The massively successful launch of theNintendo Wiigame console try out beyond a shadow of a uncertainty that picky consumers , when given the option , would gladly give up the comforts of high - definition graphics and whiz - bang technologies in rally for a novel , compelling playing experience . Though not the first system to push gesture ascendence in games – Nintendo itself cut its dentition with the ill - fated Power Glove , an accessory for the original NES ( Nintendo Entertainment System ) that was released in 1989 – the Wii was the first to do so with mainstream appeal .
With the Wii , having once again established itself as the plot company to beat – a stead it had relinquished to its contender , Sony andMicrosoft , during the previous console war – Nintendo cursorily pose its sights on further diversify its outreach to new audiences . Enter the Wii Balance Board . When it was unveiled alongside " Wii Fit , " the first game to take advantage of it , at the Electronic Entertainment Expo ( E3 ) in 2007 , it was study to be an innovative twist in some circles and derided in others as a pure gimmick . Getting gamers to flail their arms and hands around was one affair , the skeptic point out , but catch them to don physical exercise clothes andsweatalong with an in - plot incarnation – all in the name of fun – was something quite different .
Fortunately for Nintendo , there was a mart of gamers who were more than eager to give the lean , white board a shot – and a goodish one , at that . Since its launch in other 2008 , " Wii Fit " has racked up global sales in excess of 22.5 million copies , positioning it as one of the Wii ’s bona fide mega - collision right alongside " Wii Sports , " " Wii maneuver " and " Mario Kart Wii " [ source : Nintendo ] .
At its most basic stratum , the proportionality gameboard merely measures your weight and symmetricalness with the help of four pocket-sized sensor turn up in each corner . The fib of how the board came to be is a foresighted , interesting one that antedate the development of the Wii game console itself . In the next section , we ’ll explore the board ’s humble origins and see how it commence its life as two bathroom scale glued together .
Wii Balance Board History
It all began in Shigeru Miyamoto ’s toilet . Miyamoto , one of Nintendo ’s most prolific game designers , had been weighing himself – a lot . You could even say that it had become something of a hobby . Every day , without fail , he would step onto his bathroom scale and meticulously record his weight and bodyfaton a graph . Many month ( and graphical record ) later , Miyamoto and his colleagues get down working on a new labor , named " Health Pack , " that combined his free weight - measuring concept with a number of family - favorable activities [ source : Iwata : Wii Fit ] . This was in 2004 . Three years afterward , when it was herald at E3 , it had been renamed " Wii Fit . "
With the idea of a game centered on mensurate one ’s balance now flesh out , Miyamoto ’s team set out to accomplish the most ambitious aspect of the project : designing an nonrational , user - well-disposed interface . Luckily , the solution already seemed to be star them in the face . take in aspiration from Miyamoto ’s bathroom routine , Takao Sawano , the project ’s Pb designer , set about experimenting with two scales , sic them side by side and trying to equilibrate on both evenly [ source : Romano ] . ( The idea to employ two scales came to him after watching sumo grappler weigh themselves , because they are too profound to use only one . ) Pleased with the initial outcome , Miyamoto asked him to link the scurf to acomputerand display the weight data onscreen – this reasonably crude frame-up finally formed the basis for " Wii Fit ’s " balance trial .
After several round of golf of troubleshooting during which they consort through a few different - shaped prototypes , the squad at last settled on a orthogonal , dance step aerobic exercise - like design equip with load sensors to allow for greater accuracy [ germ : Casamassina ] . In the interest of maintain price down , the design team had originally intended for the board to be connected to the Wii Remote , through which it would wirelessly communicate with the console . Worried that user might incidentally step onto the remote or tripper over it , the cord was nixed from the final model [ beginning : Iwata : Board ] . And thus the Wii Balance Board was born .
Next , we ’ll take a look under the hood , so to speak , and see just how exact its measurements really are .
A Board and Its Sensors
The sylphlike Wii Balance Board weighs in at about 8 pounds ( roughly 3.5 kilogram ) and can digest up to 330 pounds ( about 150 kilograms ) for in - game functionality . ( It can actually sustain quite a bit more , up to 620 pounds , but game like " Wii Fit " will not work if you count more than 330 pound [ source : Casamassina ] . ) It runs on four AA batteries , which Nintendo says can provide up to 60 hour of play time depend on the setting used , and the board shuts off mechanically to conserve power when not in use after a unretentive period of prison term . It has establish - in wireless potentiality and communicates with theWiiusing the sameBluetoothtechnology see in the Wii Remote .
Load sensors sit snugly at the bottom of each of the circuit board ’s four squat , cylindric - determine leg . These influence together to set the locating of your nitty-gritty of somberness and to tag your move as you pitch your weight from one part of the board to another [ source : Okamoto et al . ] . Each is a small landing strip of metal with a sensing element , known as a form calibre , attached to its surface [ author : Snider ] .
Strain gauges measure the story of stress applied to an object . A gauge consist of a single , long electrical wire that is looped back and onward and mounted onto a hard surface – in this casing , the airstrip of metallic element . Applying a force on the alloy by standing on the board will stretch out or compress the wire [ source : NASA ] .
Imagine stretch along a rubber circle : It get longer as you pull up , and it also capture thin as it stretches . The same affair happens in the strain gauges – they get longer while their fussy - sectional area develop small-scale . Because of the changes to distance and diam in the wire , its electrical resistance increment . The change in electrical resistance is converted into a modification in potential drop , and the sensors use this information to cypher out how much pressure level you hold to the board , or how much you weigh .
The sensors ' measure will vary depending on your position and orientation on the board ; if you ’re standing in the front unexpended corner , for instance , the sensor in that leg will record a higher load value than will the others . A microcomputer in the instrument panel takes the proportion of the loading values to your body weight and the position of the meat of gravity to learn your exact motion ; it then channelise that information back to the Wii at a rate of 60 signals a 2d [ sources : Okamoto et al . ,Casamassina ] . The detector must be on a flat surface to run properly , so groundwork extensions – which come with the plug-in – furnish stability and ensure proper communicating with the Wii and the board when it ’s used on rug .
The deflexion in the alloy is much unperceivable to the naked eye : for instance , someone matter 220 pound would distort it by less than a millimeter [ source : GameSpy ] . The detector are extremely accurate and can observe changes in system of weights of as little as tens of grams [ source : Casamassina ] .
Up next , we ’ll look at some of the peripheral machine ’s experience limitation and risks and excuse why you’re able to ( but in all likelihood should n’t ) assume shoes on it .
Troubleshooting the Board
During its launching period , the Wii Remote , a close sibling to the Wii Balance Board , was plagued with shoulder strap - breaking problem . So far , the board has avoided such monolithic hitches . Most complaints about the board seem to relate on one of two issues : its safety and the synchronisation process .
The former brings us to why you should – but do n’t inevitably have to – be barefooted when you use the balance board ( unless you snag a twain of Nintendo ’s prescribed " Wii Fit " non - skid socks ): It can be tricky . Sure , Nintendo designed it to be close to the ground and even admit a few inset channel on top to facilitate gamers find the approximative localisation of their feet . But , let ’s look it : If you ’re wearing either shoes or a peculiarly thick couple of socks , you wo n’t have a good handgrip and may shine off . So while there is n’t anything technically wrong with wear something on your feet when you ’re using the board , you should just be aware that it can be hazardous . It also goes without saying that , whether or not you are wearing shoes , you should not habituate the board at all if you weigh more than 330 pound , because it wo n’t shape by rights .
Also , before you start playing a plot with the Balance Board , you have to synchronise it to the console – a process called Standard Mode Synchronization – by pressing the " Sync " button in the Wii ’s Mount Rushmore State plug-in slot and in the add-in ’s assault and battery binding slot for several seconds . You ’ll also need to reprize the unconscious process for each new board - compatible game .
For the most part , users seem to hit snags when they do n’t do one of the pursual :
Otherwise , user sometimes also forget to place the board with the depressed power sparkle facing forth from thetelevision . If it is facing the wrong style , the apparent movement onscreen are reversed . Gamers also feel problem sync the board with theWiiwhen they practice incompatible rechargeable battery pack . Nintendo ’s prescribed line in that regard is that you should utilize standard AA battery . If you do want to use rechargeable AAbatteries , however , they should be nickel alloy hydride ( NiMH ) batteries .
We ’ve spent a pot of clip discuss the control panel ’s history and capabilities , but what about the game ? Now , we ’ll tattle about the biz that singlehandedly kicked off the balance board craze , " Wii Fit , " and some of the other game that use its functionality .
Games on the Wii Balance Board
TheWiiBalance Board would be nothing without package . Nintendo ’s own offering , " Wii Fit , " readily springs to mind , but there are in fact many other games . With a few exception , they mostly fall into one of two class : sports or exergaming ( a la " Wii Fit " ) .
In the fitness camp , you ’ll find game such as Electronic Arts ' " EA Sports Active , " Ubisoft ’s " Gold ’s Gym : Cardio Workout " and Majesco Games ' " Jillian Michaels ' Fitness Ultimatum 2009 . " These mostly mime the " Wii Fit " manikin or make upon it by throwing in some new exercises and features . Games such as Namco Bandai ’s " We Ski " and Electronic Arts ' " Skate It " let players indulge their sport fantasies by using the board as skiis , asnowboardor askateboard . Still others , such as Nintendo ’s " Wii Music " and Hudson Soft ’s " Tetris Party , " innovate a little by letting you use the board as an instrument and to control shine cube , severally [ source : Scottberg , Bozon ] .
More than 20 games have been release in the U.S. that defend the peripheral to some extent . Plenty of sequels have been planned for 2010 , though there should be a few original games , including Sega ’s " Super Monkey Ball Step & Roll " ( which will let players control a monkey in a formal with the circuit card ) , to surge over fans craving something Modern [ source : Anderson ] .
So what ’s next for the Wii Balance Board ? Not much , at least that the populace knows of . Nintendo is notoriously tight - lipped when it get to talk about its future undertaking , so it ’s entirely potential that its railroad engineer are , or have been , working on some unexampled features . With rumor circulating that Nintendo may be prepare a follow - up to the Wii cabinet in 2011 , it is not yet well-defined whether it will vamp its subsist board or merely trench it in favour of a similar - looking , but more advanced model [ source : Davison ] .
For more information about the Wii Balance Board and other related to topics , natter the next varlet .
