Exercise Gimmicks: Vol. 4: The Wii Fit
Nintendo released the Wii in late 2006. I have two teenagers, and both are gamers, so naturally, they wanted one. We said “ok” – but there was no way to get one in time for Xmas…the consoles were “hot” and were sold out within minutes of delivery at the usual retail outlets. And “mother love” only goes so far: there was no way in Hell I was going to freeze my buns off, standing in line in front of “Best Buy” at 4 a.m., or pay 3x what the damn thing was worth, just to see their not-so-little faces light up on Xmas morning. I checked into a few places, then said “tough luck, kiddies” and that was that.
We didn’t get one until August, 2007. I distinctly remember the day, as I’d ordered it online, and it showed up on the doorstep the same weekend John and I were in Boston, visiting a friend. We’d planned to hold onto it until Xmas, but the kids realized what was in the box, and pounced on it…so that was that.
They were initially quite enthusiastic…too enthusiastic, in fact, so on a whim, I bought a Wii Fit for them, figuring a) they could test drive it and review it; and b) that maybe they’d LIKE it well enough to at least get their butts out of their papasan chairs once in a while.
So much for that idea… not only did the program turn out to be duller than dirt, but Ryan and Nick also lost much of their interest in the Wii itself within a few short months. The reason? Like the Wii Fit program, the games were just too juvenile…evidently Nintendo decided to leave the teen/adult market to Microsoft and Sony, and focus on the 12-and-under set. Since Ryan’s in college now, and Nick’s nearly halfway through high school, you can imagine why it lost its appeal.
So much for the Wii Fit. But it did prove to be entertaining in one respect…I got a hyooooge laugh out of the YouTube parody below:
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iYBmAVuBns]
