Wii Aches - Couch Potatoes Working it Up 336
Genocaust writes "While the new controller on the Wii is proving to be a success, it's turning out to be more effort than some die-hard couch potatoes bargained for. The Wall Street Journal reports on the newest workout regime for nerds." From the article: "In Rochester, Minn., Jeremy Scherer and his wife spent three hours playing tennis and bowling, two of the games included with the Wii. Mr. Scherer says he managed to improve his scores — at the cost of shoulders and back that were still aching the next day. 'I was using muscles I hadn't used in a while,' says Mr. Scherer, a computer programmer who describes himself as 'not very active.' Mr. Scherer is vowing nightly 'Wii workouts' to get in better shape." "Bunnies Don't Know What To Do With Cows", in Rayman, is another guaranteed way to get your arm aching. Cows are heavy, and it takes a lot of energy to throw them.
Re:How long (Score:5, Interesting)
Hummm... (Score:2, Interesting)
Wii are out of shape (Score:5, Interesting)
The bowling is really easy on the arms. Baseball can be hard on the pitching arm. Boxing is a real work out. And golf is kind of relaxing and is more of a precision game. Several of the Raving Rabbids games have tested our metal. I seem to be really good at the running and rhythm games, and my SO is great at the shooting and fine manipulation games.
All in all, it was fun to notice that little bit of pain in the back of the shoulder that lets you know you got some exercise. Something I rarely feel I can do much of anymore, which is really just a mental block and lazyness on my part. Still, if they could figure out some way to get your legs to workout in this games, it would be something better for youth to do besides the regular sit and stare video games that I grew up with.
Excellent! (Score:3, Interesting)
Penny-Arcade plays the Wii (Score:4, Interesting)
Also, I find this absolutely ridiculous. This article is horribly worded and this quote seems completely out of context. What is harder than playing basketball? The writer seems to make it sound like the kid is talking about actually moving the wiimote around, but I suspect he is actually referring to some specific game being exceedingly difficult to complete. Maybe it gives you a little exercise, but as the spokeswoman from Nintendo says,
I should also point out I do not yet been able to get a Wii.
DDR? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:How long (Score:5, Interesting)
I think maybe something like this may make a venture into the trendy excercise market. If they can sell a big ball for a hundred bucks, they can sell a Wii controller too.
This begs the now cliche question: Why not just go outside and play the actual sport? Alas, there is not a chance in hell.
Re:More than unworked muscle aches? (Score:4, Interesting)
Wiimote + Dancemat? (Score:5, Interesting)
You could make a dance game with extra detail, maybe. Two wiimotes, one in each hand, and a dance mat connected as a standard controller.
Come to think of it, that wouldn't only work for dance games. How about a fighting game? Wii Boxing with fancy footwork...
I recently purchased a Wii... (Score:2, Interesting)
I decided to see how many calories I actually burned, so I attached a small fitness monitor to myself and played away.
After about 20 minutes of play, I was up to 97 calories. That isn't have bad, a very light work out.
Re:Wii are out of shape (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:A solution (Score:4, Interesting)
The frightening thing is that I'm not joking.
Re:Hasn't been a problem so far... (Score:1, Interesting)
slightly OT (Score:3, Interesting)
(In case your wondering I live in the UK and we get it on the 8th of December)
Re:Hummm... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Wiimote + Dancemat? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Not my choice (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Wiimote + Dancemat? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Not my choice (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm not saying it will work for you, but it's done wonders for me. Oh, and MSG "hides" as all kinds of things like textured proteins and autolyzed yeasts.
Anyway, I'm less tired all the time and I'm losing weight. I'm now trying to start exercising regularly... at least now I have the energy for it.
Re:Penny-Arcade plays the Wii (Score:3, Interesting)
Or, perhaps it's that when you are presented with a scenario to smash a tennis ball back down a court or roll a bowling ball down a lane, the motions are so intuitive and natural that a player's first instinct is to really swing the remote hard, or to tense up the muscles as though he were really holding a 16-pound bowling ball.
I found it took a day or two to really get used to making realistic but relaxed gestures in Wii Sports (I still have to try to remember it). I actually take two steps forward while bowling, just like my entire family did when we got together at Thanksgiving. Wii sports is responsive in a second nature sort of way. As a developer team interview shared, they knew they had a good idea going when Nintendo employees who were asked to test out the interface started "throwing" the tennis ball up with their free left hands while serving. (I hate when people share anecdotes but not the source--these were really fun to read [nintendo.com].)
Re:Hummm... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Wiimote + Dancemat? (Score:5, Interesting)
One gathering, after a bunch of DDR matches between friends, someone popped in one of the Gundam Fighting games. Imagine 170lb guys dancing on a pad trying to get combos off, as giant robots battle it out on screen.
Scarily enough, one of the group started getting good at it
It's Fun (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Not my choice (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, that depends. Personally, I find it a real turn-off when 12-year-olds curse you out using l337 speak online. Yes, you can usually get around it by blocking them or turning off chat, but what if you can't stand the way that your own teammate speaks? Turning the chat off puts you at a significant disadvantage. At least with Nintendo's way, everyone has that disadvantage. I'm not saying that it doesn't come at a cost, but it's a cost that I'm willing to pay for a more pleasant experience.
Wii Sports Boxing.. best workout ever (Score:3, Interesting)
A few 3-round fights and both of us are catching our breaths.. (We're not in bad shape either.. she's 21 and I'm 24). The one thing the Wii does is get my ass off the couch. Even when I'm playing games like Zelda or Red Steel, I find myself standing up intently and precisely swinging the Wiimote around.
Boxing, though, is a whole different kind of workout.. I've done real boxing - and there's nothing like it. But, with Wii boxing, you can actually beat up your girlfriend and feel good about it. I love how intuitive it is.. She hasn't played any video games except for Grand Theft Auto (and that she did rarely) and she beats me about as often as I beat her.
I will admit, the graphics for the Wii are HIGHLY dissappointing. They are seriously bad. I would've thought Nintendo would at LEAST improve them somewhat to look halfway-decent on a 720p HDTV. Oh well.. Maybe in the next round of console wars we'll get a Nintendo system that's a ton of fun to play AND has good graphics. I agree with Nintendo, though.. gameplay is definitely key. There's a reason I have a Gamecube and a Wii.. and no Xbox or PS2 (or the newer ones.)
Re:Its a choice (Score:3, Interesting)
Anyway, your mileage may vary. Good luck.
Re:Not my choice (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm sure if managed properly people could get good at forcing people off edges (or into corners), with timed blocks...
Re:slightly OT (Score:4, Interesting)
Zelda is a solid buy. I have some problems with it, but nothing earth shattering.
Rampage: TD was worth the money, but just barely. Comes with the original Rampage, and (I believe) the SNES version. The new version is enjoyable as multiplayer, though I was shocked to find out it maxed out at 2 players. The Wii controls are tacked on, and I'm sure the game would be just as enjoyable on another system.
Marvel: UA was a waste of money. Popped it in for 30 minutes, and my girlfriend and I (both comic book fans) decided we'd rather go back to Wii Sports.
Rayman Ravening Rabbids was a game I actually rank above Zelda in value. Solo, it is mildly amusing, but it's a fun party game. The controls are simple to master, but the minigames are difficult enough to have high replay value. Try out "Bunnies Love Hip Hop Part 2" for an example of this. The fact that the turn-based multiplayer version of the plunger FPSes require you to pass the controller around rather than everyone using the controller they've been using for EVERY OTHER DAMN GAME is an annoying UI problem, but not a game-breaking one.
The biggest shock was how much my in-Laws loved playing over Thanksgiving. The two non-gaming ~60 y.o.'s picked up every minigame they were exposed to immediately. In fact, my mother-in-law's bowling tips added 60 points to my game. My father-in-law loved the crunching noises people made as Lizzie ate a group of tourists... (hrm, okay, that was mildly disturbing). They went from considering video games things kids do to asking to play the instant they finished their pumpkin pie. The biggest sign that Nintendo had succeeded in doing what it was supposed to was when "Okay, we'll try it for a while" turned into "well, if you don't mind, could we".
Final warnings: if you are purchasing the system for the Wii Store or Internet features, wait. The functionality is slow, unreliable, and as I found out on Friday, can end up temporarily bricking* your Wii. I'm sure they'll get things fixed eventually, but as someone hoping for a quick, painless online experience, it's been quite disappointing.
[*] After attempting to access the store, all Wiimotes refused to acknowledge they were synced. Wii refused to resync them because it was convinced it had four synced Wiimotes already registered. No input to the Wii was possible. 10 minute phone call to Nintendo acknowledged it was a known issue, and they were able to give me a fix that got me up and running again. Still, I have yet to have a good experience with the Wii online.
Re:Excellent! (Score:3, Interesting)
No offense, but I don't really care. I'm quoting the standard position of health and fitness experts who state that a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise a day helps a person maintain their weight and fitness.
If you're getting into Wii sports, bouncing around and swinging at a tennis ball for an hour, that's burning calories. Ask anyone, they'll tell you they felt it in their muscles the next day. It's excellent news for health experts who have been warning about the nation's lack of exercise.