Get outta here, hippie.

"I’ve become more sedentary since losing my last office job"

The HELL you say.

Instead you gained 4 pounds or 14000 calories. Sooooo, take the 2100 plus the 14000 equals you ingesting about 2500 EXTRA each day of the week. An average guy might eat 2000 every day if he's careful, but (apparently) you ate more than double that.

You mean to tell me you were eating 4500 calories every day for a week and you wonder why you aren't losing weight by hopping around in front of a TV??

Reduce stress - methinks the job stuff is why you gained weight.

I suppose I should emphasize that I didn't post the four pound growth bit to sound upset or surprised. Weight gains happen, whether via fluctuation or actual overeating. Perhaps I am outpacing my daily fitness -- Wii Fit plus wandering around town and being active -- by eating too much.

But I could find that out just as well with a weekly or bi-weekly weigh in. What Wii Fit does is encourage a daily weighing obsession, and this thing could really be bad news for kids and other users who haven't had long-term gym memberships, who haven't gotten their diets turned around (and if you're desperate to know, I once had a 25-pound turnaround as a result of a half-year diet/exercise overhaul, so I figure my fitness awareness is decent). If some other kid has the same result as me, Wii Fit doesn't offer tools like daily eating charts to check and track calorie intake, nor does it make a profound suggestion to do so for those who don't see weight loss.

Based on the soreness, heart race boosts and sweating, I don't mind claiming that Wii Fit makes an impact; people have "hopping around in front of a TV" ever since workout VHS tapes, anyway. But if you really want to mock it, there's one thing worse: the kid who doesn't even do THAT much per day because his piece of plastic has taunted him with a daily weight graph.

How does one code an anime Japanese schoolgirl to say "Lay off the beer and hot wings, Bubba" anyway?

BTW I am not mocking it. Describe running or lifting weights: they sound insignificant until you do them.

My point is that biology can indeed be about numbers. Here a calorie is a calorie. And there is just no way you put on even one pound of muscle in one week doing Wii.

Getting in shape should be your goal as other posters (and yourself) have mentioned, but the Wii has no way of measuring your pants size changes or your muscle tone.

I say keep at it.

http://www.rainslick.com/

Doubt it. I've probably already know everything about it, tested it, played it, beat it, beat it twice, etc...

I guess I'm just confused because I don't read music reviews all that much. I was under the impression that you were freelancing to review games, because you're a gamer. Then I found out you only just bought an XBOX, which pretty much eliminates all traits of the above-average (and arguably average) gamer. I didn't mind because the Stranger isn't exactly the right place for it, and you don't write terrible reviews, but now you seem to link to Penny Arcade, and when you don't, all you talk about is the fucking Wii. When you're not talking about the Wii, or linking to Penny Arcade, you're posting just to post that you have (or you're getting) an advanced copy that you'll be reviewing soon and neener-neener-neener.

It's all become slightly irritating. Although I enjoy your posts, it is my duty as a Slogger to give you this shit. You own a Wii, and an XBOX with maybe 3 games (Viva Pinata, Halo 3, GTA 4--if I missed any, doesn't matter). You call yourself a gamer constantly. You are not a gamer. You just happen to play some games and read Penny Arcade.

Three of the games are amusing, but the balance board ultimately limits them. Downhill skiing (and its snowboard variant) forces you not only to lean side to side to steer, but you also adjust speed by leaning forward and backward. Cool use of the board's four-way sensing. But this is a pain to control precisely; lose your footing in the least, or topple too much toward one side, and your race is screwed. Fun in very short bursts, but annoying to shift your weight around for long periods of time. You roll around as a hamster ball in another game, and the other good one sees you shifting a table with your weight to get little marbles to move to the right places. These are slightly more patient with natural imbalances, and they prove the Wii Balance Board is appropriately sensitive, but again, not comfortable to use for long stretches.

What also makes the Board a little weak is that only one will work with a single system; don't expect to get two or three at the same house and race together in future games. Won't work.

I'll accept it when I get around to the box again. And I'm not trying to be hostile, if that's how I'm coming off. It would be nice to see more news outside of the Wii and what Penny Arcade is famously mocking in current gaming industry news. Tell us everything you're doing.

My biggest itch is the Wii, dude. It's like talking about American Idol now.

I'll have a temp tag in threeish weeks, though. E-mail me your gamertag and we can play some Gears.

If you can't see e-mails, ask Amy Kate. She has moi permission to give to you.