The good guys at the British Journal of Sports Medicine have kindly taken the time to investigate how effective the hugely popular Nintendo Wii actually is for calorie expenditure. The new “Wii Fit” has also become hugely popular, marketed as a way to stay in shape and be healthy.
They used six boys and girls (13-15 years old) and had them play 15 minute bouts of Wii bowling, tennis and boxing while testing the energy expenditure. They then tested them playing the Xbox 360 – hopefully playing Call of Duty 4, because it’s awesome – and noted that active gaming burns more than 50% more calories.
So, will playing Wii get you ripped? No, don’t be silly. It only equates to an extra 60kcals burned per hour, so you’d probably need to quit your job and play for hours on end to compare it to going for a jog or lifting weights. That said, and as confirmed by the researchers, this is positive behaviour compared to sedentary gaming, and is certainly a step in the right direction given the current prevalence of childhood obesity and poor health.
Although what ever happened to parents making their kids go outside to get some fresh air?
Lee Graves, Gareth Stratton, N D Ridgers, N T Cable. Energy expenditure in adolescents playing new generation computer games. British Journal of Sports Medicine 2008;42:592-594
Matt Cahill has worked extensively in the nutritional supplement field, and is the former CEO of Designer Supplements. During his time in the field has researched and developed prohormones, testosterone boosters, and other related compounds, both for his own company and others. 
hah a lot of of the observations readers make are kinda silly, on occasion i ponder whether they in fact read the content articles and content before writing or if perhaps they only look at the title of the article and come up with the first thing that comes to mind. in any case, it is actually enjoyable to read intelligent commentary every now and then compared to the identical, old oppinion vomit which i typically discover on the web