In the most recent "Iwata Asks" article on Wii.com, Iwata interviews Nintendo's legendary designer Shigeru Miyamoto about the inspiration, development, and design of the Wii Fit.
And in an afterthought Miyamoto also added that the Wii Fit isn't supposed to make a person fit. It is merely intended to make people more aware of their bodies.
Hmmm ... probably should have kept that part to yourself, Miyamoto.

Iwata: So you were confident that you could make something interesting because you enjoyed just measuring your weight and collecting the data.
Miyamoto: I thought this project perfectly suited the Wii concept of involving the whole family. That’s why I felt it was my mission to make it into a full-blown product somehow, and went to all the necessary lengths to eliminate the negative elements connected with it. However, just when development got underway, the scale manufacturers we had talks with didn’t show much interest in the idea. We subsequently decided that we’d just have to go ahead and make it ourselves, fully aware that if we just made it like an ordinary scale you could buy anywhere, it’d be just plain boring. That’s when, after a process of trial and error, we settled on the idea of making it so that you could balance on four points: front, back, left and right, and this in turn lead us to the idea that we could also use it as an interface for a game. While we were busy working on that, the Wii Balance Board gradually took a form that was more than just an ordinary scale.

Iwata: Well then, please give us your traditional message to our customers.
Miyamoto: When you’re playing with a controller, if you’re struggling you might say that it’s because the game is difficult, but with physical activities like Wii Fit, you would tend to think that the fault rests with you and not with the software if you can’t do it. But at least you’d be left with the satisfaction that comes from performing physical activity. Because of this satisfaction, you’d want to try it one more time. You’d feel like doing things, such as just standing on one leg are good for you. And when you manage to pull it off properly, you’ll feel a new sense of accomplishment.

Miyamoto: I forgot to mention something important earlier: I don’t think Wii Fit’s purpose is to make you fit; what it’s actually aiming to do is make you aware of your body. That’s why we wanted people to talk with their families about Wii Fit, and become aware of these things together as a group. If you’re standing still, and it tells you "Your body is swaying", you can see on the training results screen that your body has been shaking. But I think you’d never realize that your body is shaking in day-to-day life. I think becoming aware of things like this about yourself is quite interesting.

Miss Razz via us.wii.com »