Miyamoto Says Wii Fit Not Actually Intended to Make You Fit

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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Miyamoto Says Wii Fit Not Actually Intended to Make You Fit


Legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto has said in an interview that despite its name, Nintendo's upcoming Wii Fit [http://e3nin.nintendo.com/wii_fit.html]is not actually designed to make people fit.

According to a Wii.com [http://www.gamedaily.com/games/wii-fit/wii/game-news/miyamoto-wii-fit-is-not-designed-to-make-you-fit/6564/19355] features a discussion between Nintendo President Satoru Iwata and Miyamoto about the design process for Wii Fit. The game was originally inspired by Miyamoto's obsession with his weight, which he records and graphs daily, but eventually grew well beyond that. "We couldn't decide on what the next step would be and work came to a virtual standstill - until, that is, a staff member bought two scales, and found that it was pretty good fun to step on both of them at once and try to balance on them evenly," he said. "At that point, I asked the programmer to connect two scales to a computer and set it up so that your balance would be displayed on-screen numerically in a way that would be understandable even at a glance. When we did so, we decided to attempt to make measuring one's balance a theme for the software. We were sure there were methods of keeping fit involving balance, and when we looked into it, they did indeed exist."

But later in the interview, Miyamoto reveals that maintaining physical fitness isn't actually the point of the game. "I forgot to mention something earlier: I don't think Wii Fit's purpose is to make you fit; what it's actually aiming to do is make you aware of your body," he said.

"If you're standing still, and it tells you "Your body is swaying," you can see on the training results screen that your body has been shaking. But I think you'd never realize that your body is shaking in day-to-day life. I think becoming aware of things like this about yourself is quite interesting."

Wii Fit, which makes use of the Wii Balance Board controller, was released in Japan on December 1, 2007, and has since sold over 1.1 million copies. No official release date has been set for North America, although Nintendo has said the game will ship sometime in the first half of 2008. Nintendo President Iwata's full interview with Miyamoto is available here [http://us.wii.com/wii-fit/iwata_asks/vol1_page1.jsp].


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Arbre

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But later in the interview, Miyamoto reveals that maintaining physical fitness isn't actually the point of the game. "I forgot to mention something earlier: I don't think Wii Fit's purpose is to make you fit; what it's actually aiming to do is make you aware of your body," he said.
- Huh, I can't close that button.

Price? Certainly much less than Wii Fit and all the jazz.

Of course, it's funny that the marketing BS gets shot by Miyamoto himself, unwittingly.
 

Kronopticon

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Nov 7, 2007
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oh! the giant irony of it all. how tragic! mmmm, delicious delicious tragedy!

miyamoto is a good person, and probably every individual in nintendo is a good person with good intentions, but with many heads, chaos, failure, and bad things occur.
 

The Q

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And so ends my dreams of Nintendo making me totally buff. Thankfully Big Brain Academy will make me totally smart...right? Right?
 

ohnoitschris

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Nov 22, 2007
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All in all, Miyamoto said the right thing. Wii Fit won't make you fit, but then again nothing will if you don't actively pursue a healthier you. Wii Fit isn't going to prepare you a healthy lunch, hold up a big red sign when you walk into a McDonalds, and make sure you do your personal training every day whether you like it or not. Until there are robotic personal trainers, the most you can do with the game is play it yourself and make sure you take the responsibility to exersize and eat properly. Wii Fit isn't the first game with which you can lose weight if you do your part: Most Dance Dance Revolutions, on every console, have had a workout mode that counts calories. I'm sure you've heard of someone who's lost a little weight with it, and a lot of naysayers who would be quick to make fun of it. Exercise games aren't meant to be a one-stop-shop that will magically knock off the pounds; they are however a step in the right direction.

Perhaps after a few games on Wii Fit, you may feel like a snack. You've just had a workout, so you'd probably like something light to eat. Like, say, a turkey sandwich and a glass of water. You'll do this for about a week, and already start to feel good. Maybe you'll have a walk because the weather is lovely. You put a few songs on your MP3 player, and off you go. Soon, you find that all of this exercise is making you sweat, and you start drinking more water. Bottled, filtered, even tap; whatever you'd like. As for dessert, a nice fruit smoothie should do the trick. Water swiftly replaces soda, fruit replaces potato chips, and deli sandwiches replace quarter pounders. Now you're getting somewhere.

By the end of the month, you may feel yourself jumping around and running when you didn't even need to. Feel all of that extra energy? That's not because you just had six cups of coffee; that's the best kind of energy. Natural, baby. And if Wii Fit didn't encourage you to change your lifestyle, there might have been no hope for you.
 

slyder35

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Jan 16, 2008
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No No NO NO NO.

If you really want to get fit - THIS is how to do it people :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPPj6viIBmU
 

The Q

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Feb 12, 2008
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slyder35 said:
No No NO NO NO.

If you really want to get fit - THIS is how to do it people :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPPj6viIBmU
Preach the word, brother! Preach! I have seen the light and it is hilarious!
 

i_am_undead

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Feb 13, 2008
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This version is vastly superior to the original cut - enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x-f5FqPeKo
 

The Q

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i_am_undead said:
This version is vastly superior to the original cut - enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x-f5FqPeKo
Maybe I'm just a fickle whore that gives it up for anyone that makes me laugh, but grandeur and wonderment thy name is i_am_undead!
 

m_jim

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Chemicks said:
If the intention is not to make you fit, then surely there's a better name than 'Wii Fit'.
Unfortunately, I don't think that Wii Your Body Is Swaying has the same ring to it
 

sammyfreak

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m_jim said:
Chemicks said:
If the intention is not to make you fit, then surely there's a better name than 'Wii Fit'.
Unfortunately, I don't think that Wii Your Body Is Swaying has the same ring to it
Herecy, that would possibly be the best selling game ever!