A week on the Balance Board

by JC Fletcher { Mar 4th 2008 at 1:30PM }

Not literally, of course -- really it's more like "A week containing many 30-minute sessions on the Balance Board." Game|Life's Chris Kohler has joined 4cr's Vinnk in long-term Wii Fit experimentation, though in a slightly different style. While Vinnk is updating us weekly with his weight loss progress, Kohler wrote up an entire week of gameplay in a detailed diary. Somehow he thought a week of exercise was a good idea immediately after GDC, which is basically crazy.

In addition to providing some anecdotal data about the efficacy of the game (i.e. how sore is he after a week), Kohler's diary offers an excellent overview of the game's modes, since every activity and option he explored is detailed in this diary. Surprisingly, the game got Kohler more interested in exercising outside of the house even as he continued to play Wii Fit. Miyamoto must feel like he got a phantom tummy-rub just now.

Tags: balance-board, diary, exercise, wii-fit

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Errol @ Mar 4th 2008 3:02PM

I don't see what's wrong here. I think all who doesn't frequently exercise should do it more often (including me), and it seems like the Wii Balance Board is helping those people who play the Wii to actually reach that goal, wich is great! I hope the Balance Board can get me up and running, maybe lose a few kilos if possible, and since i've started eating more fruit and drinking more water, i think it would be an excelent improvement to me and my health, and everybody elses health for that matter.

Maybe you guys think that exercising is a little too much for you, but i think that any type of game that can make you exercise and eat more healthy food is a great addition to lazy gamers around the world who doesn't even pull a finger outside of their windows to feel the weather outside.
Don't get me wrong, though. I don't imagine you guys as a bunch of lazy dudes with their heads deep down a bowl of american apple pie all day without touching a finger, i'm just saying that most people would do much better in the days with some everday exercise, and i think i speak for pretty much every gamer in the world who faints in the gym sessions because their fitness is so bad they can't even run one kilometer without falling apart screaming for water, or from having to get up from the bed at night because of a bad stomach, wich takes away alot of your sleep (wich is what i am experiencing nowadays, mostly from eating food that's not good for me, and experiencing pains in the back and chest for sitting in front of the computer all day is not fun either). I can't wait for the Wii Balance Board to come to Europe myself, and i hope that i can improve my health that way, and if any of you disagrees with me, then be my guest, you have all the rights to disagree with me, wich is usually what creates a discussion ;)
If the Wii Balance Board does not help me get outside and doin' something good for my health, i'll just focus on having fun with the thing, otherwise i'll return it and slap Nintendo in the face for dissapointing me.

What i've just said here does not mean anything offensive to anybody, and i don't hope anybody will take this as an insult in any way.

Errol @ Mar 4th 2008 3:04PM

Oh yea, by the way, i don't faint while running in gym, i just overdone that sentence a little.

Lars @ Mar 4th 2008 6:09PM

You go Errol!

I'm pretty excited to try out Wii Fit myself actually. I'm one of those fat, lazy, pale-skinned gamers you talked about. I don't spend all my time gaming but I definitely don't spend much time at all being "active" (unless you count Rock Band drumming). I think if exercise was presented in a game-like way (progression, goals, achievements), so that I'd have some data to actually show for it instead of "hey, you're looking slightly less fat today...maybe" then I might actually stick with it.