Nintendo's Wii Fit launch has been marred by reports that the company's new title is calling children "fat."

According to The Daily Mail, a devastated father out of South-East Britain slammed Nintendo after his 10-year-old stepdaughter stepped on the balance board and Wii Fit labeled her as fat. "She is a perfectly healthy, 4-ft., 9" tall ten-year-old who swims, dances and weighs only six stone," he told The Daily Mail. "She is solidly built but not fat. She was devastated to be called fat and we had to work hard to convince her she wasn't."

Naturally, obesity experts everywhere jumped on board, saying that the game gives children a false body image and insisted that Nintendo warn parents that Wii Fit is not intended for kids. Tam Fry of the National Obesity Forum even came out and said that the BMI measurement was misleading. "I'm absolutely aghast that children are being told they are fat," he told the Daily Mail. "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. I would be very concerned if children were using this game and I believe it should carry a warning for parents."

Nintendo rebutted and said it refused to place a warning on the game, but apologized for any offense the game caused. "Nintendo would like to apologize 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," a company representative said. "Wii Fit is still capable of measuring the BMI for people aged between two and 20 but the resulting figures may not be entirely accurate for younger age groups due to varying levels of development."

This past Thursday Nintendo of America suffered a financial blow as it was ordered by the North American courts to pay east Texas gaming company Anascape $21 million dollars for infringing on a patent while designing controllers for the Wii and Gamecube. Although the Wii Remote and Nunchuck were found to be original products, a federal jury voted that the Wii Classic, WaveBird and Gamecube controllers violated the Anascape patent (this was not Anascape's first lawsuit: the company also filed suit with Microsoft over its game controllers as well but a settlement was made long before the trial with Nintendo took place). Charlie Scibetta of Nintendo said that the company is currently seeking an appeal in hopes that the court will significantly reduce the payment.

Last week the NPD Group revealed that Nintendo's Wii emerged as the top-selling console title in April despite the release of Grand Theft Auto IV. Both Mario Kart Wii and Smash Bros. Brawl helped keep the console sales up over the last month, and the upcoming Wii Fit - now mired in controversy - will likely keep the Wii console high on the charts. Previously released in Japan last December and in Europe on April 25, anxious gamers in North America await Wii Fit's release today.

If Wii Fit is calling children fat, then it's likely to call some of us at Tom's Games "Shamu." Stay tuned for an exhaustive review of Wii Fit on Tom's Games.

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