Wii Warm Up: How long before someone cheats at exercise?

by JC Fletcher { Jul 14th 2007 at 10:00AM }

Not even one whole day of Power Pad ownership had passed before we were on the floor, drumming on the pad with our fists, flagrantly breaking the implicit rules of World Class Track Meet. Our other favorite move? Extending our long jump by simply stepping off of the pad. Yes, we are overweight now.

There's a new Power Pad in town, although it has fewer buttons and a more solid-looking construction. And it's meant more as an exercise tool than a game controller, really. But we're gamers, and we can't help the way we are. Some of us are going to cheat.

Do you think you have what it takes to play it straight, or will you take the hands-on approach to Balance Boarding?

Tags: balance board, BalanceBoard, cheating, e307, power pad, PowerPad, wii fit, WiiFit, wwu

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Kenny @ Jul 14th 2007 10:26AM

I generally enjoy exercise, but I generally enjoy winning, too. If WiiFit has any sort of competitive activity, I'll find some way to cheat to win!

Covarr @ Jul 14th 2007 11:28AM

Wii Fit is smarter than World Class Track Meet. It can see into your soul, so it will know if you're cheating.

hvnlysoldr @ Jul 14th 2007 11:52AM

I never hit the pad with my hands, although I did use the jump off the mat to extend my jump. My dad wasn't amused and could usually beat me. So I have no clue if I would or not.

Dipso @ Jul 14th 2007 12:26PM

Actually, due to the ability to check your weight and thus also the amount of force applied to the pad, you would not be able to cheat by for example using your hands to run.

WhoDey @ Jul 14th 2007 12:58PM

I would not cheat. Since the game tracks your progress over a period of time, I want to see my real results, not inflated numbers. Besides, I'm more interested in seeing how I stack against myself over a period of time or my family than I am against faceless internet cheaters.

Travis @ Jul 14th 2007 1:32PM

if you cheat you're only cheating yourself...

but seriously, wii fit sounds more like an exercise tool than a game... i'm not sure what good cheating would do.

zwarrior @ Jul 14th 2007 2:57PM

Agreed with Travis; you're only cheating yourself.

Plus Wiifit Balance Board seems smarter anyway

snkngshps @ Jul 14th 2007 4:14PM

Yeah the board not only tracks weight, but center of gravity also. There's almost no way to cheat.

Donald @ Jul 14th 2007 4:29PM

If you're not cheating, you're not trying.

Author X @ Jul 14th 2007 7:21PM

I'm with Donald on that - since I actually got good at games (about when I hit 13), I don't bother to cheat at them unless it's actually fun, or better yet, a real challenge. I'm more likely to cheat at WiiFit the more difficult they make it. Just because.
Actually, if anyone's played the english version of Princess Maker 3, no-one (online, anyway) knows how to actually achieve the Hero endings without using the "pick an ending" cheat. I hacked the save files with a hex editor to try trial and error, and I never found out.
Incidentally, I completely ruined the game for myself, and even though it was half a year ago, I'll never be able to play it as it was intended (knowing exactly what affects which stats and precisely what each stat does, etc) but I still feel it was a worthy sacrifice for a noble cause.

Of course, in regards to World Class Track Meet, I don't remember whether I cheated on that, but I spent most of that energy figuring out how to even complete the Crab Walk in Super Team Games. I eventually figured why I would only take one step and stop.
You had to turn and use a different button for your left foot. So you were standing sideways.

Drew @ Jul 14th 2007 8:10PM

You could actually make the pad think that you were insanely fast if you had three people on it at once. Since it didn't matter if you ran on the front, middle, or back set of dots, if you put one person on each it would count every person's steps a if one person was doing all of them. My brother, sister, and I were a world class sprinter.

Matt @ Jul 15th 2007 3:25AM

With some of those old games you just had to cheat. Remember Track and Field 2? The amount of button mashing required to beat some of the events in that game was beyond normal human capacity. And that was after you'd already button mashed your way through events prior. What a workout. Yay for rapid fire.

But as far as WiiFit, since it actually seems to measure weight, it would be a lot harder to fool in running events by using your hands, and I think they could make a jump around trial game to see how long it realistically takes you to jump.

Games have come a long way since the power pad. With DDR, many people can play faster with their feet than I can with my fingers.

I know this device with the wiimote has a ton of possibilities beyond WiiFit though and my non-gameing friends I've talked to that bought a Wii as their first game system since the Atari (mostly for the sports games) are all over this one.