My First Experience Moving from Xavix to Wii

Being a software developer yields tons of rewarding side effects. Among them are being able to use a broken website by fixing their javascript, being the first to know that Staples is offering a free pen to the first hundred people that sign up to a list, or simply being able to write more languages then most are able speak. However, today I will be writing about the least rewarding side effect – lack of movement.

Programming websites and iPhone apps means that I sit in from of a computer for most of the day. For years, I’ve been using the Xavix as a way to get in shape when I am not playing hockey, tennis, riding my bike or building my kids playset. Now, the Xavix (the predecessor to the Wii) really served its purpose but Jackie Chan is getting old on me and the company is really not moving so fast with new upgrades that would keep me interested. I’ve made an executive decision to add Wii Fit Plus to my daily workout. Good timing too! Just in time for winter when most coders hibernate.

I felt like a kid opening a Chanukah gift but it was really a Wii I bought used off of ebay. To much delight the system turned on but the parental code was enabled and I wanted to hook this baby to the wifi. Saturday night, I decided to call Nintendo to give me an unlock code. First amazing thing was they had people working on Saturday night. The next was that the guy on the phone asked me if I had an account.  He found a record that looked like me.  I told him that the last system I had was SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) and that I must have been when I was 13. Well, in fact it was me and it was when I was 14. Amazing! I was in shock! A database that found me at a different address, over 20 years later and was able to even realize I was the same person and should have been combined. He updated my account and gave me the code to unlock the Wii. Funny thing is I felt more excited about how the Nintendo rep got everything right then about playing with my Wii. It just goes to show how awful these systems and reps typically are.

Well, anyway, my Wii Fit Plus is coming today and I will follow up with how it compares to my Xavix. I am also looking forward to the EA Sports Active titles that people are raving about. Will let you know.

   Tweet