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Walk With Me DS Review

18/06/2009 Family Domestic Gamer Review
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Walk With Me DS

Walk With Me

Format:
DS

Genre:
Improvement

Buy/Support:
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Walk with me is the new incentive from Nintendo to get us off the couch and up on our feet. The game kits you out with a clever little activity meter which intelligently beams all your day's walking activities back to your DS. More than just walking though, the game aims to chart your 'life rhythms' and displays patterns of activity showing whether your most active times are the morning, daytime or evening.

The game seems to be aimed at fairly sedentary people with the default step count set at a modest 3,000. As a busy mum of three, I set mine to 6,000 steps and had reached my goal by lunchtime!

I have been really impressed by the accuracy of the little activity meter. When you press the button to wirelessly beam your information back the DS you get a detailed graph of all your day's movements, with periods of active walking (more than 10 minuets) and inactive periods highlighted.

You can select certain time frames to look at in more detail too. I love that I can see the 15 minutes I walked to town and then the 10 minutes standing still in the post office queue. Then the spike of activity at the 9am and 3pm school runs. Oh and the long period of inactivity where I changed from my jeans into a skirt and left my activity meter in my jeans pocket! It's quite fascinating to see how my day looks in this format.

I love that I can see the 15 minutes I walked to town and then the 10 minutes standing still in the post office queue.

You get two activity meters with your game so I gave the other one to my husband. He has a fairly sedentary office job so I was not surprised to see that his step count for the day was a mere 1,500. When I compare this to my average daily count of about 8,000 steps I realise that with three small children I am always on my feet - no wonder I am always worn out! My DS has now started telling me to make sure I take a break from time to time, so maybe I'm a bit too active for this game. Not that I have done anything more energetic than walk to town.

My other half said we should plant one in my daughter's pocket. I'd be interested to see how many steps a 6 year old takes during the average school day. On that note you can even attach your activity meter onto your dog - not sure why you would need to see doggy activity, but there is an option during the registration process - are you human or dog?! I knew dogs were intelligent but I didn't know they could use DS's!

Much better than a pedometer which just gives you a step count, the fact that this shows you so much detail about your activity levels is very clever.

During the registration process you have the option of importing your Mii from the Wii channel - great idea of Nintendo to get their various bits of kit talking to each other. I tried to do mine, but after waiting a few minutes realised that the Wii downstairs was unplugged. I just created a new Mii - there all the same options as you find on your Wii, just don't get too distracted choosing your eyebrows and hair colour, or you may never get any walking done!

You can also play with your data showing how far you have walked round the world and how much electricity you have generated with your thousands of steps. Oh and not forgetting that if everyone in the family has a activity meter you can all register on the same DS and compare results - compete even!

I really like this little gadget, mostly because it's really easy and quick to use and check your data for the day and really accurate. Much better than a pedometer which just gives you a step count, the fact that this shows you so much detail about your activity levels is very clever. I think this is great for anyone who doesn't realise how inactive they are (like my husband) and it will hopefully give them a big kick up the backside to get out and do more exercise!

Written by Josie Campbell

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Josie Campbell writes the Domestic Gamer column.

"As quite a domesticated mum of three I love the thought that Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS lite and PSP games can have a practical role around the home and enriching everyday life but also fun to chill out and unwind with too. Here are my Domestic Gamer review, join me to read about all sorts of games, from cooking, health, and family ones too."

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