There is no doubt that the BMI system is outdated and is incorrect, needless to say Nintendo didn't think anything of it and used it as a tool in it's game Wii-fit. Sadly the said game has been picked up for calling children fat which is a serious problem as it may educe eating problems within kids.

Thankfully Nintendo has seen the problem and has taken the chance to apologise to it's offended customers:

"The BMI classifications featured within Wii Fit are universal, standard measurements widely used within the medical and fitness profession. We have used BMI and its associated terminology as the in-game measurement in Wii Fit as it is a widely recognised indicator of a healthy weight range since it measures a player's weight, scaled to their height." .."As such it is the best available generic measurement that can assess a player's progress whilst using Wii Fit. The different classifications applied in Wii Fit are those used officially with BMI."

"As stated in the Wii Fit manual, BMI is essentially a measure of body fat, based on an adult height and weight. Wii Fit is still capable of measuring the BMI for people aged between 2 and 20 BUT the resulting figures may not be entirely accurate for younger age groups due to varying levels of development.
"The BMI results will differ depending on an individual's stage of development. People with more muscle mass than normal will also have a higher BMI rating due to the heavy weight of muscle tissue, so the resulting figures should be used for reference purposes only.
"We appreciate that some players might want to keep their in-game assessment details private. Users playing Wii Fit have the option to hide their on screen weight so it will not be seen when playing in a group environment. In addition, if users prefer to play Wii Fit in a group environment, but do not wish their BMI rating to be viewed, they
can choose to play the Wii Fit activities as a GUEST without having to participate in the weighing and BMI measuring process."Update Ends.

"BMI is far from perfect but with children it simply should not be used," he added. "A child's BMI can change every month and it is perfectly possible for a child to be stocky, yet still very fit."

It look like Nintendo does truly care however many claim this is just a sheet over the issue so they don't get sued either way the perfectly healthy teen who was called fat can enjoy the apology and understand where the game is wrong.


Enjoy:

Submitted by MB0742 17/05/2008 2176 30

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Source URL:

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=189128

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