Expert Says Children Should Be Banned From Wii Fit

[Spindel]

Nintendo: Expert Says Children Should Be Banned From Wii Fit

Remember the little girl that Wii Fit called fat? Sure you do! Now, at least one expert is calling Nintendo out on using BMI to judge whether younger players are overweight or not. Tam Fry of the National Obesity Forum is even calling for kiddos to be banned from Wii Fit. According to Fry:

I'm absolutely aghast that children are being told they are fat... BMI is far from perfect but with children it simply should not be used... A child's BMI can change every month and it is perfectly possible for a child to be stocky, yet still very fit... I would be very concerned if children were using this game and I believe it should carry a warning for parents.

Nintendo's response after the jump:

Nintendo would like to apologize to any customers offended by the in-game terminology used to classify a player's current BMI status, as part of the BMI measurement system integrated into Wii Fit.
Wii Fit is still capable of measuring the BMI for people aged between two and 20 but the resulting figures may not be entirely accurate for younger age groups due to varying levels of development.

Or...

...you shouldn't tell a fat kid that he/she isn't fat

[boffo]

I'm absolutely aghast that children are being told they are fat.

I take it that Tam Fry has never entered a public school ever before. If fat is the worst thing they are being called, they're doing pretty well for themselves.

[E6600]

Experts should be banned from saying anything.

[BCA]

Give the kid GTA IV

[Ark]

...don't schools and doctors do the same thing in certain occasions, checking bmi's and all that

[iconoclast]

BMI is a ridiculous measure for individual people. It doesn't take into account muscle vs. fat breakdown or pretty much anything else in terms of actual body composition. Oh yeah, plus it's actually not a "mass" index anyway, since it's based on weight, which can change depending on where in the world you are. Then again, it's a just video game....people don't think they're real geniuses because they're great at brain age right??? (I hope not)

[SAMaine]

BMI is a horrid system, but can you think of a better system that could be used on a game console? No? Then why should Nintendo. Also, they use 'overweight', not 'fat'.

[tr1p1ea]

Exactly.

Nowhere does Nintendo proclaim your BMI to be a completely accurate assessment of your health. And anyone who thinks the game actually tells people they're 'fat' have obviously never played it.