Wii have lift off.

Fiona's sister was the happy recipient of a Nintendo Wii for her 24th birthday last week, and the two of them have been going crazy over it in the time since. Being an addict of racing games and racing games only, I've struggled to find it within me to even look at the Wii. I know it's a somewhat revolutionary concept - and I think that's great - but without the sheer power of the PlayStation 3 or the Xbox 360, I couldn't see how I'm really going to get any great kick out of whatever racing games the Wii may offer up. Consequently, I didn't bother to try it out.

Hot damn, that was a mistake. I tried it this morning, and it's a hoot. That's right, a hoot. The Wii Sports package that comes with the system is simply phenomenal. It has its drawbacks (the movement sensors aren't as accurate as they could be, which can be very frustrating), but all said, it's just great.

For actual fun, Golf has been great, as has Baseball (though it seems all I'm good at is striking out, or hitting foul balls). I'm yet to try Bowling, though I imagine that'll be sweet. Tennis was a bit of a letdown, but I'll give it another try soon.

The real winner though? Boxing. Damn, what a workout. Maybe I'm just a lot more unfit than I thought (a very, very strong possibility), but I was working up a sweat in no time. I found myself getting very frustrated at the sensor's inability to follow my movements properly - often throwing the wrong arm on the screen, or not responding to my punching movements at all - but that was quickly forgotten whenever I managed to land a series of punches in a row, leaving me excited and pumped for more. If anything, the lack of accurate responses from the sensor
merely served to force me to punch twice as often to land all the hits that I needed to land, which in the end resulted in an even heavier workout.

I guess shadow boxing - which is all this essentially is - is no substitute for a punching bag (or a person, if you're actually into competitive boxing), but it definitely classes as a good cardiac workout in my opinion.

If only there was something that would make use of my legs, I could cut back on the actual jogging!

Alright, maybe not. The Wii is no replacement for genuine exercise, but it's definitely a productive way to enjoy yourself and get a good workout all at the same time.

Edit: I've just discovered there's a Fitness Mode. Now we're talking.