It's obvious that Nintendo is on a mission to drive its games into as many households across the world as possible. While this is obviously the goal of any videogame company, Nintendo is actually the only console developer that's truly reached that elusive audience of folks that have never played, been interested in, or even tried a video game before. Wii Fit is the latest attempt to suck casual and non-gamers into the multi-billion dollar marketplace, and with its slick balance board accessory, flabby gamers and their families will be able to get a rich physical workout while enjoying some classic Nintendo fun.
We got the chance to check out the Wii software and hardware for ourselves, and aside from proving that we're about as physically fit as a dead cat on the side of the road, it proved to be a rather entertaining episode and certainly one that was very different to everything else being shown by Nintendo's competition. Wii Fit slots into the same sphere as the Brain Age and Nintendogs games in that it promises wide mainstream appeal yet is simply not a traditional videogame concept.
After seeing how the product is intended to work at this morning's press conference, it was time to check out the goods for ourselves. The first step was to step onto the balance board in order for the software to calibrate itself. We skipped out on the "proper" exercise routines for fear of causing an injury during a very busy week of work, and instead opted to check out the ski jumping and soccer ball minigame challenges.
The ski jump game saw our Mii avatars at the top of a classic snow-covered ramp. An indicator in the top right of the screen showed us where our center of gravity was and the idea was to crouch in a squatting position (just like real ski jumpers would) and lean our weight forward to gain speed. At the very last moment, we needed to stand up straight in order to nail the jump, and then, while flying through the air, we had to try and keep our balance so as to land the jump without incident. This was not as easy as we'd first thought. A few failed attempts later, we got it down.
Next up was the soccer ball challenge. Here, you have to move your avatar left or right by leaning and shifting your body weight. The idea is to head the balls back while avoiding the foreign objects like boots and panda heads. Your score increases as you successfully return more and more balls, and that's about it. Extremely simple in concept, but a little more tricky in practice. We sucked pretty bad at first but gradually got better. the more we played.
Wii Fit represents another shift for Nintendo. Past E3 shows have always been about huge game announcements from the likes of Nintendo, but the company's focus this year was very much on the causal market and as such, core titles like Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption felt like they took more of a back seat. We've got very little doubt that Wii Fit will be anything other than a runaway success, and the appeal is certainly there for both gamers and non-gamers alike.
There was no news on the price of the game and whether or not the hardware will come bundled (we'd imagine it'd have to) but time will tell. Nintendo will continue to make excellent core games but there's even more change on the horizon. We could very well be looking at the future of casual gaming here, as there's certainly a few million people out there waiting to try something different.
