Personal Trainer: Walking by Nintendo is a let down
Sunday, June 14th, 2009 at 10:16pm by David
When I first saw Personal Trainer: Walking by Nintendo, it looked like a great idea. You go out for walks, a little pedometer device measures how far you’ve gone, and then it syncs up to your DS to keep a record or create a fitness plan. For the most part, it does what you’d expect, but it really lacks anything to inspire more excercise.
Integration with the Mii Channel on your Wii is really cool and it was a lot of fun to see my Mii show up on my DS. The interaction between the activity monitor and the DS was smooth and impressive. Sadly, the software does very little other than show you the number of steps you’ve taken and graphs it. You don’t even find out the distance traveled in miles or kilometers. And your little guide on the DS never suggests things you should do while walking, but he’ll gladly suggest that you “really try to enjoy everything you eat tomorrow” or “say hello to as many people as possible” among other “mini-goals”. Some of the online stuff is cool, like how it aggregates the total number of steps everyone who uses their Personal Trainer software online has taken. When it really comes down to it, though, this software/hardware combo isn’t worth the MSRP of $50. In the meantime, EA Sports Active is kicking my ass in front of my Wii!
June 15th, 2009 at 12:05 am
Gosh… Nintendo is sure concerned with our health, for some reason.
June 15th, 2009 at 12:11 am
Nintendo is concerned with our health because a lot of people are interested in buying health related products, and if Nintendo can get a piece of that pie, why not go after it?
June 15th, 2009 at 12:14 am
Jee, I dunno, I think people only really started getting interested in health related products AFTER Wii Fit hit. At least in the video game sector.
I think it’s more that Nintendo wants to do things that are relevant to people’s lives, and let’s face it, health is relevant to pretty much everyone’s life.
June 15th, 2009 at 12:48 am
Wow, sounds like they really missed the point with this one. besides working with the wii/ds there’s no benefit of this over any other pedometer you can get.
June 15th, 2009 at 4:44 am
Forget walking. GIVE US A Mii CHANNEL FOR DSi !!!
June 15th, 2009 at 5:16 am
Forget Wii Channel on DSi, let’s all buy Tomodachi Collection!
June 15th, 2009 at 6:55 am
I think I made enough fun of the Personal Trainer line of “games” the last time it was mentioned in Infendo.
Personal Trainer: Tie Your Laces
June 15th, 2009 at 11:25 am
Wii need Personal Trainer: Miyamoto Simulator! Imagine being able to view the world as only Miyamoto-san does. It’s come with a contact lense pack-in and set of shrooms to get the game started. That sounds like Game of the Millenium stuff right there.
June 15th, 2009 at 11:30 am
Sure, maybe you don’t need the pedometer and the game to go walking every day, but shouldn’t the “inspiration” to continue exercising be the fact that you’re getting healthier? People nowadays need a carrot on a stick just to do things that are good for them. Do it because it’s good for you, not because your Mii might give you some incentive to do it (which, incidentally, it doesn’t).
June 15th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
“For the most part, it does what you’d expect, but it really lacks anything to inspire more excercise.”
So it doesn’t include the Rocky soundtrack?
June 15th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
@srkelley: LOL