Get on board the new Wii diet plan

by Joystiq Staff { Aug 15th 2006 at 11:55PM }

As if waving the Wiimote around for the various games coming out of Nintendo's camp wasn't enough, IGN says a report from Bloomberg states that "Wii-based diet software" is in the works for the console.

Nintendo is developing diet-related and other forms of software for the Wii, the report said. The report noted that such titles, specifically Brain Age for the DS, have been able to target new users who aren't used to standard game controllers.

It seems Nintendo really wants to lock down that casual market with games such as this. Seeing as how the Wiimote is a standard device, this kind of thing could possibly catch on better than Sony's Eye Toy exercise titles did. Nintendo fans, in the meantime, should stock up on a healthy supply of sweatbands and water.

Tags: Wii diet, WiiDiet

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

patrick @ Aug 15th 2006 11:59PM

let me be the first to say wtf to the picture

vidGuy @ Aug 16th 2006 12:02AM

Meh, I'll enjoy my Wii gaming from my sofa, thank you very much.

delldude420 @ Aug 16th 2006 12:04AM

about time a game to get those fattys to lose weight and get wii thin

Will @ Aug 16th 2006 12:15AM

Hey, anything to combat child obesity is a-ok in my book.

n8dogg @ Aug 16th 2006 12:18AM

Dee-dee-arr has been doing this for years. Not to mention all the other similar games specifically tailored towards excercise and weight-loss. (I have a copy of the Korean-made "Jumping Diet" that I bought from an asian market about five years ago...)

nambit @ Aug 16th 2006 12:29AM

Don't forget eyetoy kinetic. Heck, dancemats are a good workout too.

This is great though.

1up_clock @ Aug 16th 2006 12:39AM

"Good health is gay, just like the Wii."

Darryl's gonna say that not too long from now.

Geist @ Aug 16th 2006 12:47AM

I'd like to second that wtf to the picture.

Though this is a good idea, it's actually one of the first things I thought of when I saw the Warioware Wii video.

Unimental @ Aug 16th 2006 1:32AM

Nintendo aims to reduce American obesity with their Wii.

News @ 11

More like we'll end up stories of the "Wii arm" warning parents about their children's extended play and muscle soreness. Sheesh.

Invader Alex @ Aug 16th 2006 1:32AM

anyone one who cheats in this game must suck,
anyway
i think i thought of this before too!
NINTENDO why do you control my mind!
Also i thought the wii will end kids who are fat unnaturally to become un-fattish in there arms, atleast!

Also i am a Nintendo Fanboy, because i can

bounchfx @ Aug 16th 2006 1:38AM

workout stuff is hardcore sellers in mainstream, people will do anything to lose weight, even if they never actually do, or the item doesnt really help at all.

Intellectualdiot @ Aug 16th 2006 1:51AM

Ok I'm calling your bluff, Joystiq.

There's absolutely no way that the entity on display in that picture is a human child. Come clean.

jc @ Aug 16th 2006 2:28AM

Great news! I started my marathon training on the Power Pad & World Class Track Meet.

F you cheetah. You slow mofo

Yke @ Aug 16th 2006 5:17AM

So, now we are all fat?

ManekiNeko @ Aug 16th 2006 6:14AM

"There's a hundred pound baby, who lives in Japan...
swear he's the son of the Michelon Man!
Yooooou can believe it, it was in the Weekly World News!"

JR

Jules @ Aug 16th 2006 7:07AM

I also thought game system manufacturers should do more to help fight obesity....i thought of a power supply where you have to jog on the spot for 15 mins to build up enough power for a bit :D......no one go and patent my idea now!

Marty @ Aug 16th 2006 7:34AM

Joystiq. Why must you confuse us so. You even turn interesting new about the Wii into PS3 bashing. This article has nothing to do with the PS3 so why do you insist of putting a picture of it in the article!?

Oh never mind.. its a fat kid.

Marty @ Aug 16th 2006 7:35AM

oh and by the way.. that kid is real, I saw him on Maury a while back!!

epobirs @ Aug 16th 2006 7:53AM

I'd favor the combination of camera and floor pad for this sort of thing. How much exercise are you really going to get by moving the Wii-mote about? Will there be velcro straps to attach a Wii-mote to each hand and foot so the console can really put you through some serious exertion?

Just park a treadmill near your TV and use it with almost any game. It really does the trick.

32_footsteps @ Aug 16th 2006 8:19AM

I really want to know what would make this different from "Yourself Fitness" for the Xbox. Everyone I knew made fun of that when it came out.

Grant @ Aug 16th 2006 8:31AM

I assume Yourself Fitness didn't have any way to detect your motion. If the Wii uses the controller to detect your exercises as you hold it, it could be turned into a game of sorts and really keep track of how well you do. Translating your movements into a game onscreen somehow could make it really addictive and spur you on to do more and more.

Grant @ Aug 16th 2006 8:32AM

Sorry for the double post.

x876543 @ Aug 16th 2006 8:37AM

I'm really surprised no one has made use of the portable game systems to track diet. I don't have a PDA, but my DS Lite could easy be a substitute, and the touch screen would make it easy to input calories, exersice completed, etc.

I'm not looking to lose weight, just the opposite. I'm trying to put on a few more pounds (I workout alot and need a little more mass). I know there is software for PDAs for dieting, but I don't think there are any for the game portables.

is @ Aug 16th 2006 9:29AM

I think this would work best if they built a genuinely fun game around the excersise idea, rather something that is essentially an intereatcive excercise instruction tape, like a warioware style 'do ten air punches' or whatever it might be.

Proper excercise, like running and swimming and going to the gym are only so loathesome because you have to concentrate on the fact that you are exercising while you doing it.

If Nintendo could build an immersive game that helped you forget the fact you are getting tired, but that required you to really work out the body while playing, I'd buy it in a second.

Paul P. @ Aug 16th 2006 9:30AM

It's been done before, but is a good idea nonetheless. I imagine the Nintendo version will have a variety of exercise types dealing with using one or two controllers. Maybe some attachments to the controller just to make them heavier.

Myself, I lost weight by radically changing my diet and by cycling every day. The only downside is that I end up helping the environment, and I'm such an anarcho-capitalist that helping the environment disgusts me.

JonFitt @ Aug 16th 2006 9:58AM

The PS3 already has weight loss capabilities planned. You just have to lug it around your living room.
You don't think they made it such a bloated brick for any other reaosn do you? Fools!

OtakuCODE @ Aug 16th 2006 10:47AM

FYI, since the poster of this article isn't stepping up with the facts here, the kid pictured is NOT AMERICAN. Everyone wants to rag on America, but sorry, you can't in this case. The kid is from the Ukraine. He's perfectly healthy as far as bloodwork goes, and his family is extremely poor, so they pimp him out to talk shows and interviews and such to make cash. Usually picture circulated of him is him in a McDonalds.

Exercise gaming could be pretty fun if it was approached correctly. It wouldn't even have to be all that difficult I don't think, but the games would end up being expensive since they'd entail the cost of the game plus the cost of whatever extra controlling device you would need (treadmill, step machine, special mats that sense your activity, etc).

Marc @ Aug 16th 2006 10:53AM

^Yeah I read what you said about the kid, but let me get one last joke in.

Hey people, I found a pic of this kid as a cartoon.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/it/4/4a/296_Makuhita.png

HotShotX @ Aug 16th 2006 11:27AM

When one of your tits is bigger than your head (male or female), there's a severe health issue.

You think when his shits started overflowing the toilet that his parents would have stopped feeding him for a bit.

By the way, eating while on the toilet is hypocritical.

~HotShotX

Steevin @ Aug 16th 2006 1:24PM

I think it's an awesome Idea. The idea of having to move around to play a videogame is the reason i'm in 100% Support mode for the Wii. Why? it's intuitive and it seems like a shit load of fun. I can't wait for my friends and I to be knocking into eachother and moving around infront of a big TV while playing something like Mario Party, which you know will just be insane. Graphics are 1 thing, power is another, But the Wii is selling fun, and if I can have fun and trick myself into getting excersize out of it? That's just perfect.