When I first saw Personal Trainer: Walking by Nintendo, it looked like a great idea. You go out for walks, a little pedometer device measures how far you’ve gone, and then it syncs up to your DS to keep a record or create a fitness plan. For the most part, it does what you’d expect, but it really lacks anything to inspire more excercise.
Integration with the Mii Channel on your Wii is really cool and it was a lot of fun to see my Mii show up on my DS. The interaction between the activity monitor and the DS was smooth and impressive. Sadly, the software does very little other than show you the number of steps you’ve taken and graphs it. You don’t even find out the distance traveled in miles or kilometers. And your little guide on the DS never suggests things you should do while walking, but he’ll gladly suggest that you “really try to enjoy everything you eat tomorrow” or “say hello to as many people as possible” among other “mini-goals”. Some of the online stuff is cool, like how it aggregates the total number of steps everyone who uses their Personal Trainer software online has taken. When it really comes down to it, though, this software/hardware combo isn’t worth the MSRP of $50. In the meantime, EA Sports Active is kicking my ass in front of my Wii!