Joystiq [Nintendo]

Excluding those who went over to the Nintendo World Store on Monday, today is the first day that U.S. gamers can purchase Wii Fit for themselves. It's clear that Nintendo's fitness game is going to sell like hotcakes, but is it worth fighting through crowds and waiting on lines in order to pick one up? Here's what the critics have to say:

IGN (80/100) thinks that Wii Fit isn't a perfect workout tool, but was ultimately impressed by the title: "To its credit, the device is no joke. It very accurately measures your every subtle movement and momentum nuance as you step and shift to and from on the Balance Board. It's much more accurate than the WIi remote and it independently analyzes the input from your left and right foot, compiling the data into something meaningful and potentially encouraging within the context of the challenges, whether you're doing yoga poses, push-ups, or partaking in a host of mini-games created specifically for the device.

1UP (83/100) thought the game offered a good workout, but didn't necessarily make exercising fun: "A couple of days into the game's workout regimen, I didn't want to keep playing -- it is exercise, after all. But I persevered, and eventually I improved at the minigames, felt physically challenged on some exercises, and generally felt better after racking up 15 or 30 minutes a day of Wii fitness. But I never really wanted to play. Which, I suppose, is the rule of exercise -- it's exhausting, but keep it up, and you'll feel great at all other times of the day. That's mostly how Wii Fit is."

GameDaily (80/100) was somewhat bothered by the fact that Wii Fit isn't multiplayer friendly: "The most noticeable omission is serious multiplayer or a party mode. Like DDR or Wii Sports, it's actually fun to watch other people play and would be great to be able to switch off trying out different activities without having to retreat to the Wii Fit main menu and load a new profile. Furthermore, the fact that games only accommodate one balance board at a time seems almost anti-Nintendo. Isn't this supposed to appeal to the whole family?"