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Michael Torchia: Saving Fatties From Nintendo And Themselves

Feb 10, 2009
By Patrick.
Gaming, Law, Television

Is self-described fitness guru Michael Torchia, who has announced plans to file a class action lawsuit against Nintendo over the alleged dangers of the Wii Fit, on a mission to protect fat people from injury?  Or is he just trying to extort a few bucks from a competitor?

You be the judge.

Torchia feels Nintendo is misrepresenting their Wii games as a replacement for sensible exercise and sports activities. He believes that Nintendo needs to issue a warning that these games are intended for entertainment and not to replace actual physical activity. Through slick advertising campaigns and product placements on popular television shows, children and adults are being brainwashed that Wii games are safe and effective ways to become physically fit.

“On the contrary, Nintendo is contributing to the epidemic of obesity. Young and old are putting away their gym clothes and shying away from going outdoors to play sports, because the addictive appeal to the Wii game products. Just as the tobacco companies created such a false image of their products and hid the potential dangers, so is Nintendo,” says Torchia.

Torchia feels not only that the Wii Fit’s alleged health-dispensing qualities are overrated, but that the Wii itself is a positive menace, citing an unsourced statistic that “up to ten people a week” are hospitalized due to inappropriate Wii exertions.  And he’s retained counsel to sue Nintendo, on behalf of all who have suffered damages, or perhaps just failed to lose weight, due to its nefarious marketing.

But leaving aside Torchia’s hysterical comparison of Nintendo to R. J. Reynolds, and the economic losses he may have sustained as a result of Wii Fit’s astonishing popularity, would removing the Wii from shelves in fact make overweight Americans safer, or is this just another Vitamin Water suit? Has anyone actually been deceived? And does Torchia honestly believe that people who would use a videogame for exercise will turn to personal fitness trainers and jogging, if only the WiiMote is removed from their chubby fingers?

Or will they just play Xbox instead?

Last 5 posts by Patrick

7 Comments
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7 Comments

  1. Brian Dunbar  •  Feb 10, 2009 @9:17 am

    I think Wii Fit is a hook to keep the Wii in the living room. Where the parents will pick up a Wii game and play it, instead of leaving it to be a child’s toy.

    I use it – or have been using it for the past month – as a goad to do something in the morning more active than getting out of bed and trudging to work.

    Screw the fit guru. The guy sees a future where his job is automated out of existence.

  2. Mark  •  Feb 10, 2009 @11:07 am

    Hold on a second, here. On the one hand the guy is suing because the Wii is insufficient to “replace actual physical activity,” but on the other he is claiming that “up to ten people a week” are hospitalized due to inappropriate Wii exertions.” So which is it? Does the Wii encourage under-exercising or over-exercising?

  3. Roxanne  •  Feb 10, 2009 @5:01 pm

    Isn’t anyone else reading the full release? He isn’t saying he is making money off this lawsuit, he is saying that he wants them to take it off the shelves until they put proper warnings on the box and give better instructions. Good for him! I only wish I had thought of this first!!

  4. Patrick  •  Feb 10, 2009 @5:07 pm

    Roxanne, yes, I read the full press release. What of it? Is a press release binding in court, or to his attorneys, who will expect to be paid from an award or settlement against Nintendo?

    Why do you wish you’d thought of it first, by the way? Were you injured by a Wii Fit? If so, how did you injure yourself through a videogame? If your weight is your concern, it’s not too late to start running.

  5. Clint  •  Feb 10, 2009 @9:35 pm

    Do you know how many ankle and leg injuries result from running? Easily several dozen per week! I’m not running until my feet come with proper warnings and instructions on them.

  6. Tracy Bowersox  •  Feb 13, 2009 @7:00 am

    Our warning-crazy society has to stop. The game in no way discouraging more physical activity. It rewards you for it. The game tells you go outside and get involved in other activities. How clearer do you want it? A sticker that says “no replacement for physical activity” would be ridiculous because, frankly it IS physical activity. It’s perfectly valid. Also, we just need to shy away from our warning-label crazy tendencies. Clint made the best argument for that. Anybody claiming that the Wii is “addictive” has lost all credibility in that one statement. It’s no more addictive than a good show or a pretty flower or anything else you enjoy. There is no medical addiction involved. The man is an ignorant, whiny, blowhard who sees the end of his profession is at hand. It’s called technology.

  7. vigg  •  Feb 14, 2009 @12:46 pm

    michael torchia is the biggest douchebag ever for suing nintendo over something that is true, (getting off your butt will make you lose weight).

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