Just in case you haven’t heard, Nintendo is releasing their Wii Fit exercise game in the US this week. The software has already been released in Japan and has been a raging success. The key to the Wii Fit experience is what’s called a “balance board”. It’s about the size of two bathroom scales joined together. Supposedly, the idea for the balance board came from watching Sumo wrestlers being weighed. As you might expect, they’re too heavy and too big to stand on a typical scale. So they usually put two scales together and place one foot on each.

The user does most of the exercises on the board, either with their feet or (in the case of an exercise like pushups) their hands. The Wii Fit also accomodates jogging, which you do with the regular Wiimote (Wii remote) in your pocket. You can jog in place or run around your living room - but you need to be careful not to stray out of the remote’s range. The game judges users by whether or not they have an acceptable BMI (body mass index). However, the American version is more tactful than the Japanese, which tells overweight users “you’re fat”!

So how does the Wii Fit do at getting people into shape? Well, from the reviews that have already come in, it looks like it won’t replace a personal trainer any time soon, but it does seem to be a viable option for people who prefer to work out at home, or even gym goers who might want the occasional change of pace. However, that all assumes you actually have a Wii to hook the Wii Fit up to. Unbelievably, even a year and a half after the Wii was introduced to the USA, they are still in short supply. It’s not likely you’ll just sashay into your local store and pick one up off the shelf. You’re going to have to be creative. When retailers feature one in their ads, the line usually starts to form a couple of hours before the store opens on the day the ad begins. So one option is to be the early bird. Another tactic is to buy online. There are a lot of Wiis available on ebay, but you’ll likely pay more than list price. You can also find Wiis off and on at online stores like circuitcity.com or toysrus.com. The catch is that when you do find a place that has stock, you’ll most likely have to buy a “bundle”, which includes games you may or may not want in addition to the Wii console.

All in all, I think this is a great idea. Anything that gets couch potatoes up and moving has my vote. The Wii Sports games that come with the Wii were an excellent first step in this direction, and the Wii Fit takes it to the next level.

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