Nintendo apologises for Wii Fit

Author: Joe Martin
Published: 19th May 2008
Comments (26) Stumble
Nintendo has apologised to players who may have been offended by inaccurate results in Wii Fit.

Nintendo has apologised to players who may have been offended by inaccurate results in Wii Fit.

Nintendo has admitted that the Body Mass Index system used to gauge obesity and fitness levels in Wii Fit may not be entirely accurate for younger players, nor for those who are very fit. The company has also issued a full apology to those who may have been upset by an inaccurate result.

Wii Fit is a fitness game for the Wii which uses a new balance board peripheral to weight players, gauge fitness and balance and to monitor the BMI of players. Players are then given a schedule of work outs to help improve their results.

The system hasn't been entirely well received however and the Daily Mail has published reports from distraught parents whose supposedly fit and athletic children have been labelled fat by the game.

Members of the National Obesity Forum quickly hopped on the bandwagon too, saying that the BMI system is far from perfect and "simply should not be used with children" as the results could prove to be potentially misleading.

Nintendo has issued a full apology to all customers of the game, but has pointed out that the manual does say that younger children may not get accurate results.

"As stated in the Wii Fit manual, BMI is essentially a measure of body fat, based on an adult height and weight. Wii Fit is still capable of measuring the BMI for people aged between 2 and 20 but the resulting figures may not be entirely accurate for younger age groups due to varying levels of development.

"People with more muscle mass than normal will also have a higher BMI rating due to the heavy weight of muscle tissue, so the resulting figures should be used for reference purposes only," added the statement.

It is also possible to bypass the BMI measuring aspect of the game and simply play the games and exercises themselves. Check out our Wii Fit review for more details, or simply tell us your results in the forums.
Quote liratheal 19th May 2008, 11:54
Anyone got the waaahmbulance number to hand?
Quote johnnyboy700 19th May 2008, 12:04
Huh, I already guessed it was a poor judge of fitness when it told me I was a stone and a half overweight (I ain't by the way) but I always knew that the BMI isn't a definitive measure anyway. Its already well known that it can't account for bone density or heavily built individuals. I mean take someone who is a bodybuilder, they will have a lot of weight for their size and age but a simple BMI measurement will interpert this as being a lard arse.

However the notion of people being distraught over this, come on get real!!! Some folk need a good bitch slap over some of the this things they come out with.
Quote badders 19th May 2008, 12:11
Quote:
Originally Posted by liratheal
Anyone got the waaahmbulance number to hand?

I just made everyone in the office look at me strangely when I let out a really loud involuntary laugh at that!
Quote StephenK 19th May 2008, 12:12
This was bound to happen though.

BMI really isn't suitable for this sort of thing as it is a statistical measurement for dealing with large sample sizes (whole populations). I don't know of any other way they could get Wii Fit to work but this was always gonna be the big problem. BMI isn't suitable for people with stockier builds because it doesn't take frame size into account so they'll be considered overweight even if they don't have a lot of body fat. As it was designed for average adults (and it doesn't even suit most races/cultures) leading sedentary lifestyles, it's unsuitable for children and teens, athletes and bodybuilders,pregnant or nursing women, people over 65, people who exercise regularly.... the list goes on and on.

The number of people who can play the game and get an accurate fitness measurement based on BMI is going to be a small fraction of the people who actually use Wii Fit. Besides, Body Fat ( and thus 'additional' Weight) and Fitness are two separate issues so maybe the game should have been called Wii Fat?
Quote scrumble 19th May 2008, 12:15
I'm not fat, I'm big boned. Beefcake. BEEFCAKE!
Quote mrb_no1 19th May 2008, 12:57
bmi is the most inaccurate, outdated concept ever concieved by whoever thought it up 30 years ago or whenever they did. I'm a weightlifter and according to bmi i have been over weight since i was 18 because i lifted weights, i have 16% bodyfat right now but measure 29 on the bmi, thats 4 points more than i 'should' have but it doesnt bother me because after my first testing it has been explained to me. That is the one major advantage of what has happened though, hopefully more people will be aware of its generalisation and choose to ignore it, too many people who will by wii fit to get fit would be put off by recieving such poor results, atleast maybe they have a chance to learn and understand.
Quote shigllgetcha 19th May 2008, 13:03
BMI only works with people that are fat and want to find out are these actually obese
its blatently obvious that a well built (mussely) person isnt goin to be obese, same as a skinny peson the same height as a well built person of the same height is obviously not going to be the same weight

% bodyfat is more accurate as far as i know
Quote theevilelephant 19th May 2008, 13:12
if you are clueless enough to assume that a wiiboard (which is essentially a slightly clever pair of scales) , can tell you how fit you actually are then...... meh
Quote Tomm 19th May 2008, 13:15
BMI is not ideal but it's from "the most inaccurate, outdated concept ever". It's just a ratio between your height and weight, and if you understand that there's no problem. For > 90% of people, having a BMI outside of normal limits means you're overweight - 'fat' if you like. Like everything, there are exceptions to the 'rule' (people with a lot of muscle, children, pregnancy etc) and you have to take into account that the rule is not for everyone. Unfortunately the general public seem unable to understand this, maybe Nintendo didn't explain it very well.

Didn't this start because some 11 year old girl was told she was fat and had a hissy fit? Well there's two things wrong here 1) children do not fit into the normal BMI limits, 2) a lot of children these days ARE fat, this girl was probably no exception. Having said all that, this is a computer game that tells you you're fat almost as soon as you turn it on - nice move Nintendo.
Quote naokaji 19th May 2008, 13:33
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tomm
Having said all that, this is a computer game that tells you you're fat almost as soon as you turn it on - nice move Nintendo.

that gave me a weird idea... maybe require to not be fat so it lets you play, basically have the game tell you to go out and do sports until your not fat anymore:D

(no, I'm not really being serious)
Quote proxess 19th May 2008, 13:47
*pokes* at least they admit their errors! not to mention it was in the manual.
Quote Major 19th May 2008, 13:49
Why doesn't it let you put in extra options i.e. how much you can lift on a bench press, this is if you do weights for example.

But for the majority of the British public, who have not done weights, if you have a high BMI, it's because you are fat, period.
Quote Veles 19th May 2008, 14:06
It's not really nintendo's fault, go to an NHS hospital, they'll weight you, measure your height and tell you exactly the same thing, it's just a flaw with the BMI system. You'll know if the BMI system is wrong for yourself.

Pretty retarded of the gamers really, surely there are disclaimers?
Quote Firehed 19th May 2008, 14:14
Quote:
Originally Posted by naokaji
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tomm
Having said all that, this is a computer game that tells you you're fat almost as soon as you turn it on - nice move Nintendo.

that gave me a weird idea... maybe require to not be fat so it lets you play, basically have the game tell you to go out and do sports until your not fat anymore:D

(no, I'm not really being serious)

You know, it's really not that bad of an idea.
Quote scarrmrcc 19th May 2008, 14:44
who is buying this game, that is fit?

isn't it kind of a given that if you are buying this game (and care if you are fat or not) that you would be overweight?

" i work out 5 hours a day, and am totally fit, i am going to buy wii fit, to make me fitter"
yeah.....right.
Quote fev 19th May 2008, 15:34
i've got friends who are "fit" who bought the game for the balance games and the fact it's a bit of a laugh to play anyway.

sooo scarrmrcc, plenty of people
Quote mikeuk2004 19th May 2008, 18:09
Anyone who buys this as a fitness tool is just stupid anyway. Marketing it as a fitness tool is just wrong, people are idiots and believe it.

Its a game and toy, not fitness.

Please excuse me while i put on a fitness video and jump up and down on my bathroom scales untill they break and tell me im 5 stone. :)
Quote Major 19th May 2008, 18:40
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeuk2004
Marketing it as a fitness tool is just wrong

QFT
Quote johnnyboy700 19th May 2008, 18:49
I didn't buy it as a fitness tool, I bought for the fun factor of the balance games and considering how much fun they are I'd say it was money well spent.

Although I will say that some of the yoga poses are quite tricky and the advanced ones can be quite challenging.
Quote kempez 19th May 2008, 19:16
I remember when I was very fit and did a LOT of excercise (I believe I had a few % less than 10% body fat). When I went to a doctor for a check up he stood there and said my BMI was well overweight (I'm 6'ish and weighed 14 stone). I looked back at him and asked him if he was kidding! I had a 6 pack for christ sake!! (man those were the days :D)

Anyway: idiot should think before they moan, Wii fit is ONLY A GAME - at least, it's a game according to Nintendo
Quote Solidus 19th May 2008, 23:57
well if you buy this game for fitness purposes then thats where you really went wrong. Its a game after all for entertainment purposes.

I really didnt think people could be fooled enough to buy into such a gimmick of an item...i guess i was wrong =/
Quote BurningFeetMan 20th May 2008, 02:56
Although I'm 25, my Wii age is 65 on Wii sports, so I don't understand why everyone is outraged at this BMI being slightly out or incorrect?

Almost all Mario games tend to ignore the laws of physics too, so why not complain about that? Oh yeah, that's right, IT'S A COMPUTER GAME.
Quote leviathan18 20th May 2008, 05:06
at least nintendo is trying to make you fit or interested in fitness
Quote Javerh 20th May 2008, 05:21
Even bodybuilders can be overweight even if not obese. Insurance companies have large statistical charts on BMIs for different body types. People whose weight differs from the average tend to have a higher risk of accidents or even death. Obesity and being very underweight increase the risk tremendously. Bodybuilding and being slightly underweight only slightly. For the insurance companies the BMI is then a good tool on calculating probabilities if you don't blindly believe in the example values.
Quote Cthippo 20th May 2008, 05:34
It's getting fat people moving. The end result is a good thing, even if the details are sketchy.
Quote outlawaol 20th May 2008, 07:44
I think nintendo was being quite genuine. Consoles = fat kids, and they knew it.... Anyone ever meet a real dedicated gamer kid that wasnt? (rhetorical question...)

Give those kids a brownie already, I think there blood sugar is getting low... ;)
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