General

FirstCuts: Wii Fit Not A Party Game

May 19, 2008, 6:15 PM UTC

The Nintendo Wii, in a group setting, can be a lot of fun with certain titles. Mocking people while playing Big Brain Academy or playing Wii Sports can be good, competitive fun.â†µâ†µWhen the fine folks at Nintendo sent off their promotional copy of Wii Fit, I was curious how it would fly in a group setting, so on Friday I unboxed the innovative new Balance Board and trotted it out with a group of 10 SN employees. The following and ultimately disturbing video was about as good as it got.â†µ

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â†µAnd yeah, admittedly, that’s pretty funny. But the game has its flaws in a group setting.â†µ

â†µWii're fat: You can jump in and play as a "guest," which took us a while to figure out, but we created characters for everyone that night and when you go through the orientation process with your character, one of the things it tells is your Body Mass Index (BMI). This has been the cause of great debate, particularly after a 10-year-old girl was called overweight by the BMI test in Wii Fit.â†µ

â†µâ†µIf you’ve got thin skin, being told you’re overweight -- or even obese -- in front of a large group of your peers probably isn’t your idea of a fun night out.â†µ

â†µâ†µWii want to play: The other trouble is that the game is clearly designed for a personal experience. Of the unlocked events (and I’ll get to that in a moment) there only appeared to be one that was of the two-player nature. And that one didn’t even involve the Balance Board, but rather putting a Wii Remote in your pocket while jogging in place to simulate running. (Lame.)â†µ

â†µâ†µWii want more games: As I stated as a caveat in the last section ... of the unlocked games. So although Wii Fit boasts 40 or so different events, just a fraction of those are unlocked when you turn on the title. To open up the rest, you’ll have to complete physical exercises and build up points and credit. Now really, who has time to do that before a party? This is where I quote my favorite game reviewer, Yahtzee, who is responsible for Zero Punctuation reviews.â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥You bring a hot new unreleased title to a party and you’re the toast of the evening until you discover that half the ****ing content has to be unlocked in single player and then the toast of the evening becomes a damp square of cold mush. I know video game developers are hopeless social rejects, but surely they’ve gone to at least one party in their life, even if it involved pass the parcel. ... There really needs to be a law against this sort of thing, preferably one of those maritime laws that lead to some getting tied to the mast and getting flogged.â†µâ†µSo yes, we all really enjoyed soccer -- watching panda heads and shoes slam into someone’s face is always good for a giggle, but after a couple hours, we were on to Rock Band and that’s one video you aren’t going to see here.â†µâ†µWii Fit is available at the Nintendo Store in NYC today and all big box stores in two days for $89.99. Check back tomorrow with a review from the lonely, single-player perspective.â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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