GDC '08: Miyamoto's scale spawned Wii Fit

SAN FRANCISCO--Wii Fit--the upcoming Wii game that comes with its own balance board and a set of exercises--has already been a massive hit in Japan, with Nintendo finally confirming that the title would reach US shores on May 19 and Europe on April 25. Apparently, health-conscious gamers have none other than Nintendo icon Shigeru Miyamoto to thank for the upcoming game--or more specifically, Miyamoto's quirky habit of having fun when weighing himself.

In an enlightening speech at GDC yesterday, the game's peripheral developer Takao Sawano took the audience through the history of Wii Fit's balance board and unveiled that plans for a Wii-based fitness game was thought up very early in the console's development and not as a reaction to the success of other titles, such as Wii Sports. He showed a slide of what was apparently Miyamoto's early concepts for the Wii, which dictated that some sort of health game was a requirement for the upcoming console.

"At the time, Mr. Miyamoto said that he has fun just weighing himself and collecting his weight data, so this idea is bound to lead to something interesting," Sawano, speaking through an interpreter, said. "He wanted to incorporate that ritual of weighing himself into a Wii game."

Sawano said despite Miyamoto's enthusiasm, the team had doubts about the viability of the project. "There's something Mr. Miyamoto says to staff members with a weakened outlook on their projects. And that is developers must always approach their projects with the belief that they are selling a million seller. Otherwise, the end result will be something that's average at best," he said.

Sawano also unveiled many other tidbits about the development of the balance board. For example, the concept of having several weight sensors on the balance board apparently came to Sawano after he noticed that sumo wrestlers have to weigh themselves on two separate scales because of their large weight. This gave him the idea of initially having two sensors, which could detect left and right movement, with the final product having four in total, which can detect forward and back motions as well. Also, this very new piece of Nintendo technology apparently has some old tech in it. Specifically, Nintendo has used the same type of rotary encoders found in Nintendo 64 controllers in the new balance boards.

Sawano also unveiled the latest Japanese sales figures for Wii Fit. As of last weekend, the game had sold more than 1.4 million units in Nintendo's home country.