Adam on Nintendo Wii Fit: average person is overweight
July 21, 2007 | Filed under Gaming, Nintendo Wii
This comment came from Adam on our post about the Nintendo Wii Fit, so we thought we would feature adams comment about the new Wii Gadget and how he feels its not a very good idea.
Here is what Adam said:
Close, but not a very good idea. First, I wonder about how sturdy this peripheral really is. The average person is overweight and I wonder about how this will work. I also am concerned about actually being able to perform exercises on the device.
They would have been better with mat similar to the hard home version of the dance dance mat. The games look interesting, but I would rather play games on the system. Another problem with the idea is that most homes have carpet where their tv is located. If you don’t have tile, hardwood, or berber carpet then you will not enjoy this.
I have plush carpet and the device will have difficulty with picking up when I change my balance. The idea is cool. I just think that the device itself is questionable. They need a device that can really take a beating.
This just looks like a fancy scale and the shell looks similar to the wiimote shell. I am slightly overweight and this device has me worried. Not just because of my weight, but the added stress of exercise routines on it.
I will stick clear of this because of how the device is designed. If they come out with a better design, I would pick it up. I would like to try the soccer, ski, and hollahop minigames.
You can leave a comment below about what Adam said or join in with the comments on the original Nintendo Wii Fit post.
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You’re a moron… You haven’t even tried it yet. How can you comment on the stability of the object before trying it. And to go as far as to say that you would buy it if it was a better design. Epitome of douchebag.
What on earth are you talking about? “The average person is overweight.” This statement is erroneous in the extreme. The average person is not overweight.
Perhaps in the USA it has reached that bloated standard but in real countries (i.e:not states containing the descendants of rebel fiends, a modern society which should have been nipped in the bud before their stunted vampire economy grew) the average person is NOT overweight. England, Ireland, France, Scotland, Australia, Canada, Brazil, Norway, Sweden, Chile, Italy, Wales, Germany, New Zealand, South Africa, South Korea, Russia…all countries where Wii Fitness will be sold and all countries where the majority of people are healthy.
But I called your statement “erroneous in the extreme.” How do I qualify that? Because Wii Fitness is actually targeted at people who may wish to exercise, such as overweight people, making your ridiculously incorrect comment ludicrously irreverent.
And now I shall move onto your other major offence. You claim quite assuredly that this pressure sensitive device, a medium of calculating exactly how a person is stood, will be rendered unreliable for detection and BMI reporting by the extraneous input given to it from plush flooring. I must tell you that when I read such a conceited comment I reread it to make sure that the information I had managed to absorb through your poor command of the English language was what you had intended to communicate. I was in utter disbelief. Do you live in a house with buoyancy akin to an inflated rubber castle designed for juvenile minds to entertain themselves in. By which I mean to say: DO YOU LIVE IN A DAMNED BOUNCY CASTLE?
While I must admit that plush carpets are an alien invention to me, I can not understand how any carpet could simply have the buoyancy to offset weighing devices, or in this case, highly advanced digital scales. The mind boggles to conceive how even a six inch high plush carpet, which I assume is even more extreme than what you have, could make the balance board not fully accurately measure the pressure applied at each point. Surely the thick balance board would not receive pressure from underneath that could inform the reading from the actual sensor?
Finally “the shell looks similar to the wiimote shell.” I’m sorry but I can glean no comprehension in relation to this utterly bizarre statement. And about the added stress of exercise? The whole point of this software and hardware package is to bring exercise in the home in the form of computerised technology, to show graphs and have games for fun and so on. The “stress” of exercise is the whole point for insecure overweight people like you. To put this into context, although I am not overweight and have only recently gained a small extruding stomach bulge due to the inactivity and over eating that my month of school exams and thereafter relaxation has brought upon me, I am terribly, atrociously physically incompetent and unfit, yet I look forward to the idea of exercise presented as fun, such as press-ups. In fact, the very hours before I learnt about Wii Fitness, I was considering doing press-ups and exercise for the next day’s paint ball activity. So for somebody to be afraid of such a concept who is not otherwise disabled and would therefore disregard the activity completely is a very intriguing idea that makes me think of you having a physicality similar to Homer Simpson.
Because I had already established that your mentality was so positioned.
If Reggie Fils-Aime could use it, I’m sure most people (short of the morbidly obese) can too.
Will,
The reason people are overweight in The U.S. is because of the abundance of wealth there. Half the countries you listed are third worlders and all on your list are socialstic. Gee I’am so surprised that people in those countries are so undernourished. I guess from each according to his needs from each according to his abilities hasnt worked out as well as Free Market Capitalism.
Other than that part of your comment I agree with you wholeheartedly.
fat people suck. im getting this device because, out of sheer pussiness i hate going out for a run in the dead of winter.
Actually, Will, although I find your argument compelling, the whole part about other countries in comparison to the U.S. wasn’t really needed. As for the “all countries where Wii Fitness will be sold and all countries where the majority of people are healthy,” do you really think people living in African villages will buy this? No. How about any of the third-world countries you mentioned, like certain parts of Russia and Brazil? I doubt that, too. Also, you say that people are “healthy” there. While their diets tend to consist of less fat, many people from the poorer parts of those countries will die far before the average, middle-class American with health insurance.
The wealthy people from those areas you mentioned might get it, but otherwise, those aren’t the only places where it’ll sell. The U.S. will most likely have an interest in Wii Fit since they can afford it and want a fun way to lose their extra pounds. Not all of us are slobs, nor are we all overweight. Other than that, I agree with you. Just calm down a little.
Also, Geoff, “abundance of wealth” isn’t entirely why Americans are overweight. Lots of poor people are overweight because all they can afford are $5 worth of fast food every day. They often can’t afford to buy healthier foods at a grocery store because it is far more expensive, especially if you go every week or two.
I personally think Wii Fit is a great idea. I find regular exercise to be quite boring and tedious, and I’m currently just bouncing on a trampoline so that I don’t dread having to go on the damn stationary bike in the basement. If I could mix that with some Wii Fit time as well as being able to monitor my improvement on-screen, I could definitely see myself in better physical condition. I’m certainly not overweight (115 pound female at 5′2″,) but I do like to keep in shape, and Wii Fit is attractive to me in that sense.
Wii Fit will be the next “Brain Age” phenomenon, only this time it’s for the body and not the mind.
geoff urself, you are inane. The US may have the highest GDP but not per capita and certainly not as a fair distribution! Don’t 2% own 80% of the wealth or some such? I suppose you are happy with that situation? Go choke on a flag
I have to agree with tso, if Reggie can use it you have to be really overwieght to break it. Why is this article even published. I thought it was from a serious source. This could be another Xbox fanboy trying to put doubt in another big N innovation. I will pick one up because i know that Nintendo stands behind their products.
It’s kind of daft and pointless to criticize a product that hasn’t even been released yet. From my experience Nintendo release good products. Why not wait and actually touch or even try one before you do silly posts like this. How many people did you manage to offend with you ‘overweight’ comments?
Lee:
I think Adam posted a comment on Product Reviews because he is slightly overweight, and these are his views.
You are right in saying that this is not fact until the person tries it, but these are Adams views.
I’m awfully sorry, but when I mentioned South Africa I had given this website’s audience the benefit of the doubt that they would know that “South Africa” does not refer to the south of the continent of Africa, a largely poor and malnourished area, but the country, South Africa, the old apartheid society, looked on badly when it was such, due to the relative affluence of the whites compared to the blacks in its racist society, where Nelson Mandela, one of the world’s most famous men (although according to Time magazine’s voters, one who is less influential than Shigeru Miyamoto) was president and destroyed the walls of the racial inequality. (much like Miyamoto’s Wii Fitness will further destroy the boundaries between those who play games and those who don’t) Given this, and the fact that Nintendo products are distributed in South Africa, I will now judge this “Arielle” character to be worryingly ignorant. No, racist even. I quote the following from the ignoramus’ post: “do you really think people living in African villages will buy this?” Obviously South African’s live in mud huts. And I can from this draw evidence that you are all good patriots of the United States of America ignorant of the world at large, even extending as far as your government, which used to state with pride how America has the most cars per person, the most wealth, the most this, the most that, which for many reasons looks very bad indeed. I am no racist, but I do think that your society has become something rather saddening, now reaching the point where you elections are based on novelties whereas you see that “Oh look, a female president! Oh look, a president with darker skin!” Don’t you understand that a true victory for racial equality would be one where people don’t notice that the candidate is black or white or whatever? Where all candidates are elected based on their suitability, and the gender or skin are not discussed? Should there have been a presidential candidate who’s female and black, now that would have been simply spiffing wouldn’t it. And then reading this Arielle’s post I gain further conviction that the United States need to have a good kick up the arse. As for the comment about Russia and Brazil, the other “third world” countries, perhaps I can draw to your attention that Russia cannot be categorized as rich or poor, since it covers such a vast area of land, and although it has many poor people, it does sell Nintendo products, and as for Brazil, I can purport that although it does have a backwards market, some people would must have a Wii, as I can tell through the worldwide polls in the Everybody Votes channel on the Wii and besides I was only using those countries as examples of where it could be sold, not where a hugely healthy market is set up. I was attacking the untruth that most people are overweight. But putting this into such a perspective is irrelevant because I was just pointing out that the United States are not the only places where Wii Fitness will be sold, and if you would disregard my comment on those other countries because perhaps only three of them I mentioned have many poor people who couldn’t afford a Wii, then you are rather strange because countries like England, France and Germany are not so overweight and will buy this thing in droves because we great Europeans are damned rich anyway. So that part of my comment, like the rest, was in fact near flawless.
But in conclusion, I must again point out that I listed them to say that on the contrary to what Adam originally explained, most people, as in most people where this product is to be sold, are not overweight. But this contraption is expressly designed for overweight people anyway! The only possible flaw in its design is that t may be too small for the overseas market, which is due to their circumference around the feet, not weight. But they have considered this already, therefore will likely make those changes.
Finally, I feel terribly obliged to point out that if you think South Korea is all that backward and malnourished, you’ve got some catching up to do. Again referring to the Time list of 100 influential people, a pop singer from said country is number one on that list. They have had 20 megabyte broadband for the past ten years and are the main reason games like World of Warcraft are so popular. And the Nintendo DS hardware and software is selling like proverbial hotcakes over in South Korea, with the Wii following suite just from imports and such. I know these comments are out of place but the ignorance on display here (since when did I mention African villages!) is astounding and I feel compelled to address it. But well done to Geoff who picked up on the fact that my comment had an undercurrent of anti capitalism, not against the ideology but what it has made the US of A into.
I’m now off to preach more pro-Nintendo goodness. I will leave you with the order that Super Mario Galaxy will be the greatest thing ever, or else I shall drink the blood of every man, woman and child in Iraq. I shall scorch the ground so that not even a lizard may live there in a thousand years! So what am I trying to imply with this? I’ll give you a clue: it’s not what it may seem at first, that I am attacking the war on Iraq, and Americans who comply to it who are racist. I am pointing out that the USA has many ……… …… and they range ignorant to intelligent, …… to humanitarian so attacking my comment because it includes some countries where the people range from …. to …. is ……(the next one’s a full stop).
Fill in the blanks with replies, it’ll be a fun guessing game, and I’ll post a comment with the answer later in a couple of days. Go on, guess what the blanks are!
“I will now judge this “Arielle” character to be worryingly ignorant. No, racist even. I quote the following from the ignoramus’ post: “do you really think people living in African villages will buy this?” Obviously South African’s live in mud huts.”
So you’re going to judge me based on one comment? I admit that I’m not the best at geography (more into arts and such,) but I’m certainly not racist. Just because I said “do you really think people living in African villages will buy this?” doesn’t mean I was saying that everyone lives in a village there. I’m saying that, compared to most countries, it’s considered to be quite a bit poorer, and there actually are villages in certain areas, whereas the U.S., UK, etc. have none.
“And then reading this Arielle’s post I gain further conviction that the United States need to have a good kick up the arse.”
You know what? If you’re going to belittle me, then feel free to do so. But don’t judge an entire nation based on me. Stop generalizing, and more importantly, stop chiding people because they don’t have as much worldly knowledge as you. You apparently take some sadistic pleasure in insulting and lecturing people. I don’t care how much random geography and economy facts you’ve stored in your brain. I don’t look at that stuff when I debate about if a video game is a good idea based on human psychology and interests, so I’m not going to bother with any more of this “entire world” crap.
More importantly, is it so hard to simply correct someone’s mistake without acting like a complete asshole? Do you not know how to act in a social environment? I can’t believe you go out of your way to make long-winded posts with witty remarks only to insult people. I don’t care what you throw at me. I can see right through it. It’s just a bunch of factual knowledge that you decided to start using to impress people. I don’t know why you feel the need to reason with people by showing such factual crap off, but, once again, that’s not my debating style, and I’m not going to argue with you about geography. That is all for now.
In fact I also suck at geography. Furthermore, this is not a social environment, we are supposed to be arguing about Wii Fitness and its peripheral. Secondly, I’m very sorry if I’ve offended you but lets be serious, I don’t have much worldly knowledge given that:
a. I’m only 16 and
b. I’m far too preoccupied with Nintendo.
Okay, maybe I went too far, and I must admit, in retrospect I may have gone a bit too far on the USA hate, so I’m going to back out of what has erupted into a post war and tell you that you’ve got balls girl, I can’t even think of how to reply! Very nicely done.
Oh, I’ve got something: given the term “psychology” being bandied I must say that I wasn’t trying to belittle an entire nation, I was merely saying that what I have read on the subject of calling those countries third world and so on and so forth, has given me further conviction in ideas that have made me anti American. That’s how racism and stuff starts up nowadays; people think of an idea, and it doesn’t grow like a plant out of a seed, they add other ideas to it, like adding elastic bands to a ball. They notice things and think “Aha! This backs up my anti-whatever ideology. That’s how Hitler began hating the Jews, because of him seeing lots of “evidence” that they were a plaque. So okay, here’s a compromise. I’ll stop fervently preaching against the USA and how they suck up the lifeblood of the world but don’t seem to realise it (there I go again!)and you will please refrain from coming to England and beating me up, an occurrence I am in fact now rather anxious of, especially after reading that you exercise, and how you have so well beaten my comments back, something that I’ve never experienced before!
Okay, Arielle, please don’t kill me for this (what are my friends going to say when they discover that I’m afraid of some American girl! Although I suspect that they’ll understand my fear when they see what a butch name she has…) but the UK has villages as well, in fact I’m sitting in one right now. Also, if South Africa was all that poor, they wouldn’t have websites like this, talking about Wii Fitness: http://www.el33tonline.com/main/show_news/3205
Arielle aint gonna like that! Okay, I’m just going to change my locks, phone number, name…this Arielle character is out for my blood!
I’ve lost me eloquence because of how much she’s traumatised my tiny little mind with her somewhat more than mildly discursive “let’s Kill Will and burn him on the bonfire” post and now I can’t write like I’m Mr Burn’s foster dad any more! Damn it, she said to me “That is all. For now.” Woah. I wonder if she looks like a feminine version of Arnold Schwarzenegger (governor of that stupid state…whoops there I go again!). I mean she does heavy exercise, isn’t afraid of Wii Fitness and has an exercise bike in her basement! Screw it, I’m moving house, I don’t wanna end up with another hole being torn in my arse from some female body-builder’s high heels!
Hey, I guess we have a lot more in common that I thought, Will. I’m also 16 (though I’m going to be 17 in August,) and I also am quite preoccupied with Nintendo (and becoming a game designer.) And, wow, honestly I couldn’t believe that you suck at geography. You definitely seem to have a platter of impressive knowledge on it.
Actually, believe it or not, some Americans are critical about their own country. I, for one, am embarrassed about how some people here can’t take the time to get in shape or at least stop stuffing their faces. I also find it irksome how restaurants give huge portions that I can barely even go through halfway. I end up taking the rest home in a doggy-bag more often than not.
Hmmmm, I was not aware the UK had villages. Also, when I said South Africa was poor, I didn’t mean all of it. I meant that it’s typically poorer than other countries such as the U.S., UK, etc. It’s probably rarer to find a large community of gamers there compared to several other countries, but, once again, correct me if I’m wrong.
Also, I wouldn’t worry about running from me. I’m not the violent type, and I’m certainly not in good enough shape to rip a hole through you. I’m not weak by any means, but I’m merely willing to fight if absolutely need be.
So, sweetness and light, is that Arielle with the stress on the Ar and the elle as in Lorielle, or Arielle as in Areal, with the stress equal on all syllables?
I would like to take this opportunity to point out that I was worrying whether I’d be able to calm you down or not! You see, I have this recurring knack of turning nice, friendly girls into furious hounds, out to catch me and sever my vitals from my body. Being quite a clever hound yourself, you’ve obviously noticed that by presenting this fear of you, to you, you feel in control and no longer feel the urge to rip my organs out through my oesophagus. Last resort tactics. Looks like I’m still a master of psychology (and still wonderfully self promoting as well)!
But yeah, now I think about it, the reason I mentioned those countries was simply to show that statistically most people aren’t overweight, even when one regards exclusively the context of the potential market for the disputed hardware and software. Also, I must point out that in England, fit is slang for sexy and attractive, so yeah, I’m just assuming it’ll be called Wii Fitness over here, since that makes more sense anyway. But ha! The countries I used were to present quantitative data so even awesome female Nintendo fans can’t call me wrong on that one! Thinking about it, it would have saved me a lot of time had I put that in the first place, rather than subtly hurling insults at the USA in long and overly convoluted posts. I suppose I kinda lost the plot and got confused, forgetting what my original point was, just digging myself in a hole further down and down…That cross references to my adding to the ball of elastic theory. My History teacher likes cross referencing.
Damn it, this is just like that bit in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy pulls the veil from the wizard who projects that grandiose voice, and he’s just a hobbled old man. Of course, I live across the pond, not in Oz, and I projected my grandiose voice through teh interweb, and I only act like an old man some of the time, I’m only slightly hobbled from all my Nintendo playing, and it’s not Judy Garland who got me, it’s Arielle, the sexy American girl, who’s willing to fight if it’s absolutely, positively, completely necessary. so it’s not really like that film at all.
(I’m apologising in advance for being a chauvinist and stereotyping you as sexy without actually having seen you. I assumed you are attractive because you have that “I’m attractive and don’t take no crap from NOBODY mo fo!” turn of phrase.)
There are multiple ways to pronounce my name, and I honestly don’t care which one someone goes with. Some of my friends just call me “Ari” (pronounced ARE-E, like the word are and then the sound of the letter E,) though it’s more common for most people to call me by my full name.
Ha ha, you are indeed a master of psychology.
I still am wondering why Adam thought the majority of people in the world were overweight. I suppose a better statement to make would have been something along the lines of “The world in general is gaining more weight,” which is actually true, even in what used to be the slimmest of counties.
I do agree that fit is sexy and attractive, seeing as how it would mean the person is taking care of themselves and is in good health.
Well, you know, there are positive and negative connotations when it comes to using massive amounts of data. It can indeed be impressive and supportive, but it also must be handled with caution so the user doesn’t get mixed up in their own original statement.
Heh, I don’t mind being called sexy. That’s a compliment, not chauvinistic.
Excellent…
In England, fit is actually slang for attractive, so if a young person uttered the sentence “she/he is fit” the “fit” person wouldn’t necessarily be fit in the actual meaning of the adjective. I’ve checked and I think they are renaming Wii fit to Wii Fitness, at least in Britain, probably because of this, and also because Fitness makes more sense.
And, yes the statement about the world gaining more weight is true. I know I may be, as I used to be bordering on underweight but now I’m developing a belly and a mighty hump just like my two role models, in respective order to the qualities I have similar to them: Eric Cartman and Charles Montgomery Burns. Okay, I look nothing like Cartman, unfortunately and only a little bit like Burns so I should really stop bragging about my physique. But I need to get fitter by anybody’s standard as I’ve never been competent at any form of physical sport except perhaps the artful practice of hitting one another with plastic bottles, as one does, so I’m extra pleased at the announcement of Wii Fit because it could really benefit me, just as you wrote that it could benefit you in your first post.
It could make me lose weight, gain strength and correct my posture from that Mr Burns-esque hump. All while helping my favourite company kick the shizzle out of its so-called “competitors”.
In fact, I’ve known about the Wii health pack software and its high status since the beginning of this year and I’ve been hypothesising about it since then. Well, I had to assume its high status, but for the greatest Nintendoid on the planet, it was pretty obvious from the moment I heard about it.
The only surprise that I got from the Wii Fit(ness) announcement at the Nintendo prE3ss conference is that it doesn’t use the Wii remote and Nunchuk but a new device, and its name. I found out about it in the beginning of 2007 in an obscure Miyamoto related piece of news from Japan. You see Nintendoids such as myself don’t let a ray of news go on by without pumping all of its information juice into a high energy news beverage. Or perhaps you already knew that from first hand experience of said pumping?
Also, what negative “connotations” have you inferred from my using massive amounts of stuff which is, and I quote: “impressive”?(!) I wonder exactly what the first, relatively cryptic, half of that sentence could be construed as meaning? Or perhaps it’s just my dirty mind reading too much in to things??? Could it be both? Who knows? (Hint, hint. Cough:you:end cough.)
And as you may have gathered, I am mimicking your style of posting, small paragraphs and all. Please could you tell me how to put those emotional icons you use to express your evidently happy feelings on these posts?
And if calling girls sexy is not chauvinist, then I have to tell you that I’ve been grossly misinformed about girls by these feminists! I mean, you wrote “Heh” the naughty laugh! Where’s the “emancipation” dammit?!
Also, Ari, if you are as you say you are; a female Nintendoid then I value your opinion on this: What is the best Mario Platformer? (Yoshi’s Island inclusive, as for Yoshi’s Story that game can just run away.)
Finally (starts panting) you may have noticed that I have basically addressed this post to you personally as I would guess that nobody else is still posting here. Therefore, unless this post is made into its own article and ends up being shown on Google news under a Wii Fit search like your first wonderful post was, which I doubt will happen, you’re likely to be the only person responding to this.
Although due to the unlikely-but-still-possible nature of this becoming an article itself, I must prepare for such an occurrence. Accordingly I feel obliged to type: Hi to anyone I know who is reading this! Look, I’ve found a female Nintendoid! If she’s fit (slang meaning) and there are more like her where she came from, I’m moving to the USA!
hahaha
Oh you kids. Its funny how Will went from yelling at arielle to flirting with her.
thanks for a humourous read.
SLATE
Yes I am just hilarious, but if anyone won the argument about whether my first post was perfect or not, it was me! So go back and read my certified as perfect post and bask in its glory. That is nay flirting, it’s my unique brand of shameless self promotion.