What is the Wii Fit?
Wondering what all the fuss is about? Learn about the Wii Fit!
If you have kids, you may have heard the words Wii Fit tossed around. Maybe the kids next door have one, or it appeared on your own children's Christmas lists, or you've seen them on TV. But what exactly are the darn things?
Get Off the Couch!
Kids love video games, but doctors, teachers, and parents find them less thrilling. Sure, they're fun, they're exciting, and many of them teach skills like manual dexterity or even academic facts. But the fact remains that in a country of increasingly obese children, video games result in hours upon hours sitting on the couch.
Enter the Wii Fit.
Nintendo's Wii Fit is a video game system designed to get kids -- and adults! -- moving. The system involves a "balance board," a lightweight board you stand on while you play games. Between the board and the handheld controllers, you can interact with the Wii in a variety of ways: dancing, doing yoga, boxing, or even skiing downhill.
Details, Details!
The idea of yoga and aerobics might not sound like something your kids will enjoy, but guess what? Kids love the Wii Fit. Not only does it get them up and moving, it packages its activities to look like games, so they think they're having fun.
The Wii Fit challenges users to beat their own scores (or other family members'), and it has a number of more fun activities (such as balancing games like the Tightrope Walk) in addition to its more strenuous activities. Like most video games, the Wii Fit also offers hidden bonuses and unlockable activities as you progress through its levels.
Not Just For Kids
Adults love the Wii Fit, too. While kids enjoy the games and parents enjoy watching their kids get active, grown up users can monitor their body weight, balance, body mass index, and relative fitness "age" through an individualized program on the Wii Fit.
A word of warning, though -- this portion of the program is calibrated for adults, so make sure your teenage daughter doesn't go into hysterics if it tells her she has the body of a 47 year old.
No matter how you look at it, the Wii Fit is a revolution in video game technology. It's the first electronic gadget aimed at getting people off the couch and involving them in a healthy lifestyle. It even offers tips on diet, sleep, and other useful bits of information. So no matter how old you are, what your lifestyle's like, or how steadily you've avoided video games in the past, the Wii Fit may just be the right fit for you.