Wii Fit: Revolutionizing Exercise
Nintendo is a Japanese corporation founded in 1889 that started out as a handmade card company. Through the mid-twentieth century the corporation was involved in many different niche businesses before finally becoming a video game corporation. Nintendo has become one of the most powerful video game corporations in the industry with a value of more than $85 billion. Read more about the Nintendo corporation business history in business magazines like Fortune magazine, Entrepreneur magazine and Consumer Reports magazine.
Starting in the early 1980s Nintendo made home gaming systems: the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), Virtual Boy, Nintendo 64, Nintendo GameCube and in 2006 launched the Wii system. In addition to these home gaming systems, Nintendo developed portable consoles Game Boy and Nintendo DS. Read more about the pros and cons of kids playing video games in kids magazines like Parenting magazine. The Wii series is the 7th generation Nintendo gaming system. The major difference and feature of the Wii system is its wireless controller called the Wii remote. The Wii remote detects motion and rotation in three dimensions and features sensory feedback. The console is bundled with Wii Sports, a package of sports games like bowling, tennis and golf. The Wii has sold about 24.45 million units.
This week Nintendo introduces the Wii Fit, also known as Wii Health Pack, the latest games bundle. Ninetendo announced the release of the Wii Fit, designed by famed game designer Shigeru Miyamoto at a press conference on July 11, 2007. The Wii Fit uses a specialized platform peripheral called the Wii Balance Board to measure the game player’s weight, center of gravity and calculate his/her body mass index. The game player has to tell the Wii his/her height. The Wii Fit lets game players compare their fitness with each other by using the Wii Menu, which tracks a game player’s “Wii Fitness Age” daily by testing the body and using the game player’s age, weight and athletic ability. The Wii Fit has four categories of exercise with a total of 40 activities: aerobic exercise, muscle workouts, yoga poses and balance games. All the workouts provide a core workout, emphasizing controlled movements. Specific activities include yoga poses, push-ups and step aerobics.
Other features of the Wii Fit are an activity log, which allows the game player to keep track of activities outside the gaming system and Fit Cash, which is the points system. Fit Cash allows the game player to move onto a more rigorous level of play after a certain amount of Fit Cash is earned.
Many magazines have reviewed Wii Fit. Some of those magazines are Business Week, Wired and Consumer Reports.
