Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
I imagine that many Wii Fit balance boards will be purchased on impulse, simply for the perceived coolness of the concept. Many more may be bought in the hope that Nintendo and other publishers will produce games for the peripheral - already EA have announced a skateboard game that will incorporate the device, so games might indeed be a solid purchase reason.
Having had the Wii Fit at home for a few day now I have noticed different motivations amongst my immediate family group. My lovely wife gave the Yoga workouts a try, and was impressed, though somewhat bemused that some of the early moves were a little more difficult than they need be.
She then jumped in a car with a girlfriend and headed off for a 'proper' Yoga workout at the local Bikram Yoga studio. She loves the concept however and is regular user of the Wii Fit software.
I of course am waiting for the games to arrive, but giving the Strength activities a go, I found it a struggle to get through a full work out, and for me, there was a marked difference between the results of one activity to the next. Some I mastered, some struggled to get through, in this way though I am able to produce a personalised regime to follow in order to improve.
My young daughter immediately gravitated to the more game orientated activities, Hula hooping up a storm and then hitting the ski slopes. Her friends likewise wanted to have a go, and this is the main Wii Fit issue.
The Wii, though it has a genre busting nature, has indeed settled into a more party or social situation. Meaning that generally, when you fire up the Wii, there will be somebody else either playing with you, or watching, waiting their turn at waving their Wii-mote clutching hands around at the latest Mario on-screen antics.
The fact is that Wii Fit is an awkward social game. Because each registered player really needs to have their own Mii avatar and this needs to be selected from the Mii Plaza, and then have the balance board calibrate the new players weight. If you do it properly, it can take a fair amount of time for players to have 'their turn' at an activity.
So it Wii Fit is more of a solo experience during a work out. With the advice and encouragement of the Wii Fit software, and perhaps a family member or friend also going through the same process it can work.
Overall though, the Wii Fit balance board is a fine addition to the current Nintendo entertainment offering. It once again nails a niche, with the added benefit of a level of addiction partly due to gaming, partly due to exercise addiction.
So Alex, good luck, I also have a couple of targets to meet, but as the Wii Fit software itself maintains, these targets cannot be achieved simply by using the Wii Fit alone. Can the Wii Fit turn a couch potato lifestyle around, or could it be another exercise fad that inevitable ends up, like the ab-flex machines of old, in every bodies garage sale for sale items?
David Bass
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