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Miyamoto 'Banned' From Talking About Hobbies
walshy007 writes "After Shigeru Miyamoto developed a love of puzzles, the "brain-training" software that has proved to be an international "killer application" on the Nintendo DS console was born.
He became interested in taking more exercise, and Wii Fit was created. He took up music lessons, and Wii Music was the result.
Now, according to sources at Nintendo, the games designer has been banned by the company from speaking publicly about his hobbies."
American corporations often put limitations on what their employees can say to the press. Every major corporation has had a policy on what statements the company can make, and even then, only certain employees are allowed to talk to the press. Violation of such a policy is grounds for termination. It is pretty standard.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
No one ever thought of doing puzzle games before.
And no ever thought of doing work-out games before (we actually own the XBox virtual personal trainer game that my wife used to work out with).
And no one ever did music games before.
And since when was Wii Music a big hit? I thought it hadn't even been released yet, and all the hype has been about Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero: World Tour.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
That did happen, and it didn't lead to the iPhone failing:
http://www.htc.com/www/product.aspx?id=356
Released a couple months prior to the iPhone.
Yes, the supped up nature of the controller is better. That is part of why I say that it is the implementation more than the idea. I would say that the software implementation is a factor also though. The silliness of the game makes it seem more like a... well... game, than a workout system. Yet, it is not so silly as to put off someone who wants to actually exercise. The pacing is also good, in that it breaks the exercises up into the right sized chunks to keep it from feeling like a time sink. I'm not saying that it doesn't eat up a bunch of time. Just that it doesn't FEEL like it does. Simple concepts can be implement well, and they can be implemented badly. I would say the Fit is implemented well.
My wife bought ours last week, so I have been doing my personal reviews of the game. At this point, I think that it is probably one of the best ways someone could spend their money if they want to buy home gym equipment. $90 for the WiiFit, $250 for the Wii, and $500 for a 32" LCD TV means that for $940, you can buy an exercise system that is better than a $1500 Treadmill, and for people like me who simply cannot stand the mindlessness of working out, is superior to things like a bowflex that costs $2000. Yes, you can get a treadmill for $500, but if you are going to go cheap, you can get the TV for $140 bucks, reducing the cost to under $500 for all new equipment.
We are considering turning our finished garage into a home gym, and if we do, we might just buy a Wii for exclusive use in the gym. I only say the Wii, because the WiiFit would be moved from the living room to the gym, and OBVIOUSLY we would already be buying a TV for the gym.