFit for when they're at home alone.

Health and well-being? In a game? The final taboo has been broken!

Now back I go to FFXII as my spine slowly turns to jelly.

Don't you see? You're arguing against a point that no one is making.

I don't recall any laughing at the product when it was demoed (I could be wrong, I skipped more than a few pages during the course of the show trying to keep up), it was more shouts of "WHERE ARE THE GAMES?!".

Regarding the "If you want to spend endless years running around with laser rifles..." etc, I feel like just posting a giant rolleyes.gif. Has ANYONE said anything along those lines? You guys are getting into a big argument about nothing. You don't need to defend the product by saying it's going to sell millions to Japanese housewives, I and virtually everyone else is completely agreed that this device is going to be a massive hit at retail.

We'd just like to have seen some more upcoming games showed off and demoed, rather than a nifty piece of kit that the majority of us here aren't going to buy or be even remotely interested in.

[womblingfree]

Don't you see? You're arguing against a point that no one is making.

What are you talking about? I was adding to Hero's comment, seeing as how this is the WiifFit discussion thread.

You're arguing by yourself at the moment. I suggest an hour on the WiiFit to relax.

If you didn't see any laughing at the product when it was demoed then I presume you missed the pages of gag-a-thon. It was a comedy of errors that looked like an info-mercial for the Thigh-Master.

[M.M.S]

Even for someone in good shape who does various sports each week I can't wait to get this! God knows how many they're gonna sell to the fatties as well

I predict this selling over a million even before the year is out. Absolute Christmas must-buy for every fatty/mother/Granny out there!

[cantonarv]

I dont think so at all! Why if I am tubby would I have not bought a gym set, exercise video etc already? What makes this a hardware shifter? Nothing as far as I can tell - for me its like the Nike running attachment for ipod, I dont know anyone who bought an ipod because of it, just that if you had one it was a good thing to get if you went jogging.

If you have a Wii and most people judging by the sales are gonna have then this might be a good purchase for a non-gamer in the family who wants to use it to keep fit.

How many people bought eye toy to keep fit?(was there an exercise thing for this?)

Also I dont see how anybody can describe this as a game - its aerobics - its been going on for ages, people moving their bodies to exercise in rhythm ?

[M.M.S]

I dont think so at all! Why if I am tubby would I have not bought a gym set, exercise video etc already?

Because they are not fun (exercise isn't fun remember, but playing games is)!

They don't track your improvements over an extended period of time and don't allow you to compete with your friends/family.

What makes this a hardware shifter?

A Wii, Wii Sports and WiiFit is what family Christmas' are all about. It's just another good reason to get a Wii in the end. There's more things you can do with a Wii after playing one game unlike gym sets and exercise videos!

If you have a Wii and most people judging by the sales are gonna have then this might be a good purchase for a non-gamer in the family who wants to use it to keep fit.

Now you're thinking. And with a bundle of Wii+Wii Sports+WiiFit for 200quid it's going to have no problem shifting systems

Also I dont see how anybody can describe this as a game - its aerobics - its been going on for ages, people moving their bodies to exercise in rhythm ?

Games are fun, exercise isn't, I cant believe how far you're missing the point of this - even if you don't want to buy it yourself.

[dan_tm]

I can't remember if I said this earlier or not, but it's basically Brain Training for the rest of the body.

It's going to do for the Wii what said game did for the DS.

[Majora]

Eyetoy had a very similar thing a few years ago and nobody gave a shit. It couldn't measure your balance and stuff obviously, but it could track whether your arms were doing the right thing during the yoga for example, which the Wii can't. Of course with the wii on fire and a nifty new peripheral I'm sure this will do a lot better with an undoubtedly massive marketing push, but it's hardly an amazing innovation or anything, especially if a soccer game straight out of an eyetoy compilation is the level of boundary pushing that's going on.

[M.M.S]

Nintendo have said specifically that the board could be used for a snowboarding game in future...

1080 Wii with real board

People better start praying the casuals by this buy the truck load!

[Chosty]

Eyetoy had a very similar thing a few years ago and nobody gave a shit. It couldn't measure your balance and stuff obviously, but it could track whether your arms were doing the right thing during the yoga for example, which the Wii can't. Of course with the wii on fire and a nifty new peripheral I'm sure this will do a lot better with an undoubtedly massive marketing push, but it's hardly an amazing innovation or anything, especially if a soccer game straight out of an eyetoy compilation is the level of boundary pushing that's going on.

I don't know much about the eyetoy thing, but WiiFit seems far more sophisticated, well thought out and more appealing than that.

"Measuring your balance and stuff" makes a massive difference.

[Danster]

it's the competitive nature of it that appeals to me.

I can just see me and my wife getting ultra competitive over this, comparing our graphs and stuff. That can only be a good thing, as hopefully I'll be getting fit too.

(an aside, just wondered if there would be a way to cheat the results.... thought about this because of my 13 year old who cheated at Brain Training in order to "beat" me and her mum! She wrote down all the words which you were supposed to memorise and didn't do the out loud reading just turned the pages as quick as possible. We didn't know whether to tell her off or just laugh at the pointlessness of it all!)

[Massive Invisible Dog]

Sega can do a home conversion of this now. Nintendo wins.

[JPickford (retired mod)]

Eyetoy had a very similar thing a few years ago and nobody gave a shit. It couldn't measure your balance and stuff obviously, but it could track whether your arms were doing the right thing during the yoga for example, which the Wii can't. Of course with the wii on fire and a nifty new peripheral I'm sure this will do a lot better with an undoubtedly massive marketing push, but it's hardly an amazing innovation or anything, especially if a soccer game straight out of an eyetoy compilation is the level of boundary pushing that's going on.

I bought that. It was quite good but massively let down by the fact the eyetoy doesn't really work. Nothing wrong with the concept, just rubbish hardware. It couldn't track what your arms were doing, it would guess inaccurately.

[Ste Pickford]

Eyetoy had a very similar thing a few years ago and nobody gave a shit. It couldn't measure your balance and stuff obviously, but it could track whether your arms were doing the right thing during the yoga for example, which the Wii can't. Of course with the wii on fire and a nifty new peripheral I'm sure this will do a lot better with an undoubtedly massive marketing push, but it's hardly an amazing innovation or anything, especially if a soccer game straight out of an eyetoy compilation is the level of boundary pushing that's going on.

You're right that it's been done before, but the Eyetoy fitness product wasn't very good.

It only barely worked, and would often fail to recognise arm movements then say you didn't do an excercise sequence which you did do, which, even though it only happened now and again, actually made it virtually useless as a genuine exercise programme (you might not have had the same problem, but the functionality of the eyetoy is heavily dependant on the background and lighting of the room you use it in - it's a flawed technology for any semi-serious use).

Also, the Eyetoy product was a horrible, sponsored, brand heavy, product placement fest (which is clearly Sony's style - see Home), full of logos for sportsware companies etc. I guess this stuff appeals to some people, but I think it narrows the appeal of the product. I don't think grannies and middle-aged housewives are especially turned on by seeing toned, 20 year old models wrapped in Nike logos.

Whether or not a product works, or is successful, is often down to some of the micro decisions made in it's development. With stuff like this, Wii Sports, even the Gameboy (high battery life > screen quality), Nintendo seem to be capable of making the correct decision necessary for the product to succeed. Sure, other people had ideas for similar products, but they got the fine details all wrong and the products failed.

Off subject a little, but I find it interesting to compare the different approaches Nintendo and Sony are taking in terms of advertising, sponsorship, and the integrity of their products.

Sony seem to be very keen on the whole corporate sponsorship thing - product placement, brands in game, the whole of Home seems to be basically a conduit for corporate product placement. Nintendo seem to have a different approach. You wouldn't expect to see brands in the Mii Plaza, or in Wii Sports, or even Mario Kart - everything's done in the in-house, fairly neutral, Nintendo style.

Not surprisingly I prefer the sponsorship free approach, but I think it's quite unusual to have the two dominant suppliers in a big industry take such different approaches. Often the most successful companies in an industry are virtually indistinguishable (Coke / Pepsi). I fear that the Ninetendo, sponsorship-free approach will eventually be crushed by the likes of Home.

[ras el hanout]

The Pickford Bros, doing their aerobics together, beautiful.

[Ste Pickford]

We were getting in each other's way, that's why it didn't work!

[Chosty]

Leotards?

[Danster]

That's a very interesting point. I hadn't really thought about the corporate sposorship angle and how much I dislike it when it is misued.

I have often wondered how possible it would be to have a BBC equivalent in British videogaming. Or perhaps even a European wide model, where a percentage of each console sold goes into creating games that are then released free of charge.

[Ste Pickford]

I have often wondered how possible it would be to have a BBC equivalent in British videogaming.

That's it! I was trying to pin down what it is I like about the Nintendo approach, and dislike about Sony's, but I couldn't think of a good example (other than the fact that I don't especially want to be advertised to). Nintendo feel like the BBC, compared to Sony feeling like ITV.

[Disgraced Toblerone]

it's the competitive nature of it that appeals to me.

I can just see me and my wife getting ultra competitive over this, comparing our graphs and stuff. That can only be a good thing, as hopefully I'll be getting fit too.

Excellent point.

[ukdazs]

That's it! I was trying to pin down what it is I like about the Nintendo approach, and dislike about Sony's, but I couldn't think of a good example (other than the fact that I don't especially want to be advertised to). Nintendo feel like the BBC, compared to Sony feeling like ITV.

Sony are more Like Sky than ITV.

I'm not sure who Microsoft are like. Al-Jazeera?

[b00dles]

Sony are more Like Sky than ITV.

I'm not sure who Microsoft are like. Al-Jazeera?

brilliant.

MS's MEGATON announcement : Moore to put a Jihad on Sony

[therearerules]

Sony are more Like Sky than ITV.

I'm not sure who Microsoft are like. Al-Jazeera?

Fox.

[ukdazs]

Fox.

Ooh yeah, that's a better one.

[Davros sock drawer]

We'd just like to have seen some more upcoming games showed off and demoed, rather than a nifty piece of kit that the majority of us here aren't going to buy or be even remotely interested in.

The point is that I think the majority of people on here should be interested in such a nifty piece of kit. I mean, we're the boffins, the geeks. This sort of thing is new, it's progress, and yet everyone just wants more "games". Traditional gamers! What an alarming phrase I keep hearing. There's nothing traditional about videogames, and the fact that we can even dare to use the term makes the stagnation at the very heart of the industry feel even more acute.

I find it absolutely fascinating, both in terms of the technology involved, the potential fun, the health benefits, the expansion of the market, everything. I'm interested in most things that look like they might entertain me, not just a load of stuff I've basically played before, over and over again, since 1978 when I stood equally fascinated on a beer crate to play Space Invaders.

[Jumble Jumble]

Yep, the first time I played Space Invaders, I'd pretty much played every game ever, except the ones that use gimmicky controllers.

[therearerules]

The point is that I think the majority of people on here should be interested in such a nifty piece of kit. I mean, we're the boffins, the geeks. This sort of thing is new, it's progress, and yet everyone just wants more "games". Traditional gamers! What an alarming phrase I keep hearing. There's nothing traditional about videogames, and the fact that we can even dare to use the term makes the stagnation at the very heart of the industry feel even more acute.

I find it absolutely fascinating, both in terms of the technology involved, the potential fun, the health benefits, the expansion of the market, everything. I'm interested in most things that look like they might entertain me, not just a load of stuff I've basically played before, over and over again, since 1978 when I stood equally fascinated on a beer crate to play Space Invaders.

I think we can be excited about the potential of the hardware without being excited about Wii Fit. And I think it's possible to talk about traditional games and gamers objectively, without claiming that they are causing a stagnation of the industry. There exists a seperation, of course there does, and it forms the cornerstone of nintendo's plan.

There's an element of reverse snobbery in this thread. People are stating things like

"Wii Fit is obviously going to sell by the bucket, but more to people who don't play games than traditional gamers"

And are being met with open hostility, accused of being ultra defensive or stagnating the industry.

[Davros sock drawer]

Yep, the first time I played Space Invaders, I'd pretty much played every game ever, except the ones that use gimmicky controllers.

That's not what I said, or meant.

I meant that ever since then I've found new advances in gaming constantly fascinating. "Wow! this is new!" as opposed to "Waaaah! This Asteroids game isn't the same as Space Invaders".

As usual I'm probably failing to make my point well enough.

[Davros sock drawer]

Ok therearerules, seeing as you think it's an acceptable distiction, what is a "Traditional" gamer?

[Massive Invisible Dog]

Ok therearerules, seeing as you think it's an acceptable distiction, what is a "Traditional" gamer?

It's entirely obvious what people mean by a traditional gamer .

[scottcr]

I'd consider myself a traditional gamer - but I'll get WiiFit... There's a good chance I'll snap up Scene It! on the 360 and Singstar 80s is still used at mine when we have a party...