Wii
Video games have been under the constant scrutiny by people who think that it stops kids from finding more physically demanding forms of entertainment. I’ve known people who have become obsessed with certain games; particularly online games like World of Warcraft and Diablo and Counter Strike. There was even an episode of South Park which made fun of gamers by having the four kids get obsessed with an online game and get fat and dirty and stop caring about anything other than their games. However, the new system by Nintendo, Wii, has started to change some of the negative notions about video games. This system gives the impression of being a more active game system since the player must swing the controller and use physical motions instead of simple button pushing. Also, the main game for Wii is called Wii Sports, which has baseball, boxing, tennis, golf, and bowling. This seems like it would support kids getting into sports. Instead, I think that the time spent playing Wii Sports is actually replacing time they could be outside playing real baseball and other sports. One new game, Wii Fit, is an actual game designed to give the player a workout. There is a pad that senses the player’s weight and can tell when that weight is shifting. The game has many different workouts which require the player to do pushups and yoga and various other workouts on the sensor. This is a tool in helping to get the gaming community more physically fit and providing a fun and competitive way to get a good workout. However it is still stopping the kids from going outside and getting natural workouts with other kids and finding a love for being active. Essentially, I think its way too American to try to exercise indoors to a TV when in reality, its more fun outside of your room anyway!
