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Wii game tells girl, 10, she's fat
Mark Prigg, Science Correspondent16 May 2008
Obesity experts today slammed Nintendo after its Wii Fit game told a 10-year-old girl she was fat.
They fear the game could damage children's body image and called on the company to warn parents it is not suitable for their offspring.
The £69 game, which sold out within hours when it went on sale in Britain last month, uses an electronic "balance board" to monitor a player's weight.
Once the player has entered their height, the game uses BMI, a measure of body fat based on an adult's height and weight, to calculate their level of obesity, placing them in categories such as "underweight" and "fat".
Players can then be guided through yoga exercises or play games to improve their balance.
However, a father from the South-East spoke today of the embarrassment when his stepdaughter played the game and was labelled fat.
"She is a perfectly healthy, 4ft 9in tall 10-year-old who swims, dances and weighs only six stone," said the father, who did not want to be named for fear of embarrassing the girl further.
"She is solidly built but not fat. She was devastated to be called fat and we had to work hard to convince her she isn't.
"I know it is just a game but we already have to worry about young girls starving themselves to look like magazine models and now we have a game that tells them they're fat. This to me is very worrying."
Tam Fry of the National Obesity Forum called for children to be banned from playing the game, claiming the BMI measurement was misleading.
"I'm absolutely aghast that children are being told they are fat," he said. "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 said today it would not be placing a warning on the game.
A spokesman said: "Nintendo would like to apologise 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."
