Wii Fit [Wii]

Wii Fit is one of the smartest moves Nintendo has ever made, and that's saying something. What better way to reach consumers traditionally uninterested in video game consoles than by promising them a fun way of losing weight? Wii Fit does just that, and, on the whole, it delivers. It's not going to do the work for you, but its unique mix of solid hardware and clever software could well give you the motivation you need to drop those pounds - and that recipe starts with its custom-designed Balance Board controller.

Although it looks like an oversized set of bathroom scales, the heftiness of the Balance Board is impressive. It's not going to slide around under you, nor does it feel likely to break under the pounding it's likely to take. In fact, forget the jar of cold cream, the baseball bat, or the 12-gauge -- you might want to slip a Balance Board under the bed in case of burglars.

For all that mass, its sensitivity really is astonishing. Sure, it can tell you your weight, but it can also tell when you shift your weight forward, back, left or right by even the most inconsequential amount, and some of its minigames put that capability to excellent use, tasking you to hit ever-smaller balance targets with impressive precision. (Incidentally, it does have its limits - specifically, no players over 330 lbs.)

Like Wii Sports, your saved Wii Fit data is associated with your Mii, a cartoon representation of yourself that's usually the first thing new Wii owners create. When starting the game, you're presented with a graph of your progress over the last few weeks, and if there are other Wii Fit addicts using the same console, you'll be able to see how your efforts rank against theirs. The game also calculates your Wii Fit Age, in a similar manner to Nintendo's DS hit Brain Age, from a combination of your weight, height, real age, and balance test results.

Don't go setting too much store by it. Like your Brain Age, your Wii Fit Age is prone to vary wildly. Ours bounced around by as much as ten years from day to day, presumably according to differences in our balance test result, the phase of the moon, and/or how much coffee we'd drunk that morning.

From there, hop onto the Balance Board and you're off to Wii Fit's ample selection of minigames. They're broken into four categories: yoga, balance games, strength training and aerobics, although disappointingly the vast majority of them are locked at first. Until you accumulate some time with the game, you're going to be limited to just a handful of activities.

Most Wii Fit buyers will probably head straight for the balance games, which are by far the most "game-like" of Wii Fit's activities. Your guide, an overly-enthusiastic on-screen representation of your Balance Board, has much to say about the health benefits of good balance and posture, none of which is remotely convincing -- but wobbling your way, step by step, across a tightrope is bound to raise a grin regardless. Good times, but not likely to deliver much in the way of real improvements.

Aerobics, in contrast, offer much more scope for genuine exercise. Wii Fit's heart-pumping minigame selection centers around running (which doesn't use the Balance Board at all, just a remote as a kind of pedometer) and step exercises. Put some effort into them - Wii Fit's not going to do your workout for you - and you'll definitely be left breathless.

Here's an example. Take the hula-hoop game, which is one of the first aerobic minigames you'll play. Standing on the balance board, you have to gyrate your hips, Elvis-like, as your on-screen Mii representation follows your movements, twirling a hula-hoop smoothly and efficiently. Er, assuming you're keeping up, that is. At intervals, you'll have to lean left or right to catch other hoops thrown by onlookers, and then you'll have multiple rings to deal with. Once the clock runs out, while you catch your breath, you're scored on the number of successful revolutions you've completed. It's surprisingly hard work.

Yoga's not really our bag, but if you're into contorting your body into ever more bizarre shapes, you'll find ample opportunity to do so in Wii Fit. Finally, strength training offers various Balance Board-enabled versions of those exercises you probably remember from that gym induction you took once. All are presented with a characteristically clean Nintendo style: we especially liked the way other Miis on your system appear in the background of the game's running track.

Will you lose weight? Put it this way: it's not going to hurt. Much of the challenge of starting a daily fitness regime is simply in finding an impetus to start, and Wii Fit is a lot cheaper than a gym membership. Its "Fitness Made Fun" tagline rings a little hollow when you consider that most of the aerobic games are rather more work than entertainment, but hey, if losing weight was easy then everybody would be doing it. Doing anything that gets you off the couch is going to help, and Wii Fit's more energetic minigames are ample to leave you out of breath. No, it's no shortcut to the perfect physique, but it sure beats another hour on a damn treadmill.