Back in October, I blogged about a Big Idea I’ll Never Implement:  A Wii Health Club.  I envisioned it as a place that an individual or group could go to to exercise using a Nintendo Wii system.  It turns out that someone else had the same big idea.  Only they implemented it.  It’s in the Phillipines and I doubt that they got the idea from reading my blog (no lifetime membership for me, I guess ), but it’s still pretty cool.

From http://www.channeljayreviews.co.uk/2008/01/11/the-first-nintendo-wii-fitness-cafe/ :

FriiSpirit Fitness and Fun café, however, takes this aerobic activity to the next level. Founded by four friends on Katipunan road, the café’s unassuming façade better resembles a small restaurant hideaway than a fitness center. Once inside, the décor is reminiscent of a high-end techno lounge, with plush custom-made pink beanbag sofas and flat-screen televisions everywhere.

The café intends to gather groups of families or friends and have them sweat it out in a Wii-induced frenzy. The place is large enough to hold up to 50 people comfortably, even those who are swinging their limbs about frenetically in time to the games projected on the screens.

So if you’re in the Phillipines, you might want to burn off some extra weight by visiting the Wii-Fitness club.

On a related front, I’m really excited about a new “game” coming for the Wii.  I put game in quotes because it’s more of an entire exercise program than a simple game.  It’s called WiiFit.  The game sells for about $75US in Japan right now.  (US release date is rumored to be in May.)  It includes a balance board peripheral that can sense how your weight is distributed.  This means that balancing on the board differently sends different signals to the game.  For example, one of the mini-games involves tilting a platform to roll marbles into holes.  As you shift your weight on the screen, the platform tilts and the marbles roll.  Tilt just right and the marbles plunk down the holes.

They don’t stop at some fun mini-games, though.  There are 15 different Yoga exercises and 15 “traditional” exercises (push ups, squat thrusts, etc) to do.  Your weight and BMI get tracked and graphed for you with the overall goal of improving your health/losing weight.  The folks at WiiFolder.com have some demonstration videos (using the Japanese version of the game).  I’m definitely going to try to get this once it hits the shelves in the US.  “Try” being the operative word.  I have a feeling that this will quickly sell out and will be hard to come by for awhile.