When the North expo hall opened at 10 am today, I was the second person to hop on a balance board and get my feet on Wii Fit.

Not much time to pour over the menu, but they have a variety of exercises ranging from aerobics to yoga. The two I tried out were balance type: slalom skiing and heading soccer balls.

I’m not sure whose Mii was queued up, but the first thing we did was send him down a hill. You can adjust speed by leaning forward or backward, but most important is aiming for the blue and red gates with precise movements left and right. You’re less likely to whack the flags or miss gates completely if you move gradually.

After skiing, we tackled the familiar soccer ball game. The object is to head as many balls as possible, while avoiding look-alike panda faces and the occasional shoe. Again, control is a matter of keeping balance and trying to make smooth motions, so you don’t end up leaning back suddenly on the wrong foot and getting a face full of cleat.

Overall, our brief play session today adds a layer of experience on top of the comment that the game is for body awareness and not fitness. They appear to have hit this goal.

Tags: balance_board, expo_hall, gdc-08, mii, precise_movements, soccer_ball, Wii

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