Wii or Kinect?

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North_Ranger

North_Ranger

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Hello, all.

As you may know, I'm currently undergoing cancer treatment, and as part of it there are times when my white blood cell counts drop to levels comparable to those of an anemic baby bird. Which in turn means that I am confined indoors for days - particularly now when the dreaded autumnal flu season is upon us.

However, I have been looking into purchasing some decent console system with sports games so I could keep up some manner of exercise even when the situation denies me the chance of going out into the world. Particularly I've been looking into getting a Nintendo Wii with some sports games, mostly due to having encountered that before when visiting my niece and nephew.

However, now that the Kinect is out, I hear some pretty decent things being said about it, particularly how it demands more workout compared to the Wii - though I recall there being a Penny Arcade comic where people who play Wii only by shifting their wrist are considered weird. Nonetheless, as a complete and utter console newbie I have little to no first-hand experience or expertise in the matter, so any advice would be good.

In other words, what should I get if I want to play some good exercise games indoors? Wii or Kinect?

And background information:
(1.) I have a decent flat-screen telly.
(2.) I have never owned a console before nor have I ever considered purchasing a console until now.
(3.) I'm horridly techno-illiterate.
 
Bowielee

Bowielee

If you're looking for any sort of variety, I'd go with the Kinect. The Wii catalogue is pretty slim as far as good games go. Nintendo basically does their core franchises and not much else and 3rd party support for the Wii has been less than stellar.
 
strawman

strawman

I've never played the kinect, but only the sports wii games are good for exercise. If you want to play a "game" game that forces you to move, the kinect is likely a better choice.

That said, the wii exercise/sports games are quite good, and you'll get more exercise out of a dedicated exercise game that a regular game that requires the whole body.

The flip side to that is that you're probably going to play a "game" game for longer periods of time than an exercise game so the benefits might be greater with the kinect.
 
Covar

Covar

How big is your space? If you're room is to small you will need to get corrective lenses for the Kinect.
 
fade

fade

Staff member
We had a Wii for about a year. There just aren't enough good games for it. Even my 8 year old son was like "Eh." when we went to the game store. So we sold it to a friend and got a ps3. So many more interesting games. Just one anecdote.
 
doomdragon6

doomdragon6

Staff member
I'll offer a different argument:

If your concern is terrible white blood cell count and you are susceptible to germs, go with Kinect.

Why?

Because you don't have to touch a controller with gurbby dirty germs all over it. :3
 
Zappit

Zappit

Staff member
I'd say Wii - more affordable, lower-impact. If you're getting that worn out, the Kinect might be too much of a strain physically. The Wii Fit Plus stuff would be great for you.
 
SpecialKO

SpecialKO

Second Covar's point about space in front of your TV. The Kinect requires 6-8ft for single-player, or buying the 3rd-party corrective lens with it (which knocks SP down to about 4-6ft).

Both the Wii and the Kinect have issues with available games. There are just not that many games out for the Wii that are useful in the fitness category besides the Wii Sports Games and Wii Fit. The other games are fun, mind you, just not good for fitness besides your wrists.

The Kinect has a lot of fitness oriented games already, and lots of games that have you move your whole body anyways, HOWEVER only a few of them are actually good and responsive to the sensor. The lagtime on many of them is frustratingly slow. I would actually go so far as to say that the only Kinect games I've played without that problem are Dance Central, the Gunstringer, and Kinect Adventures (heard Children of Eden and the official MS sports game are okay in this department too).

That said, Dance Central is probably the best fun & fitness motion game yet released.
 
Fun Size

Fun Size

I have the Kinect, and it is awesomely fun. Any game is a fitness game (I swear I thought I was going to collapse after a vicious round of dance battles in Dance Central 2 yesterday). Also, they have a lens you can buy now that adjust the playable space. I find most games to be reasonably responsive, Wipeout being the exception, and I'm shamefully looking forward to the Disneyland Adventures coming out this month.
 
C

Chibibar

If you have the space, I say go Kinect. No need to worry about touching germs ;)
 
Piotyr

Piotyr

I have a Wii with Wii Sports Resort and Wii Fit, which are both enjoyable (for me) reasons to move around. Many of the other Wii knockoff "exercise" games are really lame, though.

Dance Central for Kinect is also fantastic, though.
 
CrimsonSoul

CrimsonSoul

If you want to work out you would have to get a wii and a wii fit. Or if you went xbox and xbox and the connect and then an xbox fitness game for the connect, it's all in what you want. The wii fit is nice and I've never done a kinect fitness game
 
North_Ranger

North_Ranger

Staff member
Okay, I think based on the data provided I'll go with the Wii. Space is currently at a premium at casa de N_R, so that sounds like my best option. Plus, I kinda dislike dancing games :p Give me golf and bowling and I'll be happy with that ;)
 
Sara_2814

Sara_2814

If you're going with the Wii, the original EA Sports Active is very good. You can either follow their exercise programs, or build your own with whatever exercises you want to do. I didn't like the second one (Sports Active 2), because it was too "gimmicky" to me (they set it in a "resort" and you do all these obstacles courses and stuff). The first one seems to focus more on simple core fitness.

I like Sports Active better than Wii Fit. I think it gives better workouts and is a lot more fun. You also aren't required to have the Wii balance board to use Active. The boxing section in Active is very fun (and a real workout!) and I really like the strength exercises (Active comes with a resistance band). Plus, Wii Fit tends to annoy me because it's too "cutesy" in its scolding/encouragement, whereas in Active you can turn off the trainer's voice when they annoy you. :D
 
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