Which games console for the wife's exercise regime?

Wife want's a Wii Fit for xmas!

Now I work with leading/bleeding edge business IT systems, and don't really wanna think about technology when I get home, so I'm a bit of a technophobe at home and know nothing about gadgets, and I'm not a gamer.

Friends have an Xbox with a sensor thingy that detects their movements wirelessly, and the kids play dance games and the figure on the screen dances as they dance. What's this called and would it be better than Wii Fit? Does it have adult exercise games as well as kiddies dance games.

It would also be used for some kiddies games by my 4 year old son, and I guess I could be persuaded into the odd first person shoot 'em up or driving game. I used to enjoy Half Life on the PC.

I've also heard of people using their consoles as a Blu Ray, this would be of interest too as I've recently bought a Panasonic 42" plasma 3D TV, and was looking at Panasonic 3D Blu Ray 5.1 cinema systems.

Primarily though, it's her xmas present, with little time to go to the gym these days, she wants to exercise at home. Wii Fit has been around a couple of years. Is there something better?

[muzikill]

Xbox kinect with ufc fitness? You can buy a 3d bluray player for under 100 quid now.

Originally Posted by muzikill

Xbox kinect with ufc fitness?

That's the one, is that better than a Wii Fit? Does Wii Fit still need you to hold a wired controller in your hand?

Wifit is cheaper though I think Col, the dedicated games and balance board also weighs you.

[SIII]

Xbox + kinects.

The big advantage for both small children and women is you don't have to hold anything. the sensor thingy does it all. In the dance / excercise games, the camera sees arms, legs, hands,heads - everything! Not just your hands, or your waist if clipped on.

I'm not that keen, but my daughters love kinectimals (6 year old) and dancing (11 year old).

Bloody good excercise as well, have had a go at adventure game and was bloody knackered after 1/2 hour jumping around.

Plus side is motoGP on xbox is an excellent bike game

Originally Posted by specialone

Wifit is cheaper though I think Col, the dedicated games and balance board also weighs you.

Just noticing that on Google shopping, but if it saves us buying a Blu Ray player...

Does the Wii play Blu Ray and have HDMI?

What about games? The last time I looked at Nintendo stuff (maybe 15 yrs ago) they had just bought out hand held consoles that you could play Mario and cartoon sh!t like that on. If I'm going to buy one, I'd rather get something that will be good for Euan and maybe keep me amused from time to time. Do you get 'proper' games on Nintendo?

[SIII]

The best 'proper games are on Xbox and PS3, wii/nintendo games are a bit chidish!
If you fancy a really good (bike or car) racer or shooter game the wii is definitely not the system to go for.

My missus uses EA active 2 on the PS3. It comes with 2 sensors, one which straps to your upper left arm and one which straps to your upper right leg to sense movements. The arm one also monitors your heart rate and a stretchy thing to aid in some of the exercises. The game has a pretty darn good exercise management system and plenty of extras are available to download. It gets the missus sweaty which in turn gets me sweaty...win win!

Also PS3 is just as much a multi-media tool as a games machine being bluray and 3D compatible, online TV etc etc. Plus...its better looking than the xbox so doesnt look too ghey in your front room.

[maviczap]

Originally Posted by specialone

Wifit is cheaper though I think Col, the dedicated games and balance board also weighs you.

Yep, I bought EA active for the Wii, for £12 incl HR monitor.

Problem with all Wii games is the controllers aren't that sensitive, and can make game play bloody frustrating.

If XBox has a blu ray option I'd go for that and I'm thinking about buying an X Box.

Wii screen definition isn't as good as X Box or PS3, looks a bit naff and there isn't an HDMi output from the Wii

Perhaps Wii version 2 which must be imminent will have on-board blu ray & HD drive & HDMi output

[pookie]

xbox 360 runs on dvd dual layer format they also had the now defunct hd dvd external drive. PS3 is blu ray with 3d capability.

Wii fit is great as it monitors weight and balance. Great for yoga and posture. I never lost any weight using wii fit and not sure I know any one who has or willing to own up even using it.