San Francisco -- With "Wii Fit" already out in Japan but still months away from release in Europe and the U.S., throngs of GDC attendees lined up to attend a talk by one of its developers yesterday afternoon.
Takao Sawano, Deputy GM in Entertainment Analysis and Development at Nintendo, talked about his work developing the Wii Balance Board peripheral for "Wii Fit" in a session titled, "'Wii Fit': Creating a Brand New Interface for the Home Console."
The hundreds of people in the audience listened attentively as Sawano-san spoke in his native tongue (English speakers used headsets connected to a translator). He talked about how "Wii Fit" came to be in the first place, the features of the software and the possible future implementation of the Wii Balance Board as a new controller.
As simple as the design looks, creating "Wii Fit" was not an easy process. When Sawano-san was tasked with creating the hardware for Shigeru Miyamoto's vision, he thought, "We'll sell a few, but there's no way that this will become a hit product." However, after overcoming major design challenges with the Wii Balance Board, over 1.4 million units have been sold in Japan since its December 1 release.
Some highlights from the talk include:
- Miyamoto had planned "Wii Fit" long before the Wii's launch.
- Early prototypes of the Wii Balance board included rumble and a connection to the Wii remote.
- The program includes a Body Test, where you can measure BMI, weight and your "Wii Fit" age quickly and easily without inserting the disc. After the first time the game is inserted it will install the "Wii Fit" channel via the game disc.
- In the Aerobics section, you can choose running courses that don't require use the Wii Balance Board; instead the player holds the Wii remote in hand or in pocket and runs in place. You can be joined by another person with a second Wii remote. New content will be added "to keep players coming back for more."
- Also in Aerobics, players can change to the TV and the speaker in the Wii remote still counts for you as you exercise and watch TV.
- "Wii Fit" is slated for release in Europe on April 25 and in North America on May 19.
Read on for the details...
Evolution of the Wii Balance Board:
- Discussions about the project took place long before the Wii came out. Sawano showed a text-filled diagram that Shigeru Miyamoto had made (no photos were allowed). In one box on the side of the diagram, were notes about tennis, baseball and two remotes -- the "sports pack" that eventually became "Wii Sports." In another box, there were notes about table tennis, fishing, and the joy of playing with others and two remotes -- the party pack which ultimately became "Wii Play." And finally, "the concept in the center of Miyamoto's brain even before the console's release" was the health pack (body management, exercise diary, scale, etc.) that became "Wii Fit."
- While Miyamoto enjoys weighing himself, he and others had doubts: Would you turn a TV and game system on just to weigh yourself? Do you want to weight yourself in the living room in front of people? Can you get an accurate measurement with clothes on? Don't you already have a scale in bathroom?
- After thinking about sumo wrestlers, who weigh more than 150 kg (330 lbs) and use two scales to be measured with one foot on each, Sawano-san began working on a prototype of two scales connected together. He saw how the weight could be shifted between the scales and that tilting changed a body's balance, hence the movement-based control. The first prototype looked like a giant aspirin -- it was two scales put together with sensors in the heart of the scale.
- A rumble motor was considered. "However this was a mistake," he said, since there was not enough power to make the player feel the rumble.
- When planning for the software began, they only used right-left balance controls. When Sawano-san asked if it should also include front and back controls as well, developers "wouldn't give [him] the time of day." However, he persisted and began trying to make an inexpensive prototype with the front and back controls added.
- Miyamoto saw a problem with the scale-like shape and thought the board should be shoulder-width for better positioning. They also had to make the dimensions big enough for people with larger feet but small enough for living rooms.
- When the design was finalized, Satoru Iwata saw the connection to the Wii remote as clumsy, and he couldn't imagine people having to squat down every time they wanted to weigh themselves. "It delivered quite a blow to hear what we knew all along," Sawano-san said.
- Though they were in the final stages of development, they removed the Wii remote and added a sync and power button. Overall, they overcame various obstacles to produce the Wii Balance Board that we have here today. There were also "legal issues" and other hardships, but, Sawano-san said, "I'll leave how the Wii Balance Board came to be at that.
The "Wii Fit" Software:
- "Wii Fit" has two main screens -- the Body Test and Training. In Body Test, you can measure BMI, weight and "Wii Fit" age quickly and easily without inserting the disc. After the first time the game is inserted it will install the "Wii Fit" channel via the game disc.
- For Training, the disc must be inserted. Here you can choose from Yoga (15 poses), Strength Training (15 exercises), Aerobics (9 exercises) and Balance (9 games). You can also select a male or female trainer who will encourage you along the way.
- In the Aerobics section, there is also a "Wii Fit" island where you can choose running courses. It doesn't require the player to use the Wii Balance Board; instead the player holds the Wii remote in hand or in pocket and runs in place. You can choose a short or long course lasting 10, 20 or 30 minutes and be joined by another person with a second Wii remote. New content will be added "to keep players coming back for more."
- Also in Aerobics, players can switch to watching regular TV but still use the Wii remote, as its speaker counts for you as you exercise and watch TV.
- Players can earn "Fit Credits" for time spent exercising on "Wii Fit" as well as from manually entering exercise times not spent using "Wii Fit."
The Future:
- A video was shown of a famous Japanese comedian playing Namco Bandai Games' "Family Ski" which had him on the Wii Balance Board and holding the Wii remote and Nunchuk controllers to navigate the slopes on-screen. "With two controllers, it is possible to go beyond the fingertip controls of the past and control a game with great precision," Sawano-san said. He hopes that it will "inspire imagination and bring your studios' ideas to life."
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