Balance Board

Balance Board

I've known about the introduction of the Wii Fit game for probably six months now, and as I am already in the middle of a fitness campaign, it seemed the ideal fit for me (excuse the pun) - a game that not only was fun and could be done indoors, but also has an impact on my health seemed to good to be true. So finally I managed to be online when the Wii Package became available and snapped it up - the Wii Package comes with the Wii Fit game, the Wii Fit Board, the We Ski game and a Wii Sleeve (a protection sleeve for the Wii Fit Board)!!

The Game and Board

So there it was, the rectangular piece of plastic - that not only weighed almost ten pounds, but was particularly boring to look at. My first surprise was that there were no wires to plug in - OK so all the other controllers I have for the Wii are wireless, but I expected something like this to require wires as the measurements it's undoubtedly going to make seem to be far more 'analogue' than data collected from the normal Wii controller. I find that the way you wave the Wii controller around isn't always transferred to the screen exactly, and therefore I assumed a wireless device like the balance board would suffer as it seemed this kind of game would require a higher degree of accuracy - not that I would complain if it knocked a few (dozen) pounds of my weight.

I was actually impressed by the sturdiness of the balance board. It feels like a quality product - only time will tell if it will put up with the constant use it is undoubtedly going to get from me and my family. I note that many of the exercises state that you should not jump up and down on the board, this is a clue to the sturdiness I guess.

The first thing I was disappointed about is that it takes regular batteries (but they were included) - while the system does automatically switch the board off after a period of activity, I'm sure it's going to cost a bundle in batteries - lo and behold, I find out that Nintendo also sell an 'add-on' that allows you to use chargeable packs - I feel with the money I've already spent on Wii Fit that they could include the rechargeable packs within the price.

So having received the game and the board, and managing to keep it away from the kids we put the game in the Wii. The first thing you have to do is calibrate the board - this takes a few seconds and is very easy to do - simply follow the onscreen instructions and you're all done.

My first impression about the game was that I didn't really need the instruction manual - everything was explained as I went along and the game told me when and how to use the board.

To read more about the game, visit my website: http://www.squidoo.com/PlayWiiFit
http://www.squidoo.com/SimonCook

How much does a wii balance board cost?

some place i can get a wii balance board? how much does it cost? all i am looking for is the balance board without the yoga mat, just the board and the cd, how much is it and where can i find it?

you could find it at any local game shop for about £65 - £70

i got mine from blockbuster.