Well I haven’t actually played it yet because I was too stupid to pre-order, plus I’m out of town. But I am planning on getting it and would like to hear from people who’ve given it a go now that it’s out. So far I’m hearing really good things. Who’s broken a sweat yet?
My pre-order is currently sitting in the store while I play Conan and continue to pretend that my knee injury is really what’s deterring me from thorough exercise. I’ll be out of excuses once I grab it tomorrow. I could stand to lose about twenty pounds and actually have pretty high hopes for this thing.
No problem finding a couple around Vegas. Both Gamestops had plenty in stock a few hours after opening.
I played it. It’s neat, but I gravitated back to Boom Blox after about 45 minutes.
The balance games are very cool, and harder than I expected. tightrope walking-very fun, and the put the ball in the hole balance game is great.
the ‘workout’ part…we’ll see. Doing push ups on the thing sucks, but some of the other stuff works just fine.
stepping- meh.
Running- nicely done.
When you do your first ‘run’ go nuts - go as fast as you can. Pretty funny what happens.
There were five sitting in Target this morning at 8:30AM when I was there to pick it up for my wife, who wanted it for her anniversary present. :)
I’ll probably try it out tomorrow after work.
The pushups kick my ass. My hands are too close together and she wants me to do them too slowly.
IF I WANTED TO SEE LIMP WRISTED FAIRIES, I WOULD HAVE GONE TO THE NAVY
I’m a week into using it daily, and I think it’s absolutely wretched. For one thing, it’s not really built for guys like me who are already somewhat active. Wii Fit won’t let you start anywhere other than the bottom level (I had a similar complaint about Crosswor DS, their crossword puzzle game).
But more to the point, it’s terrible for people who actually need help being motivated to stick to a fitness routine, because there are no routines. Wii Fit is little more than a collection of minigames with almost zero regard for a bigger picture. A lot of the stuff is really bad, and the push ups are a perfect example. They’re just going to discourage people by trying to cram the balance board gimmick into the exercises. Similarly, their focus on balance – which is really the only thing the stupid board can measure – really misses the point. And the stop-start-stop-start of the interface is horrible.
It’s enough to make a fella pine for Maya.
-TomUh oh.
Just got it today but yeah its basically Wii Sports with minigames that use the balance board. I wish you could navigate the menus with the board itself because I have to constantly pick up and put down the Wii mote.
Wii Sports with balance-board mini-games and a few fitness instruction videos probably describes Wii Fit very well.
Can’t agree with Tom’s verdict of it being wretched, though.
Many of the games (especially the ones that can be unlocked later) are quite fun, and it really doesn’t take that much work to unlock the games. It’s basically either logging time on the games (unlocking a game about every 10-15 minutes, and many games take 3 mins) or scoring well enough on one game that it unlocks the “Level 2”. I think I had unlocked most of the stuff after about a week.
I really enjoyed most of the balance games; not so much the tightrope thing though. The first level stepping mini-game is rather boring. Step Advanced is faster and more complicated; not my cup of tea, but the SO enjoyed it (she also beats me at it consistently). Running was moderately fun, but you really need to wear shoes. The muscle and yoga stuff is OK, but the balance board obviously can’t say how well you are really doing, so it becomes essentially a mediocre instruction video.
Can you work up a sweat. Sure - but (as I think most reviews have made clear), Wii Fit is not some kind of home gym replacement. The balance board will help by tracking weight changes, time spent working out (one can log this in the calendar) and providing some mini-game distractions to break up the boredom of a work out, but weight loss will still require “real” exercise (and the silly mascot also starts recommending this after a couple of weeks). It’s become a part of my on-again, off-again fitness regime, and to some extent - I suppose - it does provide some motivation (mostly because of the Fit Channel on the Wii mercilessly tells you how many days it has been since you last used it).
The interface could certainly be improved. Too much clicking on the Wii remote to get started. And (IMO), they really made a mistake in not making it easier to switch between “players” within mini-games. Wii Fit is really at its best when you are competing against someone in the balance mini-games. But if there is a simple way to change between players, I haven’t found it.
All in all, it’s about what I expected from a glorified set of bathroom scales. As yet another bunch of Wii party games that force people out of the sofas, I think it’s a success. It may even work to make people a bit more aware of their posture (which it really goes on about) and weight. But it’s not a home exercise studio. I’d definitely buy it again, though partly because I hope/expect that there will be more games along the road that make use of the balance board.
That should be the blurb on the box. What I really needed was another Wiinovation to put on my list of things I don’t care about.
My fiance got it for me for the balance board, along with Wii Ski, since I’m an avid skier. I didn’t try Wii Fit yet, but Wii Ski was pretty fun for the little I played it last night. The board is pretty sensitive, and it isn’t too much like real skiing, but still more like skiing than I expected.
yeah that’s the biggest problem.
ski slalom and snowboarding is pretty good fun, and its worth it for me to have something nagging me to do some exercise now and then.
They missed a trick on the steps thing. too simple, too little variety. bah.
anyone done that meditation thing where you have to sit still yet? its a bit weird.
So far, Wii Fit appears to be Brain Age for your body. It shares a lot of its style – the body tests with a resulting age determination is nearly a direct copy. The broken up style of the training games, which consist of short 1-2 minute games with no apparent way to do them in sequence or create any type of routine (probably my biggest complaint so far) is also very familiar. Lastly, you could argue that WiiFit is about as good for your body as Brain Age is for your brain. It certainly doesn’t hurt to have something to force you into a wonderful habit but it can’t serve as the basis for a real workout.
That said, it’s pretty fun. The balance mini games can be challenging. The strength games can require actual effort. The Yoga is certainly interesting and probably the best application of the board. It’ll be a blast watching my mother-in-law attempt to swat soccer balls with her head.
It does, however, make me wish that Maya could pop over for a visit and devise and actual routine for me. There’s more they could have done with the idea and its loose collection of mini-games makes me feel like they stopped a bit short.
I was really looking forward to it until the reviews started coming in all talking about the fact that there’s no real routines. I would be getting it on day one if it was really a home workout tool instead of a loose collection of minigames.
Here’s hoping someone takes things to the next step and puts a Yourself!Fitness clone for the Wii using the balance board.
If it were cheaper, I’d take the plunge. Even my gym costs less ($75/year).
Not that the price will keep US sales from being astronomical. Soon Reggie will start sweating money.
I picked it up for my girlfriend, who has been really interested in this ever since she heard it announced. I’m with fuzzyslug here - it’s not a substitute for real exercise, but a different way to play games by actually moving your body. I laugh at the idea of going for a “jog” by running in place on the balance board.
It’s neat, but the trend towards expensive plastic peripherals is starting to worry me. How long before this joins the rock band instruments in the corner, next to the DDR pad? I hope other games start to add interesting uses for the board.
I’ll wait for Virtual Wii Fit Boy Junior