Sojourn of Ben

Wii Fit Debuts in U.S. to Help Fight Flab



Nintendo's Wii Fit hits U.S. stores today promising to be the latest exercise fad to draw weight-conscious Americans to Nintendo's popular gaming console. Wii Fit allows you to break a sweat in front of your TV to 40 fitness activities including strength training, aerobics, yoga, skiing, and snowboarding. The game's activities all take place on a small balance board that can sense when you are leaning forward, backward, to the side or even crouching.

Already a mega-hit in Japan after its release last year, Wii Fit is expected to sell three million copies in the U.S. over the next few months, and is already sold out online and many stores across the country have sold their supplies through pre-orders.



Wii Fit is expected to be the next hit for a video game console that has been consistently defying expectations against its competitors Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's Playstation 3. In April, the Wii sold 714,000 units, which was almost double the sales of the Xbox and PS3 combined during the same period. Unlike, the other two consoles, the Wii has a broad family appeal despite its inability to match with the other two consoles in terms of graphics capability. Nevertheless, Wii Fit is expected to be the next big video game hit following the release of Grand Theft Auto IV in April.

As with other Nintendo hits, Wii Fit sprouted from the mind of Shigeru Miyamoto, the video game wizard behind the "Mario" and "Zelda" titles. The idea behind Wii Fit came to Miyamoto almost four years ago as he was tracking his own weight, he says. In an interview with Reuters, Miyamoto remarked that the concept for the balance board came after an employee discovered it was fun to try and balance on two floor scales at once.

Wii Fit has already generated impressive buzz - before the game has even arrived in U.S. Early reviews are very positive, but only time will tell if the game becomes a hit or share the fate of the countless fitness fads.

CREDIT - PC World contributor Ian Paul filed this report