Nintendo Wii

[Flint]

Originally Posted by Pangloss62

...people are now "doing" all these sports in their livingrooms rather than actually going out, let's say, bowling...

I see your point, regarding people sitting in front of the TV, or playing video games, and then suffering from "health" problems which amount to get-off-your-ass-itis. I don't have a TV signal going into my home, nor have I actually owned a video game console since Turbo Grafx 16 (16 bit), although I do play occasionally on friend's systems. Where you're wrong, in my opinion, to point this out in regards to the Wii.

Consider a few hypothetical groups of people:

#1
Active tennis players. Will they stop playing tennis in favor of a video game?

#2
People who don't currently play tennis, and very unlikely to ever take it up. Does the Wii have any effect on them?

#3
People who don't currently play tennis, but intend to add it to their workout regimen. Will they play a video game instead?

#4
Avid video game players. Up until now, they were on the couch, inactive. Now they are up on their feet, getting a workout.

I call this a net positive effect. A video game console that gets you physically involved in the game. This is a step in the right direction, not a sign of impending doom. Active sports players are not going to stop playing sports, and video gamers are going to start getting a workout. That's all good.

Personal anecdote: My nephew's birthday party was at Putt-Putt, I had a cup of free tokens. After playing the Wii recently, I was disappointed in almost all of the available games, and passed them by. I ended up spending my time on a game that detects real-life motion of a plastic samurai sword, and I worked up a good sweat playing that one. Afterwards, I went to the batting cages and hit some balls. I was reminded of how fun that is, after doing some batting practice on the Wii. That's right: I played baseball on the Wii, and then, because of the Wii, I went out and played baseball in real life. How is that bad?