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Casual Core: Fitness Freaks
Welcome back to Casual Core, the place where we explore the world of gaming from the eyes of a casual hardcore gamer. This month, we take a look at the Wii Fit phenomenon.
Date: Monday, October 20, 2008
Author: Danielle Riendeau

The thing is…I’m actually a little curious myself. Could it be - a real, actual fitness tool, and one that could result in real actual weight loss or increased muscle tone? Man, that would be fantastic – better than fantastic. I don’t care if the graphics look like a bad N64 game, or if the trainer looks like she has cankles – I want to compete with my friends in a game that’ll have real-life results. And I want to kick their asses.

In reality, Fitness Ultimatum is probably a cheesy cash-in, but hey, it could be an important step on the road to an exercise revolution. I still think a really great fitness game – one that is genuinely fun to play and yields real fitness results – is the holy grail of gaming. I mean, if I had my way, the next Halo or Call of Duty would be based on actual stamina, fitness and aiming ability – like, all players would be on a treadmill with a motion controller in hand, like an actual badass space marine/soldier/hero. Think about it: the nation’s weight problem – solved! Gamers will be the new hard-bodied hunks and hotties. (There is something incredibly scary about this notion...- ed)

Ok, so maybe you’re rolling your eyes right now. Maybe you’re not into the whole “hey, you got your physical activity in my gaming!” thing. And that’s cool – I don’t judge. You won’t find a fat sweaty gamer dude stereotype in this column. However, I have to say that I hope Wii Fit, as lame as it is, will start one of the coolest, most socially responsible fads in the history of gaming. As a casual core gamer, fitness freak, and red-blooded, media-savvy American woman, that’s something I’d be more than happy to see. If not, well, I guess we’ll always have workout mode in Dance Dance Revolution.

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