The Wii Fit is a Lie - The UpStream

People are no strangers to warning labels, especially in present times when everything seems to be bad for you one way or the other. We see them on anything from artist albums with explicit content to giant tanker trucks on the highway filled with toxic chemicals. Even in the world of video games there are ESRB ratings on every game but some don't think it should stop there. Fitness bloggers from Winston Salem Fitness have turned their attention on the poor, defenseless Wii Fit. They state that there are some problems with the Wii Fit's text. The way the Wii Fit incorporates BMI (Body Mass Index) into your overall health score is misleading because BMI is not necessarily related to your health. Also, there are a variety of exercises in the game that are not good exercises as agreed upon by a majority of "fitness professionals."

Don't take my word for it. Here is the end of their post:

Overall, I give Nintendo credit for trying to make a game that tries to get people to be more active, which is more than can be said for other video game manufacturers. However, this will not do anything in terms of chipping away at the American obesity problem.

In fact, I'll go out on a limb and say that the video game industry needs to follow the route of the tobacco and alcohol manufacturers, and state that excessive use of their product could lead to inactivity and obesity, rather than try to make a half-hearted effort at increasing American activity levels.

There are a few problems with the above statements that show me these people have missed the point. It is true that tobacco products and alcohol are known to cause heart disease, various forms of cancer, alcoholism etc. These consequences are directly related to their excessive usage, so by their logic playing videogames are a direct cause of weight gain and obesity just like over eating, high fat diets and just being really lazy. Although "Fit" is in the Wii Fit title it was never intended to compete with serious fitness programs like P90X or 8 Minute Abs that are geared to get you ripped. The whole mindset behind the Wii Fit was to just get people into the habit of being more active when we continue to live an increasingly more sedentary life style. I seriously doubt that most gamers who have a Wii (most of them are casual gamers) and a Wii Fit are flaming Nintendo about their missing 6 pack. I suggest that that these fitness bloggers pick up Brain Age 2 and a Nintendo DS so they can start exercising their minds some more before making any more suggestions.