Did my Wii just call me "obese?"

The one announcement at E3 that jumped right out at me last year was the Wii Fit. As a gamer, and fat man, I immediately saw the potential that the innocuous white board could have. Like many Wii titles, this peripheral, and the games that would take advantage of it's unique properties, require actual physical interaction on the part of the player as opposed to the standard button mashing.

In a nutshell, the Wii Fit is like a scale, only not that simple. The actual technology behind the device is quite amazing in that it tracks your center of gravity and can tell your weight to within a tenth of a pound. The Wii Fit takes this information, along with your height and age, and calculates your body mass index, or BMI. It then assigns you to one of four categories; Underweight, Normal, Overweight, or Obese.

Like many of the other titles in the Touch Generations line of games, the Wii Fit takes your BMI and after giving you a quick test, it assigns your Wii Fit age. Ideally this age is at or lower than your actual age, but likely it won't be. Armed with all of this knowledge, the Wii Fit allows you to set a goal of how many pounds you'd like to lose in how long and it tracks your progress towards this goal.

As a fitness device, the Wii Fit takes advantage of four different training modes to help you achieve your fitness goals; Yoga, Balance Games, Strength Training, and Aerobics. Within these training modes is a smattering of various different unlockable activities designed to engage, enrage, and entertain users. Certain activities have a steep learning curve, but overall everyone but the youngest or the most out of shape player will have difficulties partaking in the Wii Fit's various activities.

The Wii Fit certainly has the opportunity to change the lives of many, but in this hyper sensitive society in which we dwell, there is a potential dark side to the innocuous white board. The problem is with the BMI and the category that it assigns you to. Despite the fact that the Wii Fit allows you to lock others out of your BMI and weight information, without the ability to take into account body fat percentage, these categories are arbitrary. And these categories come without any warning that this information is not completely correct. This leads to the potential for abuse with this device, especially for those that have any problem with their body self image. Sadly I think it's just a matter of weeks before we start hearing tales to this effect.

It's far too early for me to say whether the Wii Fit works or not. I can without reservation say that it will kick your butt. I, and Rotormommy, are sore in places that we've forgotten had muscles attached to them. And according to the little tracker, I've lost weight and percentage off my BMI. I'm not going to publicly share this information as my friend J.R. over at Wii Weight Loss Plan.com will, but I will keep those interested, and those that aren't, apprised as to my progress.

Wii Fit is rated "E" for everyone by the ESRB and is available everywhere now (assuming you can find one) for around $89.99.

Want.

I love Guitar Hero as it is, but how great is a portable version. And this will be much easier to play around little mister "yank the plug out during daddy's 150 note streak."

In seven days....

...the journey to return begins.

The plan goes like this:

1. Sunday afternoon drive to BNA and check into hotel.
2. Monday morning leave BNA at o-dark thirty bound for SMF.
3. Change in MDW.
4. Arrive in SMF and get the kid.
5. Wait in SMF until the return flight that evening. Non-stop is wonderful, but direct is almost as good.
6. Arrive back at BNA at o-dark thirty Tuesday morning and go back to the hotel.
7. Sleep a few hours.
8. Get the kid up and drive home.

Roughly thirteen hours in the air, and five and a half in airports. But the payoff is so worth it.

On a completely unrelated note, I haven't gotten the call about my pre-order. Methinks it time to go kick some pasty, game store employee butt.

Alas, Mr. Bellic, I thought I knew you well

GTA 4 could easily be called "Grand Theft Auto 4: More of the Same" as the title is just that. The spit and polish garnered by having it on the 360 doesn't change the fact that you've done all of this before. You shoot people, you drive people around, you steal cars, it's everything you've done a half dozen times before. The "open world" game once again proves it isn't by limiting your actions to one of the three islands that makes up Liberty City until you've jumped through the appropriate hoops. The addition of the online component doesn't really add that much either in that you get to do more of the same with a friend.

The only redeeming quality of the GTA series in general is the moral depravity. There is something strangely satisfying about doing things in this game that one could never do in real life. But isn't that the allure of video games anyway? However, it's this same depravity that critics of gaming point to and blame our societies ills on. As a gamer, and a father, I'll say this, if your kid plays this game and then goes out in the real world and does something stupid, it isn't Rockstar's fault, it's yours. Do your job as a parent, and your child won't end up in handcuffs on CNN.

This obviously isn't a title for kids, so parents, do your job and check it out for yourself.

In all honesty, this game is getting traded in on a Wii Fit as soon as I get the call that mine is in. If I feel a need to finish the game, I'll get it via Gamefly and I suggest you save your money and do the same.

The one where I wish I owned horses

For the first time ever, it cost over $50 to fill the pony. At this point I'm seriously considering getting a Conestoga wagon.

A couple of shout outs, a question, and a clarification.

Added a couple more dads that I enjoy to the list over yonder, Backpacking Dad and Lost Parent Diary. Both of these dads write wonderfully and are well worth the read and subscription.

Now, a question. Is there some physiological explanation for the fact that the elderly feel it alright to walk up to my son and touch him? How is this behavior acceptable? The only thing that kept me from going all Royale with Cheese on the latest octogenarian to partake in this liberty was the death look from my wife... and the three MPD officers in Jason's Deli at the time.

And the clarification. This is not a gaming blog. I game, but that's not what this is about. I'm a thirty-something gamer turned full-time stay-at-home dad, guess which one occupies more time? (But I am almost ready to give my take on GTA4.) With this in mind, the next time someone feels compelled to leave an anonymous comment saying how much I suck as a games blogger, at least dad up and use your name.

A philosophy

I'd like to think myself rather even handed and objective when reviewing anything that gets sent down the pipe. I mean, if you're looking for someone that'll unquestioningly pat you on the back all the while holding your bottle for you as they review your game/product/whatever, then you're better off looking elsewhere. Your mom did that for you oh so many years ago, but this fat, white, out of shape (unless you count round as a shape), thirty-something gamer turned full-time stay-at-home dad won't coddle you so. I flatly refuse to compromise what tiny bit of credibility I have in the bowels of teh interwebs, which I know is like claiming that Fox News is credible journalism. If I don't like something, I'm not going to sugar coat it and look for the good in something I consider bad as a whole.

That said, the forever brilliant and unabashedly honest, Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw, takes on some of his detractors in this week's Zero Punctuation in a manner that I feel captures my philosophy to a tee.

My Summer

This about sums up my summer movie plans:

Flying the Friendly Skies

I've been unfair to Southwest over the years. Without so much as one second in their seats, I've passed judgment on what I am told is a perfectly acceptable airline. Part of this bias comes from working for Mr. Woolman's airline, which I found out recently will be closing the office that I worked at due to industry wide tightening of the belt. I found while working there that one developed a loyalty to not only their employer's product, but to the family that was Delta.

That, now, has a reason to change. I'm giving Southwest a chance to impress me. I'm giving Southwest the most important thing I can think of. I'm giving them my daughter.

On June 2nd I will be winging my way Califory bound to get my precious little girl for a month. To say that it's going to be a great day is on foreshadowed by the fact that it's going to suck as well. You see, I'm going all the way out to California and back in one day. O-N-E.

It'll work out to thirteen hours in the air and six hours of layovers. Of course that's a small and welcome price to pay in order to get Mac and bring her back to where she belongs. I'd gladly do it everyday if it meant that I got to see her.

So, t-minus twenty-eight days.