E3 07: WiiFit Hands On

by: Chuck - posted: 7/13/2007 2:14:00 AM

While chilling at Barker between appointments this afternoon I took a little time to check out WiiFit, the new Wii fitness game.  While the NOA rep didn't have any information about the pricing or availability of WiiFit I didn get a chance to check out the new controller.  The controller is less than two inches tall, about 2 feet wide, and 16 inches or so long.  It's not very heavy but it does feel very solid.  I got the feeling that what we saw on the show floor wasn't the final version of the new controller but it was pretty close.  What's kind of interesting about the WiiFit Pad is that there are no moving parts and no tactile feedback.  This isn't necessarily a bit deal but for some of the mini games it might be nice to have at least some tactile feedback.

I only played two of the 40 included mini games.  First up was the Soccer mini-game that was shown at the Nintendo press conference.  The game isn't nearly as easy as it looks as it takes a bit of practice to figure out how to get your character leaning the right way.  Once you figure out how to shift your weight correctly the game is a lot of fun.  The second mini-game has you shifting balance to try and get two lines to match up for three seconds.  This requires you to find the right balance point and then hold it.  The game starts off with fairly long bars to match up but they then get smaller and smaller.  The game is a solid challenge but it would be nice to have some feedback here so that you know when you're in the zone.  It's probably not practical to vibrate a person's feet but something else might really add to the gameplay.  It will be interesting to see where Nintendo prices the system as the game really is fun to play and if it's fun and it helps you lose weight then it's all good.