We got a Nintendo Wii back in May and have enjoyed playing with it off and on. Not long after getting the Wii, my wife mentioned wanting to get a Wii Fit. Well, it ended up taking longer to get our hands on a Wii Fit than it did to get the Wii console. While browsing the Black Friday ads last week, my wife saw that the local game stores would have Wii Fit in stock for the biggest shopping day of the year here in the US. So I got up early Friday morning to head down to the game store. By 7:25 AM I was happily walking out of the store with my Wii Fit in hand having paid retail price rather than paying hundreds of dollars extra to some E-Bay scumbag.

The Wii Fit package includes the balance board, a set of extensions for use on carpeted floors, AA batteries, and the Wii Fit game disc. It's simple to set up. Just put in the batteries, start up your Wii console, insert the game disc, and follow the directions to synchronize the balance board with the console. You're now ready to get up off the couch and start getting fit.

When you first enter the game it takes you through a procedure to set up your own profile. You select your Mii and provide your height and birthday to complete your profile. It then takes you through the Body Test where it measures your weight to calculate your Body Mass Index (BMI). It was a bit of an eye opener to see that my BMI is slightly in the overweight range. At this point the game decided that my Mii was too skinny and added a little size to it. It is a bit of a motivator to see my chubby little Mii on the screen. I've got to get him skinny again!!

The games on the disc are divided into 4 categories: yoga, strength training, aerobics, and balance games. Similar to the Wii Sports training, not all of the Wii Fit activities are available when you first start. As you spend more time playing the game and your skills improve, more activities are made available.

So far, we are both enjoying the games. The yoga and strength training both offer some fairly difficult activities that can really provide a good workout. The aerobic activities have been moderate so far, but you can work up a bit of a sweat. The balance games provide the least amount of exercise, but are the most fun and really can help improve your balance and coordination.

Finally, an item for the Linux geeks. I scored enough fit credits today to reveal a new balance game; Penguin Slide. This game features your Mii dressed in a Tux costume and standing on a slab of ice. The goal of the game is to tilt the ice back and forth to slide your penguin around and eat as many fish as possible within the time limit.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCZMJJAjL-k&hl=en&fs=1]

I expect we will both have fun using the Wii Fit to get a little bit of exercise and to track our progress. It's no replacement for a gym membership or a jog around the neighborhood, but it's certainly better than sitting on the couch.