We clubbed together to buy my Dad a Nintendo Wii and the new Wii Fitness Board for his birthday. so naturally I had to have a play.

The board sits on the floor and integrates into the Wii controller system by pressing a sync button. Lots of space around the board is recommended, though. Starting up the game brings you through an introduction and gets you to take an initial fitness test, after which it estimates your "fitness age". The board can show you very accurately where your center of gravity lies, and asks you to shift your weight to move it to the desired area. Most of the exercises involve carrying out actions while keeping your center of gravity within a given zone.

Apart from general fitness, I can see potential for using this theraputically. Being able to show patients where their CoG lies, and help them to correct their posture could possibly help with some spinal and muscular problems.

But while the included game is fun and should help with people's fitness, I really hope there will be other games that make use of it. This could be the perfect system for any activity that is controlled by shifting your weight. The obvious ones are things like snowboarding, skateboarding, surfing and skiing, but I'm sure there are less obvious ones - sumo wressling?

I had a board controller for the Playstation, but it used the movement of the board to press microswitches that replaced the controller buttons. That's not how you steer a snowboard! But this is different. This measures how you shift your weight, so it could give a very accurate simulation. This could be very useful for learners as they could get the feel of the right posture and mivements without the pain of falling on your arse.