Wii workouts unlikely to improve fitness Trying to keep your nippers in trim with a Nintendo Wii workout may be pointless. Research suggests motion-controlled videogame systems do very little to help kids fulfill their daily exercise requirements. The study, conducted by a team from the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, saw 78 children handed Wii consoles …
A waste of time and money research. I could have told them there's a big difference between playing Wii bowling, baseball and tennis (providing your style is get up off the floor), than sitting at the desk playing COD with a mouse.
"motion-controlled videogame systems do very little to help kids fulfill their daily exercise requirements"
Who said they did 'fulfill' those requirements?
A walk in the park doesnt fulfill those requirements, but Im sure the medical team would agree it is a healther option than sitting on the sofa twiddling thumbs.
Having had seriously sore muscles after more intense bouts of skiing on Wii Fit and being genuinely tired after long playing sessions on pretty much any of my games, i think it's safe to say that it's a workout. Perhaps not as much as kids would need, but surely not "nothing".
Is there a competition to see who can draw conclusions from useless data?
"The research team said they were unsure whether such games actually required less energy than expected to play - or if the kids were simply compensating for exercise they received on the Wii with periods of inactivity during the day.
Either way, the study concludes that there is no evidence to suggest motion-based videogame systems improve fitness."
I read that as saying the researchers did not separate the actual time playing the games and comparing that, but then claim that there is no difference between the two types of game.
Maybe they should have also checked which sports the kids were playing, as you can do very little movement with archery, but, boxing certainly lets you work off some energy. It's surprising just how bloodthirsty 5-year-olds can be.
Not normal someone who has much good to say about Kinect, but I think that system would do a better job of giving some fitness benefits, due to it watching for full body motions..
It is too early to tell whether motion control systems in general do not give any fitness benefits. Just looking at the first system on the market is not really enough to reach this conclusion. At least Kinect watches you to makes sure you are actually doing the proper motion with your whole body. Unlike Wii and PS3 controllers which you can fooled with approximations of the motion, like flicks etc.
Do the study on Kinect and then I will be impressed if you find no evidence of any fitness benifit...
Make the damned Wii controller wireless.
Attach rubber cords/bungee cords to the feet or foot plates and the controllers or harnesses or wrist attachments. Maybe kinect and Wii, making WE CONNECT happen will increase calorie burn and improve muscle tone, making it easier to later on do PE at school or sports elsewhere.
Somebody flag this as a prior art statement into various IP and patent databases, please! I don't expect royalties, but I also do not expect the idea to be hijacked for the gatekeeping control of a single company.
My brother and I bought our mother a Wii and Fit (one of us bought the console, the other the pad and games) a while ago. She was very keen on some of the "exercises", including the simulated jogging .. less so after I beat her high score while sitting in the recliner, since waving the controller in an obscene-looking gesture is enough to satisfy the game.
It does give you a figure for how many calories it thinks you're burning each time, though, and the figures are low enough I doubt it's over-estimating. "Woo, I burned off 7 calories in those 5 minutes of jumping! That's enough for ... oh. A crisp. Sod this, I need a pint."
Overall exercise levels are a function of the individual's choice (and, in the case of children, parental encouragement).
An equivalent to this research would be to conclude that it's not worth kids taking up karate (with a small footnote explaining that the ones who do don't spend so much time playing football).
I haven't used a Wii in years and have no idea if it's any good as an exercise tool, but as is often the case I come away from this research none the wiser on the question asked but with yet another data point confirming that if you ask a stupid question then your years of research will lead to a stupid answer.
You can stick the Wii in the shed, along with the slendertone, the magic trainers, the trampette and whatever other ridiculous gadgets you wasted your money on, so you could "work out" without having to put your Big Mac down or look away from the Jeremy Kyle show.
Best fall back on the old "It's my metabolism" line.
The research team said they were unsure whether such games actually required less energy than expected to play - or if the kids were simply compensating for exercise they received on the Wii with periods of inactivity during the day.
or more susinctly "we collected some data, not enough to be meaningful"
Personally I believe the Wii improves fitness, never got out of breath playing a PC game...
None of the Wii ones seem to be accurate, I try properly and get beaten by a small child not doing it properly. Definately not impressed by Wii sports.
The balance board does seem to work but is boring, but I'd rather go for a walk than watch cartoony graphics around an island.
The one game which does exercise and can't fool is sports champions on PS3 - that does tire you, and small children cannot get away with mad flicking, however again I think I would prefer a walk.
The one motion game I play a lot (well over 200 hours) has made no difference to my weight, but then I just sit down with fore arms supported and shoot a lot.
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