Gorgeous Walk It Out scenery

I'm done with the whole island!

Total steps: 561957
Total distance: 160 miles
Total play time: 78:26
Rainbows completed: 71

There's one new rainbow every day! 

At the end, basically NOTHING happens. 
I got a shot of what the trainer says. 

And that's it!  Luckily the play is the point.  If we had been doing all this trying to achieve some goal at the end, we would be very underwhelmed.

That's okay, I restarted a new profile at once.  I'm doing the whole thing over again, but this time on Easy instead of Normal capsule value.  It's actually very motivating! 

Here's a couple of early morning views from my new island.

Note, why the Suspension Bridge shows up at 2000-- I clicked it accidentally, and didn't want to buy it. The value on Easy level is only 300 steps. I had to switch to Very Hard level for just a minute until I could walk over to find some other capsules and knock that one out of my queue before completing it!

WIO Diary

Such is my addiction to marching around the island to peppy music, clicking on things to make them appear, that I really don't even care that I'm getting some exercise.  But it's already had benefit, I feel more active and it's noticeable that I'm able to move better.  Otherwise I wouldn't get much exercise at all... I mean, in Washington in winter, when my job is cleaning the house and reading with kids?

I told the kids I'd lost five pounds.

Mike said, "How do you know?"

I said, "There's a magic mirror in the bathroom.  I say, 'Mirror, mirror on the floor, how much do I weigh this morning?' and it tells me!"

He said, "That doesn't even rhyme!"

WIO Diary: Windmills

I told Ed I had just walked two and a half miles.
He said, “You did not walk two and a half miles!  You didn’t even make it off your little rug!”

Hahaha.

Here's my little rug, isn't it pretty?  Got it at Home Depot for $12.  It has thick stress-resistant padding.  Didn't even notice until after buying that it was MADE IN USA.  Cool.

I suppose I didn't build these windmills either?
Look how cool.  You have to get some distance to even see how tall they are.  Yay, now my island has wind power to keep all these lights on!

Taking pictures of TV with digital camera sometimes makes the colors look strange…

Here's Dave's island at five in the afternoon. There's different light for different times of day on the island, and morning and evening are so beautiful.

Another day I did three and a half miles to nowhere. I have every single song, constellation, and clock piece except for the 12 noon ones. The island is only 23% built though. Lots more to go!

I built some "luxury houses" and was startled to find it a 900 sq ft bungalow on a postage-stamp lot. Culture difference, right?  Like American workers who go to Japan and stay in housing "the size of a bathroom" and start to go bonkers. It's a matter of perspective!
I was also surprised when I built the hotel, and couldn’t see the top from where I was standing. In my world a hotel is three stories, max. 

Walk It Out

So now, at least three people are going to buy it based on my say-so! I'm especially glad because more sales means more chance of a WIO2!

Last night I was riding in the car in the dark along a winding country road, and two road signs came up and when I first got a glimpse of them as glowing blobs on the landscape, my brain said, "I think one of those event capsules is a clock piece! Get it!"

They were not event capsules of course, they were road signs, and just because the WIO music is going in my head, doesn't mean this is not reality :-)

Which when I explained to the kids they had a good laugh about. You know you're addicted when...

Anyway to those of you who want more detailed technical information before / because of purchasing here's a wonderful guide a lady wrote out:

http://www.amazon.com/Unofficial-guide-Step-ongoing-process/forum/Fx3D6Y0C9JV7D8O/Tx37KE7PXPWBWTP/1/ref=cm_cd_dp_ef_tft_tp?_encoding=UTF8&asin=B002CZ7P04&store=videogames

At the bottom of the page is a listing of more discussions.  So there's the answer to pretty much every question!  But the game starts off very basic, it's easy to do a few things right away, and figure it out as you go along.  I thought it was very funny when DH the other day, after watching what I was doing for a while, burst out in accusing tones, "You're just playing that dumb game!  The rest is peripheral!"

Yes.  

This is his idea of what a workout should be.  

He has no respect for a "workout" that consists of jogging along with a game controller in each hand. Whatever. I end up sweating and I don't mind doing it every day; it's got to be better for me than just sitting in front of my computer bitching about stuff. 

I don't even mind if my game and I provide him as much amusement as the game does me, which says something about how much I'm enjoying it, because usually my mockery tolerance level is sub-basement... but I get so into my dumb game that I don't even care who's laughing at me! 

Here's the famous map.

See the words "Waterfront" and "Upscale"?  If you draw a line between the o and the U, the line passes through a slightly darker blob just above the road.  That's where the church is.  The lot where the church will be built has a short cast-iron fence around it, I'm pretty sure it's the only fence like that in the game.

The map is one of my favorite parts of the game!  I love maps, and it's great fun to take a look at the map each morning to see where the rainbow pieces are, and then try to go around and get them all without having to look at the map again.  

Oh, just found this: no word yet on WIO2.

I hope the medical / therapy community is paying attention to this game! This would be EXACTLY what bedridden, injured, or very old people should have for therapy.  There's several really slow songs.  Some are just too slow for me; I can't walk any more slowly than "Love Will Be Waiting" or "How Do You Sleep" and I've turned all the slower ones off, but someone doing therapy could.  And in this game practically any rhythmic movement can be sensed by the game as "walking" and let you get through it so it's very adaptable to anybody's needs, and the bright, inviting world to explore would tempt them to try.  You could even lie in bed and shake the controller in your hand.  I saw a thing about an 800 lb lady who couldn't manage any more exercise at first than clapping, but that's how she got started and was her first step on the path to recovery.  I hope medical magazines are having articles and reviews of this so therapists will get it for their patients??

The Church on Rhythm Island

There's a church to build on Walk It Out!  Isn't it pretty!  The people appeared along with the church, and there's a wedding going on. 

The kids noticed that the pastor has blue hair.  Not grey!  Sure enough, there he is with his Bible and blue hair. 

If you happen to be near the church in the silence between song tracks, you can hear bells!

The church is right across the street from a burger joint.  I built that next.  How very convenient!  If you're snackish after the service or if you've forgetten to bring anything for the potluck…

When I changed the time to ten pm so I could go around collecting constellations, I noticed they'd even gotten that detail right-- the burger place was still brightly lit up and the church was dark!

Using willpower to NOT exercise

Walk It Out! is so much fun!  It's easy to walk for an hour and a half because you lose track of time and get into it.  They were (fiendishly??) clever to not have a timer anywhere in the game!  The idea is to lose track of time and just jog along collecting points and building the island.  It's happened several times that I still think I'm having fun, and then suddenly realize I'm so tired I can barely take another step.  That's when it's time to stop.  I've been walking twice a day, but I'm going to have to reduce that to once; I had been getting away with "just a little while before I go to bed, it'll help me sleep better!" during this four-day Thanksgiving weekend but now that we're back to regular schedule I just can't spare that much time.  So I'll have to be content with just walking once a day...
Imagine what a reversal!  Now we're using willpower to NOT exercise! 
Rhythm Island is so gorgeous at night, too.  If you turn on the program at eight pm, it's dark, the streetlamps are lit and the stars are out!  But luckily, there's a "magic clock" that changes the time, so you can walk at night anytime. 
It's the perfect world.  I wonder if some of its seduction is that it's an idealized fantasy land, peaceful and free, where you can go anywhere you want, and be safe at any time of day or night. 
The Japanese who made it were kind enough to include a church in the plan!  I've found the church, but haven't bought it yet.  I've heard that there's a wedding going on  :-) 
The island has a sports stadium, apartments, housing area, shopping area, ranches with farmhouses, flower fields and a mountain path, lighthouse, beach with shops, and a church-- no city hall, no courthouse, no school, no police station, no bar!  I think that's just about everything we need.  Let's all move to that island!!! 
Well, at least we can visit. 
Addendum, I got the church, and took pictures.  I'll put those on the other blog  :-)

Walk It Out for Wii - what a fun way to exercise!

People from dark rainy Washington, like me, you have GOT to check out this game! Imagine a sunny, gorgeous island to explore, as you walk along in time to cheerful music, collecting tokens to build up stuff all around and unlock more paths.
I tried Wii Sports Resort, it's cute and everything, but feels like a waste of time, and I didn't end up playing. I've investigated the dancing programs but I knew they wouldn't motivate me. I'm not into dancing. But I LOVE walking along exploring! I love maps!
I read the reviews on this, and it just sounded so totally me that I plopped the $30. The game came two days ago and I'm not disappointed, I already know I'm going to love this.
The kids have been playing nonstop, taking turns. Mike walked seven miles yesterday and five miles this morning. Thank goodness there's six profile slots or somebody in this family would be out of luck!
(Ed doesn't want a slot, he already walks 500 miles at work :-)
Me, I can barely go a mile before I'm pooped, but when I stop, it's from sheer tiredness and NOT from boredom. It takes willpower to go twenty minutes staring into space on a treadmill, but playing this game, I have to stop because I can't take another step! And then I hate stopping, because I was having a BLAST!
(Note, I think the game calculates mileage a little short-- if you go by the actual number of steps, you've gone further than that :-)
I didn't realize I was so out of shape! But I feel so cheered and inspired by the prospect of having this game to play every day, that I can't wait to play some more and GET in shape so I can jog around longer and see more of the island every day.
I just now stopped and took a moment to type this. I'll try again a bit later, as soon as I can, because it's just SO FUN!!!
I wondered if walking in place would get boring. It doesn't! Sometimes you can march in place, but for the faster songs you have to speed up. I found I can only go fast enough by jogging in place. As I get more used to it, I'll be able to keep up better! So it is great exercise!
Some people say they use a mini-trampoline, and I think that would work fine. Being overweight and out of shape (right now, soon to change!) I get knee pain easily. So I might try that, or get one of those padded mats they sell for standing in front of the kitchen sink.

Here's the video review that convinced me to get it! Among other things they let you know that you can turn off songs if you don't like them. You will NOT get stuck with some horrible rap song! Most of the songs are okay though, just very upbeat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbvP2I1nh8s

Another great review,
http://www.nutwiisystem.com/blog/review-of-walk-it-out-for-wii-by-konami.html

And more videos:
http://www.konami.com/walkitout

I want to do my little bit to publicize the game, because it's not very well known right now, but it should be! More people should know about this, especially older people! Forget shooting, solving puzzles, competing at games. Here you just walk, and the people wave at you as you go by! So it's calming and soothing, at the same time lifts your spirits and you get a great workout!