WII REVOLUTION A BENEFIT FOR PLAYERS’ HEALTH

Published Feb. 1, 2007 in "The Oklahoma Daily"
Viewable Online Here

Kids play video games. This has been true since video games first came about, 30-some-odd years ago. Systems have come a long way from the monochromatic Pong era to the HD-capable, powerhouse consoles of today that wield more computing power than most computers. Likewise, games have improved from two schizophrenic dots chasing each other to today’s intricately plotted sagas whose graphics quality approaches that of movies or television.

All through this exponential explosion of technology, one thing had remained constant in the world of video games, how the games were played. It involved one to four players sitting, slouching, or at the most, standing with a controller in hand. Pressing the numerous buttons on said controller was the only way to get anything to happen in the course of the game.

All that changed forever on Nov. 19, 2006, the day the Nintendo Wii was released.

More than two months have since passed, which in the world of electronics is tantamount to about 2.1 years, give or take. That means that most of you have played Wii, or at the very least, have touched one.

You know, then, the key to the Wii’s runaway success is its revolutionary approach to game-controlling. The ubiquitous controller is now completely unattached to the console, and most of the functions once only available via buttons have now been replaced by simple motions.

Yes, motion. Just that.

Let’s say you want to, say, return a computer-generated serve in Wii tennis. Gone are the days of pushing one button for backhand and another for forehand. Hold the controller and swing it like a tennis racket, fore or back.

That’s all.

Wowza.

This revolution in gaming aside, the Wii is the opening chapter in a renewed row between gamers and game critics. Of the latter, there has always been a vocal faction. Granted, some of the rhetoric of these critics is ludicrous and just wrong. Video games do not, in fact, poison minds, kill brain cells or cause blindness, as some have claimed.

That said, staring at a screen for long periods of time moving only the fingers and the occasional wrist does not foreshadow glad tidings for one’s body mass index and cholesterol, among other things.

About that, there is no dispute.

This isn’t limited to just video games. People who spend long hours in front of computer screens are equally susceptible. The one crucial difference between these desk jobs and video games is that the holders of the jobs are adults. They’ve had many years to, potentially, live a more active life.

If, the argument goes, kids are exposed to the obvious pleasures of video games from an early age with no cap on playing time, they will develop unhealthy habits and a sedentary lifestyle. This couch-potato syndrome is much harder to shake off during the early years and can cause much more damage to little bodies than bigger ones.

Thus, health proponents of all shades faced off against video gamers and companies for many years. Although this has died down in the last few years due to the sheer popularity of video games, the Wii’s motion-sensitive controllers represent a definitive nail in the coffin of this battle.

That’s because Nintendo has hit the sweet spot between fun-loving kids of all ages and their more health-conscious parents. One has to seriously move around to play most Wii games for any length of time. And while this may not be on the level of, say, the Ironman Triathlon, it’s actually decent exercise.

And miles removed from sitting on a couch pushing buttons.

What prevents people from exercising more is the perception of pain and work. If one finds fun in exercising, it immediately becomes a more desirable activity. So while kids are busy chasing down stray ground shots in Wii tennis or sword-fighting in Zelda, they are actually having fun. That’s what they care about the most, not that they’re burning calories and (somewhat) increasing stamina.

Is this the ideal form of exercise for today’s digital generation of ankle-biters? Pretty darn close.

Granted, not every child has a Wii, and it is still possible to play the Wii sitting down.

But those who fully equate video games with sedentary obesity are steadily running out of steam in their argument. It used to be a tag line of sorts to “stop playing the game and go move around.”

Well, guess what? Now the only way to play the game is to move around.

I have nothing against the proponents of health and healthy practices. Their ideal is admirable. They must, however, be able to reach out to people better than the allure of video games. They were losing this battle already in the past few years.

In the form of the Wii, Nintendo has made sure the health promoters keep losing this battle while paradoxically advancing the very cause they champion. So a whole generation of video-game-loving kids will grow up not only happier, but a little healthier too. All thanks to Nintendo.

Now, if only Sony and Microsoft would get a move on, too.