LegendaryLife Blog

Up until the Nintendo Wii came to market, the only real exercise you could get on a video game console, unless you where into dancing, involved primarily the use of your maximus thumbis muscles. After a few hours, these muscles would develop cramps that would signal to the avid gamer that it was time for a bathroom and lunch break.

History leading up to Wii

In my youth, which I still haven’t outgrown, Nintendo was THE console to have, as they progressed from the NES, SNES to the N64, the game play evolved very little. During this time, the other consoles games in the marketplace where also rather routine, they each had their “must have” games but generally, game control was via controllers. When the Wii came into the marketplace, there was a fundamental shift, Nintendo KNEW it couldn’t compete with the likes of Sony and Microsoft in the graphics department… so they decided to focus on the one area where they always lead the pack… FUN FACTOR. Unlike the other consoles, Nintendo decided that graphics where not the immediate area that required attention, it was, rightly so, the input device (aka: controller).

Wii… all the way to the bank!

I should point out that Nintendo has ALWAYS been interested in their bottom line, unlike the Playstation 3 or Xbox 360, the Nintendo Wii is not a loss leader. Nintendo makes money off each game and each console sold.

Video Games and Fitness

For a very long time, playing video games was an oxymoron of being physically active. Why go out and play ball when you can sit on your ass and play ball on the television! This is why I applaud the Wii, they have taken video games from mostly a static activity to one that requires physical movements. This philosophy continues with their newest game (likely to become a series) called Wii Fit which evaluates your physical fitness and improves it via game play using a balance board type device. Yes, you can now use a balance board to interact with a video game… cool!

What does all this mean to the video game industry?

While Sony and Xbox 360 are almost exclusively focused on better game play and improved high definition graphics, Nintendo has essentially created an enormous new marketplace for the video game industry as a whole. Before the Nintendo Wii came out, most people wouldn’t associate physical fitness with game play but now that this idea is slowly being adopted by the general public, I would expect demand for these type of games to exponentially increase. What the Nintendo Wii has done is put physical fitness back into the forefront, which I think is fantastic and will lead to an entire new segment of games not only for the consoles but PCs and Macs as well.

The Bottom Line

Physical fitness, no matter it’s origins, is always a positive thing.

Buzzvia
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