Nintendo apologises for fat verdicts

Nintendo has apologised for offending people with its Wii Fit product, after the software came under increased criticism for dubbing certain children as "fat".

The problems first came to light when one father said his ten-year-old daughter was "devastated" when the game labelled her fat, despite the fact she was, apparently, "perfectly healthy".

"She is solidly built, but not fat," said the unnamed parent. Tam Fry, a spokesperson from the National Obesity Forum, said the Body Mass Index (BMI) used in the game was inaccurate for children and should not be used.

"I'm absolutely aghast that children are being told they are fat," Mr Fry said. "BMI is far from perfect but with children it simply should not be used."

"A child's BMI can change every month and it is perfectly possible for a child to be stocky, yet still very fit."

Fry called upon Nintendo to include warnings with the software: "I would be very concerned if children were using this game and I believe it should carry a warning for parents."

Nintendo, however, has said it will not place warnings on the game, but concedes the physical assessment on younger players may not always be as accurate.

"Wii Fit is still capable of measuring the BMI for people aged between two and 20," conceded a Nintendo representative, "but the resulting figures may not be entirely accurate for younger age groups due to varying levels of development.

"Nintendo would like to apologise to any customers offended by the in-game terminology used to classify a player's current BMI status, as part of the BMI measurement system integrated into Wii Fit."