What even more ironic is how good the dirty port actually is. Everyone I know who has tried it (from my suggestion) thinks it's the best fitness game ever made. It's like the content from 40 + excellent fitness DVD's jumbled up into different workouts that are customized by your goals, equipment, fitness level, workout time, etc. This "dirty" port could sell millions, and no one even knows it exists. I hope it does sell well from word of mouth (legs) and that the original developer still gets a fair cut of the deal. They did a really good job of predicting the future of fitness in 2005.

At their website (they have several) it reads "Before there was Wii Fit there was Do It Yourself Fitness." They still sell the PC version, but there is no mention of the Xbox/PS2 version. Or the new release Wii port. But there message boards seem to have a lot of new members who own the Wii version, so somehow people are finding out the products are related, there is no mention of it on the Ubisoft box, manual, or game.

I'm mad Ubi was lazy, and still have to recommend this product, it's that good. Here's what critics said about Do It Yourself fitness/My Fitness coach in 2005....

"...why didn’t anyone think of this sooner? Yourself Fitness is... a lot cheaper than a personal trainer and you can do it in your pajamas! Plus, it has more variety than a stationary fitness video. While it will take some time for me to get used to having a pixilated personal trainer, I like the idea that it can be tailored to my needs. Yourself Fitness is an amazing concept that really carries through in the actual final product. If you’re at all interested in working out at home, I strongly suggest that you try this out..."

Willa Laskowitz - Jive Magazine

“Ever see a cyberchick cop an attitude? You will if you miss an appointment with Maya, ResponDESIGN’s virtual personal trainer... The tanned, pixel-perfect coach... demonstrates proper form, and after every ten workouts she assesses your progress. While some might resist taking orders from an animated character, the fat-blasting results far exceed normal video games, which exercise, at most, a couple of fingers.”

Chee Gates - O, The Oprah Magazine

“Enter your vital statistics and lissome CG fitness guru Maya (who’s cuter and less annoying than Richard Simmons) will develop a personalized regimen for you.”

Sam Richards - Wired Magazine

"They're good, solid workouts that made this reviewer sweat and feel the burn." 4.5 out of 5 stars.

M. David Stone - PC Magazine

"Much more than some cheesy fitness CD-ROM, Yourself!Fitness is a completely interactive program that lets you set goals, focus on different body parts, plan your meal, and even do yoga." 8.5 out of 10

- Official Xbox Magazine

"Can't afford a personal trainer? Try Yourself Fitness ... voiced by former national aerobics champion Yumi Lee (who has trained Demi Moore)..."

Anna Nordberg - InStyle Magazine

“YF is an excellent exercise tool.  For the last few months, I’ve found it difficult to visit the gym, a usual excuse I know, but YF has helped fill in that gap until I can get back on schedule.  My wife, on the other hand, uses the tool on a daily basis, and I noticed the results in just one week after her initial use... here we are, ten pounds lighter thanks to ResponDESIGN and its Yourself!Fitness product.”

Magikahn - GameHelper.com

"Yourself!Fitness doesn’t just provide the next level of home video workout. It really is an all-around fitness coach... the customization and variety in workouts makes this light years beyond anything Jane Fonda envisioned in the early 1980’s... Yourself!Fitness is not your typical Xbox title. It isn’t a game so much as a lifetime application."

Daniel "monk" Pelfrey
- Digital Entertainment News

"Feeling a little stressed? Strike a warrior pose in the meditation garden. Zen not your thing? Not to worry, Maya's flexible. (We couldn't resist) With six different locales incorporating Pilates, yoga and strength training to name a few, there's definitely something for everyone. Well, almost everyone. We're still waiting for Maya to suggest a little naptime on our couch, but hey, it's her world, we just sweat in it."

Sophie - ScoopDuJour.com

"A few leaders have emerged from the small crop of fitness video games released this year. Yourself!Fitness features Maya, a virtual personal trainer who not only demonstrates moves and exercises with you, but will also customize a program tailored to your needs."

Erika Hobbs - Baltimore Sun

"Yourself!Fitness is surprisingly competent as a workout routine... its longevity is infinitely better than a normal human workout video."

- Xbox Nation

"This is an excellent, extremely versatile tool for those wanting to exercise at home for whatever reason (children, budget, weather…) and might be a fun holiday gift (or self-gift) for an exercise video/DVD nut.... 9.5 out of 10"

Laura "Kwee" Wells - Warcry

"The graphics are excellent in yourself fitness, with the environments bordering on serene. Your "instructor" is a female computer generated model who is pleasing to the eyes, but doesn't suffer from Lara Croft Proportion syndrome."

Robert Perkins - Game Vortex

“More experience than game, this title turns you into the peripheral, walking you through crunches and squats onscreen to tone your bod in real life.”

Wired Magazine

"If ever there was a reason for women to commandeer that Xbox belonging to their kids, husbands or boyfriends, it's this...
I just hope they're prepared to feel the burn."

Misha Davenport - Chicago Sun-Times

“goes far beyond annoying exercise videos... Maya takes me through a 45 minute workout, which varies every time... When I change the music mid-tune from ‘80s to hip-hop, she says,“I wasn’t into that song, either.” I love her.”

Esther - Jane Magazine

"... commitment to your routine will unlock hidden extras to keep you hooked before the physical rewards kick in. You don't get bonuses like that at the gym. "

Stephen Totilo - Time Magazine

"...create a customised health and fitness plan that will have you kicking sand in the faces of muscle bound he-men at the beach."

Nick Farrell - The Inquirer (UK)

"The new exercise regime will be far from boring, as unlike a Body Combat session at the local gym, no two workouts will be the same... Avoiding the smell of sweat and visions of sticks on treadmills, users are able to workout on an island or in an Alpine Retreat.”

Ian Bogost - Digital Lifestyles

"Developer responDesign's mottos is "Games That Are Good For You," and this is my first experience where that actually proves to be true... wonderfully uncluttered..very intuitive to use and understand... As a workout-only game, it's superb...The variety of dynamic exercises coupled with Maya's helpful guidance makes this a solid replacement for repetitive workout tapes... Have the program track your progress with a profile -- and you can set up profiles for the whole family. 8.2 out of 10."

Joe Reeves - IGN.com

"Yourself!Fitness represents a new and innovative direction in the home fitness market. It delivers features that are unmatched by anything else in the home fitness industry. I believe Yourself!Fitness gives women a reason to care about the Xbox® and opens the door to video games in general."

Stephanie Montgomery -
Director of Reebok University

BTW: If you buy the Wii port of My Fitness Coach and want the food menus Ubisoft took out, you can get the 2 links below. This was part of the original 'Yourself!Fitness' program, but was left out of 'My Fitness Coach' for Wii.

http://www.yourselffitness.com/commitment/eat-right.aspx

Just put in your stats, subtract 500 calories a day, and download the appropriate PDF cookbook.

and more here:

http://www.forum.yourselffitness.com/shwmessage.aspx?ForumID=12&MessageID=44140


*** Also, for the week of January 4th-January 10th, 2009, Best Buy has 'My Fitness Coach' on sale for $19.99. ***

A true bargain.

fitness in game console is not thriving with wii fit a proof of it... Wii fit created it....

THough you could claim DDR as an aerobics game I gues.... but Wii fit is only that.

Um, I'm sorry but Wii fit didn't create the genre of "exergaming", it only brought it to the massive Blue Ocean. It was preceded by :

Atari Joyboard (Atari) 1982
Atari Puffer (Atari) 1982
AutoDesk HighCycle 1983
Power Pad (known in Japan as Family Trainer, and in Europe and briefly in the United States as Family Fun Fitness) (NES) 1986
Dance Dance Revolution/DDR (Arcade, PS, Dreamcast, PS2, XBox, GC, 360, Wii) 1998
Cateye Interactive (PS2) 2004
Kilowatt (PS2) 2004
Golf Launchpad (PS2) 2004
Eye Toy Play (PS2) 2005
Yourself Fitness (XBox, PS2 PC) 2005
Bodypad for Fighting Games (PS2) 2005
Nicktoons Movin’ (PS2) 2006
Eye Toy Play 2 (PS2) 2006
Eye Toy Kinetic (PS2) 2006
Wii Fit (Wii) 2007
Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2009 (Wii) 2008
Active Life Outdoor Challenge (Wii 2008)
My Fitness Coach (Wii 2008, port of 2005's Yourself Fitness)
EA's Sports Active (Wii) May 2009

And there are more that I know I'm missing.....

It's quite possible to improve Wii FIT, and I hope EA will finally do some good work.

What's interesting to me is that Nintendo had this experience on a console in 1986 and didn't try again until 2008. The Power Pad sold pretty well, wonder why they waited 22 years?

Notice PS2 had the most fitness games and now gets no credit. There was a local guy all over the news a few years back because he lost 160 poinds with his PS2 and a bunch of Konami DDR games. DDR games locally started selling like crazy, and all the game shops were selling those metal DDR mats. I own Eye Toy's Kinetic and it would have been great had the wide angle lens not caused so many camera issues.

Also notice it took 26 years for an exergame to captivate the market on such a level that a portion of the critical masses can now associate gaming with exercising. Though DDR reached the masses, and a good deal of those sales were for working out, a lot were simply for gaming. More than 99% of Wii fit sales are for fitness, with a few being for the controller to play Shaun White, Skate It, Rayman, etc.  

Interesting thing on Amazon today. I know Amazon is not really reflective of the market, but in overall top video game sales today:

Top Sellers in Video Games

›See more (Updated hourly)

1.

My Fitness Coach by UBI Soft

This is not Wii best sellers, but best sellers overall. I'm actually very surprised, though it does deserve to sell (despite ubisoft's laziness). I wonder how well it's doing in the big picture? I will be shocked if this is not a million seller, though it will take a long time to get there...

The problem of the third parties is that the people don't want 25345345 games of fitness, they want maybe one game, that's all. And the game they will pick is Wii fit, not the EA copy. Because Nintendo has a very good appeal to the market and that Wii fit is the product which is known by everybody.

Trying to make copies of Nintendo games to compete with them are not the best way to sell. That has been proved.

The problem of the third parties is that the people don't want 25345345 games of fitness, they want maybe one game, that's all. And the game they will pick is Wii fit, not the EA copy. Because Nintendo has a very good appeal to the market and that Wii fit is the product which is known by everybody.

Trying to make copies of Nintendo games to compete with them are not the best way to sell. That has been proved.

In this case I think you might be off. No one who has fitness DVD's only has one, they have a variety. This could turn out similar in the long run. Variety in workouts helps keep things fresh.

A good way for Nintendo to keep this expanded market to themselves (and keeping competitors out) would be to make deeper single subject sequels (Wii Fit Yoga, Wii Fit Cardio, etc) and have the results all store together on the Wii Fit channel. These sequels would need to have no load time between exercises, and be able to store or create a nonstop workout experience.

With "My Fitness Coach", you are asked to weigh yourself and enter the weight in, Ubi's port should at least have integrated the balance board to do this (optionally of course), even if they didn't use it for the workout. As it stands now, I weigh myself on the Wii Fit channel and then go into MFC and enter the data. This is completely unnecessary, and if third parties don't figure out how to make a simple easy experience they will fail. If they start to "get it", this could be the beginnings of a big sales for genre of software.