E3 '07 - First We Had Wii Sports, Now Nintendo Introduce Wii Fit

[Hammer]

Nintendo announced yesterday that they were introducing a new fitness 'game' for the Wii. It's called Wii Fit and ships with a new periphrial called a balance board, which detects pressure and works out how your body is balanced. And it is being sold a a fitness product that can lower your BMI.

Trailer

It's not exactly going to pull in the hardcore gaming crowd, but it's certainly a new level to Nintendo's Touch Geneations/Wii Play strategy.

From Nintendo's Press Release:

The hit combination of Wii Sports™ and the Wii Remote™ brought golf swings and tennis serves into people’s homes. Now Nintendo turns the living room into a fitness center for the whole family with Wii Fit and the Wii Balance Board. Family members will have fun getting a “core” workout, and talking about and comparing their results and progress on a new channel on the Wii Menu.
• Lean to block soccer balls, swivel hips to power hoop twirls or balance to hold the perfect yoga pose. As users stand on the Wii Balance Board, included with Wii Fitness, their body’s overall balance is tied to the game in a way they’ve never experienced before.
• Wii Fitness also uses the Wii Balance Board for daily tests. These evaluate two key measures that a household can track via progress charts:
 Body Mass Index (BMI): A weight evaluation based on a ratio of weight to height.
 Wii Fitness Age: The Wii Fitness Age is measured by factoring the user’s BMI reading, testing the user’s center of gravity and conducting quick balance tests.
• Wii Fitness includes more than 40 types of training activities designed to appeal to all members of a household. Training falls into four fitness categories:
 Aerobic Exercise: 10-minute exercises that are designed to get the heart pumping.
 Muscle Conditioning: Controlled motions using arms, legs and other body parts.
 Yoga Poses: Classic poses that focus on balance and stretching.
 Balance Games: Fun activities, such as ski jumping and heading soccer balls, that challenge the player’s overall body balance.

[poprock]

Sony’s EyeToy Kintetic range tried this sort of thing in collboration with Nike. I don’t have sales figures, but I’m not convinced it did very well … which is a shame as it was a bloody brilliant idea and incredibly thoroughly researched and developed.

I imagine Nintendo can come up with a very commercially-minded version, by mixing a less ‘serious’ fitness theme with basic gameplay elements like Wii Play. The Sony/Nike version was always more suited to serious fitness heads, which probably explains its modest success.

[Hammer]

I think even if Nintendo didn't include the game-like elements (like the football header games), they would probably still reach the same market that bought the Wii for Wii Sports - the parents and non-gamers that Nintendo seem to be reeling in by the dozen.

I think this will be more successful then the Eye Toy though - firstly it's not based on visual recognition and secondly because the Wii and the PS2 are very different systems with very different markets.

[Jon Ashley]

This sounds absolutely brilliant.

[ally.h]

i'm really excited about this. maybe i won't need to join the gym after all!!

al.