The gaming world is getting fat!

[Joelcool7]

Getting in shape has never been an easy game, but With WiiFit starting the trend could we see the industry completely turned around. The couch potatoe nerds being the ones with the muscles. We all know during the PlayStation2 era manytried to make fitness based games but failed terribly. But with Nintendo it seems everything they touch turns into a phenomina. I mean Nintendogz had barely hit store shelves and UbiSoft began announcing the return of its Petz franchise, BrainTraining is out a few months and suddenly UbiSoft,Sega and many other publishers have brain training or related games coming out.

Nintendo seems to lead the casual trend and set the precedance for the industry.

Alright above are the graphs for Canada and the United States. The Canadian one is old unfortunetly but apparently remains pretty accurate according to the CCHS. This shows how the globe is rapidly becoming obese and with countries like India and China becoming wealthy and consuming more Obesity is becoming a very big problem and part of our lives.

Record numbers of people are playing video games on a regular basis, competing with music and television. Nintendo was the first company to succeed in producing a product that appeals to both gamers and non-gamers , both fit and obese. Many people shy away from gyms because they are embarrased they don't want to be seen in public excersizing alongside fit people. Gamers who like to sit on the couch all day suddenly have a game format that will keep them fit while they game.

So as WiiFit becomes a massive success already EAGames and UbiSoft have announced their own games utalizing the Wii's hardware. And just like Nintendogz brought back virtual pets and Guitar Hero brought back music games WiiFit will bring us a whole new generation of games. Fitness games.

Is it just me or will fitness games start playing a bigger role in the industry. I mean Microsoft and Sony have no fitness games so when Nintendo shows off WiiFit2 this fall (Rumour), their will be a massive change in the market.

Could Fitness games actually become a bonafied genre in the gaming world?

Could we even see 3rd party developers ripping off the balance board like RockBand did?

Will their be a flow of steady fitness games for the balance board or new hardware?