Wii Fit pad similar to 25-year-old Atari accessory

by John Bardinelli on Jul 17th 2007 12:28PM

While the mainstream press gets ready to crown Nintendo the innovator of fresh new gaming technology, Water Cooler Games points out the Wii Fit balance pad isn't as revolutionary as some may think. Way back in 1982 (yes, the same year Michael Jackson unleashed Thriller), Persuasive Games released a balance board accessory for the Atari VCS called the Joyboard. Only one game supported the peripheral: a ski jumping title called Mogul Maniac, and the technology wasn't nearly as advanced as the Wii Fit pad. The idea was there, however, Nintendo just came along with its magic touch and made it ten times better.

[Thanks, Vlad]

Source

Tags: atari, exercise, exergaming, joyboard, nintendo, persuasive, technology, wii, wiifit

Reader Comments (74)

The original must've really sucked for the WiiFit Pad to be 10x better and still be only marginally interesting to the hardcore gamer.

Have you been sleeping for the last 5 years or just stupid? Nintendo ditched aiming for hardcore gamers only ages ago. Thus, we don't care.

It doesn't have to appeal to hardcore gamers. The DS did fine without appealing to hardcore gamers. Nintendo sells more "training" games on the DS than Sony sells hardcore games on the PSP. Fitness equipment is a billion dollar industry, and Nintendo has the potential to sell more copies of WiiFit than Sony will sell of Killzone 2.

Nintendo needs to keep pumping out 'em peripherals to keep the hype machine going. They somehow convinced people that $20 was a good price for a piece of plastic that you can attach to your wiimote... (ie. the Zapper).

Word.

I love Nintendo but that zapper truly is a royal piece of shit.

Don't forget the steering wheel. That was another winner right there....

Ahem, don't forget the Super Scope, Konga Bongos, Mario Party Mic, and (of course) R.O.B....not to mention all of the overhyped/underdelivered GBA/GC connectivity. That is, I will be genuinely surprised if this peripheral is used for more than 1 or 2 games throughout the console's lifetime. Given Nintendo's track record, I'm not holding my breath.

ok baby sea tuna, you may be right about most of it, but the donkey konga bongos were freaking awesome. Donkey Kong Jungle Beat is one of the greatest games of last generation

I'm not saying I didn't HAVE the bongos (2 sets,) I'm just saying I didn't get my money's worth out of them since there was only 2 decent games out there for them (I don't count DK2. You know your music game sucks when the best song is Losing My Religion.)

But yeah, you're right Jungle Beat was the shit.

here we go again

Boo if you want, you know they're right.

It's pretty easy to be ten times better 30 years later.

Honestly, this is how it is with Nitendo most of the time. They rarely invent completely new ideas, they just seem to have the magic touch with timing and execution.

Not that I'm disagreeing with you, but to single out Nintendo as not having new ideas is misleading. The Xbox and Playstation weren't particularly new ideas either.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say that very few companies in any industry truly make new things. It's almost always taking old ideas and just improving upon them.

That said, the Wii Fit pad seems like a really bad idea. Nintendo should focus on the controller that we're all still iffy about.

@Anam

Yes, I agree with that. I just mentioned Nintendo since that was what the article is about. MS and Sony are the same way. Most innovations brought to the console market have been used elsewhere first. Sometimes even in the console market (like this one). Nintendo just has a knack for doing it at the right time and really selling it to the public.

But I do agree about the WiiFit. I just don't see it being a big success. I can see the potential for use in games (think snowboarding and the like), but it's hard to convince developers to create games for peripherals that only a fraction of the userbase owns. In order for this to succeed Nintendo themselves is going to have to create some great content that gets the Wii fanbase to buy it in large numbers and then you might see 3rd parties using it a meaningful way.

ZOMG! Joystiq is hating on the Wii again...how original!

What bullshit. First off that Atari piece of crap is black. The WiiFit thing is White. The design is completely different. The USE for each of them is different.

You've already mentioned that the technology is different.

So really I don't get how this is news...or even worthy of being an article. Is it just to give the sony trolls something to latch onto since they're system's creaters are continuing to shit all over them?

It must suck to know that Nintendo is the kind of innovation while all sony can do is imitate at best.

"First off that Atari piece of crap is black. The WiiFit thing is White. The design is completely different."

That made my day.

LOl I'm glad man...

But seriously you have to point out the obvious to some of these guys.

The way they're going on and on about it you'd think Nintendo looked at that Atari thing and copied limb from limb....

But thats clearly not the case...lol.

Looks like another post that will fade into irrelevance.

omg nintendo git sum ideas off youre own four once i sware their always coping other people first it was the nes n the 80s ware do u think they got that idea yep atari and now their doing it agin

I think you should get some grammar. And a spell check to boot.

Looks like someone desperately needs some English lessons.

looks more like a couple of people need some sarcasm lessons.

and the gold star goes to faceless for making abject fools out of Yami and Blizz. +1

Television sets have been around since the 30s. I guess these new HDTV, flat-panel displays are overpriced, outdated pieces of tech because they are ONLY evolutions of designs that have been around since the Golden Age.

Therefore, the Wii Fit pad must be outdated tech because its an evolution of something that came out decades ago.

Yes, we know. Should we also talk about how all console have stolen from the second generation of consoles (improved graphics, gameplay), the PS3 steals from the XBOX (online), the 360 and Wii steal from the N64 (rumble), the PS3 steals from the Wii (motion), the Wii steals from PC periphs (motion), the 360 steals from the PC (online), etc etc?

There are rarely any NEW ideas, just more or less execution and better or worse timing on the development of those ideas. Nintendo never said any of the Wii was NEW but a new way of using the tech.

Thing is, I have a feeling the Wii board is going to get more attention from developers, even if it is only supported by a dozen games. SquareEnix is already talking about incorporating it into a new game.

You're right, it'll get a lot of attention. But not from developers. It'll get publicity on morning news shows and daytime television shows for soccer moms and trophy wives.

If Square-Enix puts WiiFit mini-games in the next Final Fantasy, I will be not even slightly more interested in it than I am already.

They were talking about using it as an additional input device for the main game. Not every Wii game needs minigames.

And who is going to want to stand during a JRPG? :D

I am surprised people don't look beyond Wii Fit to the possibilities for this thing. I can imagine all sorts of new cross-genre games. Picture a skateboarding FPS where you use board to control movement (steering/speed/etc) the Wii-mote for shooting, and the nunchuck for things secondary controls (tricks/weapon selection/etc). I'm going to take a wait and see on this thing, but it really can be huge if the developers decide to take advantage of it.

I still don't have a game that uses the console's primary controller to its full potential...are we thinking everything is going to change just because the WiiFit arrived?

The problem is that its an add-on and a gimmicky one at that esp. since it pushes the weight loss angle. And, Nintendo should focus on making a REAL FPS for Wii, with good controls FIRST .. before they start messing with FPS with WiiBoard controls as well.

And, given that plastic snap-ons like the Zapper and WiiWiil cost $20.. how much do you think this'll cost? $80-100?

Konny likes to pretend that Metroid Prime 3 doesn't exist, and he likes to conveniently forget that all first-party accessories made by any of the competing console manufacturers are and will be overpriced.

The existence of a good FPS on the Wii is yet to exist. Will MP3 change that? Maybe...but we don't know that yet, do we?

Unless the game, which should be finished by now if it is to be released next month, changes drastically from what is mentioned in all the glowing reports we've been hearing about it, I think it is a very, very, VERY safe assumption to make.

I thought CoD3 was a good FPS. It wasn't a very compellling game (on any system), but it made good use of the Wiimote, especially since you could tweak the hell out of the controls to make them very mouse-like. And Elebits was fun... yeah, it was fun. Not a great game, but it did a somewhat adequate job of using the Wiimote.

Konny: "The problem is that its an add-on and a gimmicky one at that esp. since it pushes the weight loss angle."

Yeah, weight loss is a gimmick.

lol.. weight loss is the biggest gimmick in the world.. its a billion dollar industry that Nintendo is trying to cash in on.

Did you see the E3 press conference.. it looked like a late night infomercial.. Shiggy totally looked out of place pitching the WiiFit as a gaming platform.

Anyways, i still say $80-100 for the board.. and an extra WiiFit games for $50.

So, not only do nintendo produce consoles that are indestructable and print/beam money, they also have a magic touch? Whats next, omni-presence?

Absolutely.

They're not omni-present, you still can't find one anywhere in the country! :P

I'll go ahead and be the one to say it: the WiiFit pad is just two Joyboards duct taped together.

Well I had already claimed that the Wiifit board was just 2 scales duct-tapped together...so -1 internets for you.

Yes Jody, here we go again.

Go on Wiiboys, keep telling yourself that Nintendo cares about the gamer. Yes you get the same franchises over and over and yes they are good sequels.

But something new...for you, the gamer? Ha ha, uh, NO.

Nintendo knows that the short term money (the next year or so) is with the soccer moms of the world.

Gods I cannot believe REAL gamers keep falling for this Krap.

J. Jonah Jamison says That's crap, crap, crap, crap, and more crap....you're fired!!!!

When legions of gamers get excited about the imminent releases of MarioKart Wii, Mario Galaxy, Mario Strikers, and MP3, what will your response be to their expectedly impressive sales? I'm sorry, buddy, but a few wry comments aren't enough to diffuse Nintendo's recent success. If WiiFit fails, it won't make many waves. But if it succeeds, it'll succeed big and we'll all be eating crow.

The original Atari board accessory was not released by Persuasive Games, as this post implies. Persuasive Games is the title of a new book by Ian Bogost, whose blog Water Cooler Games was the original source for this story.

They need to make it so you can use the balance board as gas/brake pedals for Mario Kart and other racing games.

im going to have a hard time paying for this game, along with gh3, rockband, metroid 3, ssbb, mario galaxy, fifa 08, madden 08....

at least my wii will get the dust brushed off it's accumulated from months of non-play

I don't understand why people are surprised. Nintendo made controllers that use the natural motion of your hands and arms... what's the next logical, possible step? Utilizing the feet and legs. They have stopped caring about games so much, and instead are focusing on people... if that makes sense.

It did come out of nowhere, but at the same time it's not hard to see where it came from.

I think at this point it should be clear to anyone with intelligence that innovation has nothing to do with being new. It has everything to do with taking an idea to the mass market that they have not yet seen. That's why you see these $5000 Wiimote-like pointers that work with Quake 2, but the Wiimote is still innovative, because it is the first time the public really has a chance to use it.

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Wii Fit pad similar to 25-year-old Atari accessory

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Posted: Jul 17th 2007 12:33PM Stevorino said

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