Not content with just training brains, Nintendo is taking the world by storm with its latest exercise game Wii Fit.

Senior Managing Director of Nintendo Shigeru Miyamoto was the mastermind behind combining exercise and video games that resulted in Wii Fit. Inspired by his fascination to weigh himself and plot his weight and body changes on a graph, Miyamoto’s ideas led to the development of the pressure sensitive Balance Board which is used in conjunction with the game to participate in aerobics, yoga, muscle stretches and balance games.

Miyamoto has become a household name around the world, not surprising given that he invented many icons of the gaming world including Mario, Zelda and Donkey Kong. The Times Online recently caught up with Miyamoto in advance of the launch of Wii Fit across the US on the 19th of May.

Computer games can be good for you

“Video games are bad for you? That’s what they said about rock and roll.” This is one of my favourite quotes from Miyamoto. His beliefs, it seems, have not changed as he commented to The Times “I want to show that computer games can be good for you, can enrich your life.”

This appears to have been his motivation behind creating Wii Fit. “People say video games are a waste of time and are bad for your brain and for your health,” he said. “We wanted to create something to answer that.”

Wii Fit follows in the footsteps of Wii Sports as it encourages (and requires) gamers to get off the couch and start moving. The game will track your weight and body mass index, encouraging you or reprimanding you as it deems necessary. Wii Fit was designed to be fun but also to draw in a larger audience that are being left out of the shoot ‘em up gaming market.

Miyamoto wanted Wii Fit to attract “people who would never imagine they would buy a computer game.” “We want to broaden the definition of what a video game is, to create games for people whether they are five or 95, whether they are men or women.” Judging by the way my mom easily learned how to play and her enjoyment of the game, it seems as if he has achieved what he set out to accomplish.

Meeting with success

The Wii has dominated the hardware market around the world, suggesting that Miyamoto has safely put all of his eggs into one basket. NPD figures revealed that Nintendo sold 721 000 Wiis during March 2008 to take the crown as the best-selling console in North America. Recently Nintendo announced record sales in 2007, confirming that it had sold 18.61 million Wiis during 2007, bringing its life-to-date sales to 24.45 million units worldwide.

Wii Fit has met with similar success, selling 1.85 million copies to date since its launch in Japan and topping the UK Charts as the sixth fastest selling UK debut ever and stealing the honour of Nintendo’s fastest selling title from Mario Kart Wii. Wii Fit also became the third largest launch in the UK after notching up an estimated £16.3 million thanks to roughly 1 in 10 Wii console owners buying the title in its first two days of release.

According to The Times, “Britain is the strongest market for Wii outside Japan, beating even America” with 2.5 million Wii units sold since launch, 1 million of those sold in just 38 weeks.

“In Japanese households suddenly new conversations are springing up between fathers and mothers, fathers and daughters, talking about Wii Fit,” said Miyamoto. “We would love that to happen in Britain.”

Get out on a sunny day

Miyamoto believes that balance is necessary. “Spending too long, staying in and playing any video game is not good. I always tell my children to get out on a sunny day and I, myself, went jogging in Central Park yesterday. But I do my stretching on Wii Fit. They work together.”

He was concerned that people might get frustrated with a machine telling them what to do. “We thought they might, but the evidence from Japan is that they get cross with themselves — not the machine. They don’t blame the game.”

Miyamoto then described that he is working on web-enabled Wii Fit which will enable users to compete live against anyone. Bring it on Shiggy!