Wii fit: U fat
As a proud owner of a Wii, I was pretty excited to find out about the Wii Fit. Wii's are fun, way fun. I'll be winding up to strike the mallet in Wii Carnival Games and after a lot of game play, I start to get tired and then realize, duh, waving your arms around for half an hour straight is a little more active than sitting there flicking your thumb on a joystick. Even something as benign as Guitar Hero for Wii involves freedom of movement so you can crank up your guitar neck in order to gain a blast of popularity (not that I play it excessively or anything, but yeah, I wield a mighty axe). And the Wii Fit? What a great way to sneak in fitness!
However, I found out that Wii Fit, marketed as a weight-loss tool, is basically a balance board that tops out at 330 pounds. Certainly that covers a decent percentage of the bell curve when it comes to average poundage, but I'm still a little surprised to see that it's so low if they're serious about using this as a weight-loss tool. I know some pretty average tall frat boy types who love their game machines but are reasonably close to the 300-pound mark. How many obese people could have benefited from this kind of fun activity if they had increased the weight limit slightly, perhaps by an additional 50 pounds? It seems like a missed opportunity for significant health benefits for a portion of the population who has a higher health risk. Even if it's not a weight-loss tool, just as a "fun and also, active" kind of game, the stereotypical gamer isn't exactly slender (although apparently it's really aimed at women, who do not fit the gamer stereotype). It reminds me of the treadmills for people who don't need treadmills.
On top of being a balance board, the Wii Fit is also a scale. Meaning that it takes your weight into consideration in its feedback, resulting in an incident of a 4'9" active ten-year-old girl who weighs 92 pounds (within a healthy range of BMI) who was told by the game that she was fat. Understandably, she was confused and devastated by the impersonal judgment. Sounds like she's going to be writing a future entry in One From the Vault, doesn't it?
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