Sep 20
Wii Fit Commentary
Since we got back from vacation, lance and i have been pretty rigorous with the Wii Fit training. We get up early every day, walk the dog, and then do some sort of exercise. Either Wii Fit games, or i’ll run, or maybe we take the dog on a really long walk. I’ve lost 4 lbs in 2 weeks; lance has lost 5 lbs. The game has really been a great motivational tool - just checking in every day, first thing in the morning, puts you in mind of your body from the start.
There are some things i love about the Fit, and then there are some things that could be improved. Lance will recognize this as the “software tester” in me coming out.
Good comments:
- I love the Body Test and the Balance Tests. I think that is a great idea, and it’s implemented really well.
- The graphs of weight, BMI, Wii fit age and activities are AWESOME. They are pretty and colorful, and are a pretty good motivator for me personally, because i see envision the line trending downward. Sometimes i’ll spend five minutes just looking at the graphs. The graphs dramatize every little change, which is encouraging.
- I like that the default display is BMI instead of weight. That way, if you are sensitive about your weight and there is someone you aren’t comfortable sharing that information with, you don’t have to show them.
- I really like the fact that you can add additional activities to your Activity Log. It allows you to log time that wasn’t done on the Fit. So i can add my running or my yoga classes at work. And then my activity graph doesn’t have holes in it if i happen to exercise in a way that doesn’t use the Fit.
- I also like the initial graph from the Wii Fit Plaza that shows everyone’s graph overlaid.
- The balance games are awesome. We spent a good amount of time at first playing just the balance games, earning a lot of Fit Credits in the process. It was enough credits to unlock most of the Yoga and Strength exercises, so when we finally decided to start focusing more on those areas, we didn’t have a bunch of exercises to unlock (see unlocking below). And we’re pretty competitive about them. We’re always trying to beat each other’s high scores.
Bad comments:
- I wish you could log activities done in the past, with a limit of just a few days, even. If i go out of town, i might exercise, but i’m not able to record it on the Fit when i get home. Yesterday i forgot to enter the time from the Yoga class i went to - but i’m out of luck. It’s not a huge deal, but if this is a one-stop shop for fitness, why not allow that?
- The Activity Log allows you to record additional activities, but gives you the options “Easy, Normal, Hard”. You enter your time. It then calculates Easy=.5*(your time), Normal=1*(your time), and Hard=2*(your time). And then they all show up on your graph as the same shade of gray. I don’t like that. I’d rather it have 3 different shades of gray and the actual times for each recorded.
- Rhythm boxing is pretty annoying the way the instructor occasionally steals the spotlight in order to show you new moves. I realize it’s necessary when the pattern changes, but sometimes he just shows you the same pattern again! I wish there was a way to minimize those interruptions.
- There are WAY TOO MANY confirmation screens. When i select downhill skiing, i choose my level of difficulty and then press Start. Why doesn’t it start now? Instead, i have to go through 3 more confirmation screens before you actually start. And at the end of every Strength or Yoga exercise, the instructor runs her mouth, saying the same things over and over, instead of just letting me move on to the next exercise.
- There is a little too much ceremony after you finish a game. Just show me my time/score and let’s move along.
- I’d like there to be a way to show the winning scores for a mini-game without having to play it first. Do i hold the record for Downhill Skiing? It’s only a couple of minutes to play the mini-game and find out, but it would be a nice feature.
- The Yoga and Strength training games leave a lot to be desired. The Strength exercises pretty much completely leave out the arms, shoulders and upper back. What perplexes me about that is why? They already have some exercises that are difficult to measure and you get 4 stars every time (Jackknife). And there is one exercise which isn’t scored at all - tricep extension. Why not have more exercises that are not scored? The instructor could still lead you through it and demo the exercise for you. They could blow whistles at you, and trust you to do it on your own. I guess i don’t understand why they have a couple exercises like this, and don’t follow through with a complete set of exercises for a workout. Same for Yoga. Although i think all of the Yoga poses i have tried are scored, by the same principle, they could include some that are not, and just guide you through it.
- Possibility of building training routines. I’d like to see some way to pick your list of exercises/poses to perform, and just have your trainer go through them. There doesn’t even need to be a custom aspect to it - just say “Play All” and go through all of them. There are only a dozen or so. It would certainly eliminate all of the pressing A, which really does get annoying.
- Unlocking: it seems silly to require users to unlock things in this game. I am annoyed by this in general about all games. But here, it seems particularly dumb. Why should i have to unlock strength training exercises? None of the exercises are particularly difficult, so it can’t be from a “you’re not ready for it” standpoint. Why artificially create obstacles to prevent people from doing some of the exercises if your goal is fitness?
- We don’t understand the Lotus Focus balance game. Lance can’t get past 28 seconds. I did awesome one time and got almost to two minutes, and still only got two (of four) stars and was labeled an Amateur. What does it take?
So, those are my impressions. I didn’t mention the Aerobics games - i’m fairly neutral on those. Overall i love the game and the idea of the game. It certainly seems to be working for me.