Wii Fit
According to a federal report funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, one-third of American children are either obese or at risk of becoming obese. Many people blame television and video games for the increase in childhood obesity, claiming that kids today just don't get enough exercise. Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto found a way to get kids exercising while enjoying one of their favorite activities -- playing video games. In 2006, Nintendo revealed an exercise game known as Wii Health Pack, which has since been renamed Wii Fit. Wii Fit includes more than 40 different activities that are designed to keep players active and healthy while entertaining them at the same time. The activities focus on four different aspects of exercising: aerobics, muscle conditioning, yoga and balance.
Wii Fit comes with the Wii Balance Board, which is a wireless board that senses small shifts in posture and weight placement so that your Mii, or onscreen character, mimics your movements exactly. The Balance Board, which resembles a small bathroom scale, has gyroscopic technology and multiple sensors built into it. The gyroscopic technology measures shifts in weight based on the conservation of angular momentum. Angular momentum measures the extent to which an object rotating around a reference point will continue to do so until acted upon by some outside force. The multiple sensors measure a user's body mass index and center of gravity. The Wii Balance Board goes beyond simply calculating your body mass index; it also tracks your overall progress in terms of your fitness age. A person's Wii fitness age is calculated by factoring his or her body mass index, performance during balance tests and overall center of gravity. By tracking your progress, Wii Fit makes it more fun to play. Users want to be as fit as possible in the eyes of the game so that, like in any other video game, they can claim to be the best. It is also designed to inspire players into setting personal goals, which help them stick to their Wii Fit exercise routines.
Wii Fit combines traditional exercises such as press-ups (push-ups), yoga, stretching and step aerobics with exercises designed to entertain, such as hula hooping, ski jumping and heading soccer balls. For now, the Wii Balance Board works only with Wii Fit, but software developers are excited by the opportunities presented by this new gaming technology. Gamers are hoping that skateboarding and snowboarding games, along with potentially many others, will utilize the Balance Board to create more of a virtual reality gaming experience.
