May 8, 2008

Wii (are) Fat May 8, 2008

Read more Consoles , Gadgets , Games , Wii

Nintendo has managed to stay away from the kind of controversy that has often affected rival consoles in the past by sticking to family-friendly titles and inoffensive genres.

The gentle Japanese giant tends to adhere to an ethos of ‘fun’, leaving more contentious efforts to the Xbox and Playstation, but may find itself in hot water with its latest Wii Fit gizmo.

Continued...

Message boards are currently aflame with reports of a ten year old girl who used the device and was apparently branded as ‘fat’. The general consensus seems to be that the girl in question is 4’9” and weighs six stone, and has been described as ‘solidly built’ but ‘not fat’.

Perhaps Nintendo should introduce more subtle wording so as to avoid pigeonholing people so obviously – ‘chunky’ or ‘jolly’ might clean things up a bit?

In all seriousness this has been quite the talking point among the Wii Fit community, who are concerned that such reports would encourage conditions like anorexia and bulimia, even though the device is simply using the internationally-recognised BMI (body mass index) scale to form the report.

It’s a bit like tugging the wool back down over your eyes then, and as one forum member pointed out “I personally don’t care what a video game says about you, Brain training constantly tells me I’m stupid, even though I’m not.” – Paul Lester

[TheWire]

nintendo wii fit bmi

Comments

Ummm.. according to the NHS BMI calculator at http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/magazine/interactive/bmi/index.aspx
a female of 4'9" and six stone gives a BMI of 18.18, which is underweight.

Same result for the government one at
http://www.healthyliving.gov.uk/howhealthy/index.cfm?contentID=1385

The NHS one also notes "this is general advice for adults only. It does not apply to children".

posted-by Graham Stewart | May 8, 2008 7:02 PM

Shouldn't have got on the board in the first place, should you fatty.

posted-by Tom Cressey | May 9, 2008 11:01 AM

BMI is rubbish anyway. It's only a very general guide for build rather than an irrefutable definition.

Granted, for a ten year old girl, BMI is probably reasonably accurate, but for some people they are naturally more muscular than others, others still may have made themselves that way due to training, sports or whatever else.

Rugby players and body builders would be morbidly obese according to BMI, whereas someone who happens to be very tall, but is of slight build would probably be put down as being underweight.

I understand Nintendo's choice in using BMI as a simple recognisable scale, but I don't hold much faith in it myself.

posted-by Steve Smith | May 9, 2008 7:59 PM

don't eat the board will ya.

posted-by jef | May 14, 2008 12:42 PM