Mention video games to any parent and most of them will often roll their eyes in disgust, as they know just how addictive those games can get. In fact, there is a very negative connotation to video games for the better part of the last few years due to a higher level of obesity among children, where even high school shootings and violent behaviour has been attributed to this “electronic scourge”. Nintendo has gone a long way in rolling back those images though with their lineup of family friendly gaming titles as well as massive hardware hits in the form of the still scarce Wii and the phenomenal DS Lite. There is a new game being touted by Nintendo to keep gamers fit in the process, and it goes by the title of Wii Fit.

While you don’t get a free gym membership in your area to whip yourself into shape, the Wii Fit is radically different from all the other games that you’ve seen on home consoles so far. Each purchase of Wii Fit comes with a flat, board-like object which is placed horizontally on the floor. This looks more like a weighing scale than anything else, and is touch sensitive in nature. The board is used in tandem with the game, where there are scenarios where you need to bend in order to hit soccer balls with your head while avoiding different objects such as shoes being kicked at you simultaneously. All the bending down and getting up is guaranteed to break a sweat, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There is also a game which featured a man performing pushups on the Wii board, sweating profusely shortly afterwards.

Wii Fit also comes with yoga, aerobics, and other workouts to keep you sweating while playing. There is also built-in software that keeps track of your progress by calculating your Body Mass Index (BMI). Do you think this title will sell by the tons to soccer moms all over the world? One thing’s for sure - the Wii gravy train shows no sign of letting up, so Nintendo had better ramp up production in view of these family friendly games just looming across the horizon.

Source: Ars Technica