Want to buy a Wii, but am absolutely clueless

I've heard they are really good, but I am a complete techno-peasant with regards any gaming stuff. I've never even held a play station or anything like that.
Could anyone tell me what I should know, what to ask for, what to avoid... anything really.

Short sentences in words of 2 syllables or less very gratefully received.

 

I've heard they are really good, but I am a complete techno-peasant with regards any gaming stuff. I've never even held a play station or anything like that.
Could anyone tell me what I should know, what to ask for, what to avoid... anything really.

Short sentences in words of 2 syllables or less very gratefully received.

 

I bought a wii with the fit board thingie. I've since found out that to lose weight and keep fit I actually need to do the exercises, what a swiz!!

 

A wii is a wii! If you want to do wiifit you need to buy the wiifit board and game - you can either get packages, or buy them seperately.
It isn't great for people who are used to exercise - its fun and nice as a weight tracker but I found it really hard to be challenged on it and it takes any age to burn a decent amount of calories. Its good for light exercise with a bit of fun though.
I only ever played on my wii as a console when I had a group of friends round - wii party is a great game for groups of people. Its not really a console for playing games alone - if thats what you want, get an xbox!

 

Sorry to jump in here - I've been tempted by the idea of teh Wii fit, but I hear that kinect is also very good for fitness.

Has anyone had the chance to compare them?

 

Wii's are great fun!
I've got one, and got my parents and my in-laws Wii's for Christmas.
They are very simple to use, and even my technophobe parents have mastered it! We also have an x-box and a PS3 in the house and I can't deal with them - the remotes have too many buttons and just confuse me!
The Wii Fit is quite good. No use if you really like your exercise, but if you're looking to do a bit of light movement, then it's great - that's exactly why it was bought for both sets of parents! My mum has even attempted the step-aerobics whilst watching eastenders! They were also bought sit on bum games, but they haven't been out of the box yet - too much enjoyment from sports and fit!
With regards to packages, in a basic one, usually you will get the console, the sensor, a remote and a nunchuck, plus a few games. If you get the wii fit package, then you obviously get the wii balance board in addition to the above.
You would probably want to buy an extra remote (with motion plus) as I've only ever seen packages with one remote. For some of the games, another nunchuck (for 2 player games) would also be advantageous, but not necessary.
Amazon had some great offers before Christmas - that's where I got mine from.


As for the kinect, I'm not sure about it. Have had a go at the demo in a shop and I didn't find it very responsive to my movements (football game - didn't register what foot I was kicking with). I like the idea of no remote, but I wasn't overly impressed with my experience. Hope others can be more positive about it!

 

I wouldn't bother with the wii now and would get a kinect instead.
The wii fit board is ok, but as others have said, it isn't good enough for exercise really. Obviously if you go from never moving to the sofa to suddenly hula hooping on it then yes you may notice a small difference at first but for active people it has very little impact.
Remotes are expensive and you will need more than one to be able to play most of the games. Was very unimpressed when we had a look at the latest monopoly on wii and you need 4 controllers to be able to play it!

 

If you are interested in fitness on the wii then EA activ is much much better than wii fit.

 

I have asked my OH to borrow EA Active from work for the Xbox360.
The Kinect is a lot better in the home environment as there is only you there and the sensor can easily spot you standing there rather than trying to spot you in a crowd of people in a shop.
Dance Central is good for raising the heartbeat.
I did try the Wii fit board once but I soon lost interest in it!

 

I definitely improved my fitness using EA Active on the Wii. It was a pain having to strap the controller to your leg though so Kinect would be a lot better. I am hoping that Wii will bring out an equivalent in the not too distant future.

 

We have the Kinect and love it. Despite having a small front room it works.
You don't have to buy special exercise games as the game that came with it had me jumping,ducking all over the place. No remote is a huge bonus.

 

We love our wii


From wii fit and activ to monopoly and mariokart ... We rock on band and guitar hero


Personally I think the wii is a great family games console

 

You will be able to get everything together - I think I paid just over £220 for mine. They assured me in the shop that setting it up was dead easy and it was - I did it all on my own. I have bought the things to put under the board to make step exercises harder, they were cheap and work well. I would thoroughly recommend it, it makes me howl most times I do it. I am sure if you are serious about getting fit there are other things which would work better. ~I must say though that it has been used a hundred times more in my house than the exercise bike and cross-trainer. I don't think it is the same as the gym at all but it is great fun for home.

 

I just got Epic Mickey for Wii. Fabulous game! x

 

I played on the Kinect at a friends house yesterday, and didnt find it that incredible.
The adventures game that comes with it is amusing for 5 minutes because of the novelty of not using a remote, but after that I got bored quite quickly - there doesnt seem that many games to be honest.
I also played on the Your Shape game (I think thats what its called?) which was alot better. Id be tempted to buy it for that but dont want to spend nearly £200 effectively just for a fitness game. I know what im like and the novelty of these type of things always wears off on me quite quickly. If youve got children or other family members that will play on it I guess its different.

 

Depends what you want to use the wii for really. I have wii, playstation3 and xbox360 (becuase i'm a gaming geek!) and the wii is definitely the most simple to use.


It also has a very wide range of games for whatever you fancy. These games can either be played by the Wii remotes will you have probably seen on the adverts but they also have a control pad for other games like the xbox and playstation.


If it is the active gaming side you're interested in then i definitely think the xbox kinect is a lot better. If you've tried it on a demo in the shop it doesn't seem that great but when playing at home it's a lot more responsive. For the kinect there are a games just for fitness but also games that get you on your feet just for fun too. The other advantage of the xbox is that there are lots of games for use with both the contol pad and the kinect. You will probably also get an xbox quite cheap now that the new one has come out. The old style xbox does work with the new kinect.


Hope that's all made sense, have fun gaming!

 

thanks to everyone's advice and information. We are just a 2 X 2 family, so anything that can make my beer belly wobble more than it usually does is a good thing.
We just bought the usual starter kit and are having great fun.

 

I assume you have kids? I find it great <u>family</u> fun, we can get involved if we wish or just watch the competition. We borrowed mariokarts from a friend and had a lot of fun with that. The sports are silly (my kids like to find the "gaps" and faults in the programmes).

 

There's a hole on the golf where if you hit it into the right part of the trees a naked wii man will jump out and flash you.

 

Not worth buying a wii to get fit, unless you currently move less than a slug. Shouldn't be allowed to be a sold as such, in my opinion. It's a bit like claiming Silk Cut Ultra Lights won't give you cancer.