Nintendo Wii

We Ski for the Nintendo Wii is a skiing game (I version with skiing and snowboarding is coming out in March 2009, I think).  I rented it mostly because it is a Wii balance board compatible game and I thought it would be fun to do something besides Wii Fit with the balance board.  The controls (at least when you use the balance board) are not too hard to get used to with you mostly leaning right and left to stear.  It does sometimes get confusing and the responsiveness of the turns and such can be frustrating.  However, being a game released around the same time as the balance board came out for places outside of Japan it is some what understandable that it jumped the gun at trying to be a balance board compatible game and did not really develop the integration fully.

The game certainly can be interesting with you skiing around and doing different challenges, but it really leaves a lot to be desired.  The graphics are kind of blah.  Sure I usually do not care too much about graphics, but I do when there is not anything to look at and all you are doing is standing there leaning left and right going down a path.  Basically the graphic quality is something that I could care less about and actually is not even that bad for this game.  This particular type of game really needs more interesting environments to make it not get boring so quickly.  It seems a rather slow and relaxing paced game for the most part and without interesting graphics that aspect of it becomes boring.  There are some more fast paced racing and beat the clock challenges, but for the most part you are still moving rather slowly on the paths.

Overall I would not really even recommend this as a rent worthy game.  I do think the new version coming out next month has potential, but I certainly do not expect it to really impress me.  For now the short ski aspects of Wii Fit are much more enertaining and in the right amount of shortness to not make it boring.

Since I got Wii Fit about two weeks ago I have been interested in what other games I can play now that I have the balance board. Some of the games do not sound that interesting to me, but other sound like a lot of fun. Below is the list of games out as of today, November 21, 2008, that are compatible with the Balance Board.

All Star Cheer Squad - This is a cheerleading game. It does not sound fun to me, but I can admit to it seeming like the kind of game that needs the balance board to make any sense.

Jillian Michaels’ Fitness Ultimatum 2009 - This is another fitness game. It has an interesting two player mode, but other than that it does not sound all that interesting in my opinion.

Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party - This is supposed to have some interesting balance board mini games.

Shaun White Snowboarding Road Trip - This is a snowboarding game.

Skate City Heroes - This is a skateboarding game.

Skate It! - This is another skateboarding game.

We Ski - This is a skiing game.

Wii Music - This music game uses the balance board as a drum pedal.