Sep 4

Written by: admin
9/4/2007 1:57 PM

  Nintendo's forthcoming Wii Fit title for the Wii game console is was an odd thing to showcase at the Electronics Entertainment Expo of 2007.  While the software and hardware package due include games, it is not really a game in the traditional sense, but a tool that one uses to lose weight, while "hopefully" having fun at the same time.

  Nintendo has over a year of development behind the title, and an additional year of development around the balance board they introduced with the system.

  If we make a large assumption that the Wii Fit title is indeed fun, and it helps people to lose weight.  Nintendo could stand to make an unbelievable fortune.

  Almost since the adoption of the VCR have people purchased work-out video after work-out video to try and find inspiration to get-up and exercise in front of the TV.  Not only has this been a lucrative business for the companies that produce these videos, but it has been a stable business as well, since there are now entire cable channels devoted to getting fit.

  Add to that the market value of exercise equipment that people purchase in the home, from ab-rollers, to fitness flyers, to bowflex workout systems.  And the market potential for a "fun" workout device is immense.  Huge.

  Take something as simple as the George Foreman Grill.  The catch-phrase being, "Knock Out the Fat" and imagine how many grills the company sold from inception to today.  It wasn't because it was a grill.  There have been electric grills since the dawn of electricity.  It was the potential to lose weight that drove sales of the grills to preposterous heights.

  The Wii could very-well exceed the sales of all of this fitness and health based equipment and then some.  And be able to hold their market position against all outsiders for an extended period of time.

  I see this happening because, first, Shigeru Miyamoto is the man behind the title.  While he has had a few less-than-stellar titles under his belt, the vast majority have been nothing short of A list.  If anyone can make working out "fun" it is this man.  Add to that his comments about building it for his family, and you know this is more than just an assignment given to him by the Nintendo brass, and something he honestly is working towards as a fun way to exercise.

  Few outside companies will be able to compete with that.  They'd have to offer their own high-tech way of making exercising fun, and after decades of trying, have largely failed.  Nintendo will have the cheapest and best form of workout equipment available, hands down.

  Plus, the Wii Fit can (Supposedly at press time) support more than one player.  Instantly creating a more diverse form of entertainment by making exercising co-operative and competitive.  Anyone can join the routine at any time and start participating and having fun at the same time.

  Kids won't understand it, but adults will love it.  Primarily the female workout club circuit ones that head to the gym in sweatpants with a water bottle. 

  The overseas market potential is even larger and more dramatic.  As countries in Europe and South America are much more in-tune to their health and group participation in games will only bolster sales of the Wii further where it stands to dominate this generation without much in the way of competition.

  I fully expect to see giant televisions in health clubs with Wii Fit stations setup for people to use and exercise to.  I expect to see groups of people forming Wii Fit schedules to do their workouts together.  And I expect Nintendo will follow up with online stat tracking and even competitive workouts over the Internet through Wii Fit improvements.

  If the title becomes as huge as I expect it to be, there will be additional exercise packs that follow with more tuned exercises and different attachments for different types of workouts.  Eventually taking your old exercise equipment and adding it into your Wii Fit experience.

  Wii Fit could just be a couple hundred thousand sold title and vanish into the nether with a passing thought like the Power Glove or Rob the Robot.  And that won't hardly matter to Nintendo who stands to clean up nicely on the next Mario Kart title and Pokemon.  But if Wii Fit is the success that I predict it to be, than Nintendo will make a financial killing.  An amount of money so great that the face of the gaming industry would completely change to a Nintendo dominated future.

  Get your mind around how much exercise, diet, and healthy cooking materials there are in the world, and imagine a product that the critics love, people proclaim as truly revolutionary, and everyone can own for a reasonable price in the home.  Like it or not, I think this will happen, and I think Nintendo stands to reap an amazing amount of revenue once it does.  They could very-well change the face of the fitness industry.

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