The Nintendo Wii - The Best Game System Ever

As a child of the 70’s, I remember the day my father brought home “Pong” for the family’s entertainment. From the moment I saw that little white dot bouncing around the screen, I was transfixed. It was cool…it was state of the art…it was like nothing any of us had ever seen before.

Flash forward 30 years. I am standing in my living room on the Wii Fit Balance Board, desperately trying to do a yoga pose without falling over and breaking a body part. In spite of my discomfort, I think this is the best game system I have ever freaking seen.

I bought the Wii about a month ago, and the Fit accessory came in the mail last night. Unlike most ventures involving exercise, I was excited to get up and try it.

Setup took just a few seconds, and from there I was being guided through a series of balance test to measure my level of overall fitness. It didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know, but even so, being told by a happy little balance board that I weighed more than a volkswagon (my words, not theirs) is never terribly encouraging. After testing my weight, balance and reflexes, the Wii determined that I had a fitness age of a 49 year old. Not great, but not as bad as I thought it would be.

There’s yoga, strength training, aerobics and balance games. Yoga was a fair but do-able challenge, as was the aerobics. Balance was a little tougher, and the first level of strength training was near impossible. I think over time with practice it will be better, but it sure wasn’t easy.

Now, I’m not foolish enough to think that this video game is the weight loss answer, but it sure is fun. I really enjoy it. I bought the “Wii Ski” spent the next two hours schussing down the slopes of the “Happy Ski Resort.” My legs are now killing me…and I feel a lot better about it than I would if I had spent 2 hours on my butt trying to save a princess or some other quest.

I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

K