Nintendo Wii Review
WLR's John Godsland puts the Nintendo Wii to the test. Can
it really be an effective part of your fitness and exercise
routine and how many calories can you burn?
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Getting Fit with a Computer Game - The Nintendo Wii
By John Godsland
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Is it possible? Can playing video games, the ultimate
pass-time of the couch potato, really help with your fitness?
It seems that this one can.
An Introduction to the Wii
You may have heard of the Nintendo Wii. It’s made headlines
all over the world because it’s just a little bit different from
all other game consoles that came before it. The difference is
in the way you control games.
The Nintendo Wii uses a wireless
motion sensitive controller, called the Wii Remote (or Wii-mote).
This means that rather than holding the controller steady and
using finger and thumb controls you hold the remote in one hand
and move it around to control the action on screen. Whilst at
first this seems rather odd it provides a far more natural way
to control many games and whether you’re a seasoned gamer or an
absolute beginner you’ll pick it up quickly.
What Do You Get in the Box?
As part of the purchase price of the Nintendo Wii console you
get Wii Sports games. This includes five different sports; baseball,
bowling (the ten-pin variety, not crown green), golf, tennis and
boxing. Along with single (against the computer) and multiplayer
versions of the games you also get a training mode, which
includes three different exercises for each sport, and a Wii
Sports Age feature which challenges you to a series of exercises
and, based on your results, reports your “age”.
Wii Exercise
To find out whether a computer game could help with
fitness I concentrated on the sports and training exercises that
had the most potential for burning calories; boxing and tennis.
There are other options such as bowling, baseball and golf and
whilst they are all great fun they aren’t as physically taxing
as boxing and tennis.
My Wii Tennis Workout
Tennis can be played in single player mode against the
computer or with two, three or four players. Although playing
single-player you actually play a game of doubles, controlling
two digital players (or Mii’s as they are known). One of your
players stays close to the net whilst the other roams the
baseline. This allows you to return balls from all parts of the
court. The computer controls your movement across the court –
all you have to do is swing the Wii Remote as if it were a
tennis racquet at the right moment to return the ball.
Although the game is simple in concept a surprising amount of
subtlety is involved with different orientations of the wrist
and altering the power and swing allowing for a wide variety of
shots. As someone who is a fairly weak tennis player the sight
of your Mii charging across the court to catch a surprise
cross-court shot is great fun.
My Wii Boxing Workout
To play boxing you need to connect a second controller, known
as a Nunchuk, to the Wii Remote. This plugs in to the base of
the Wii Remote and is held in the opposite hand from the Wii
Remote.
Bouts Boxing is much like tennis in that it is far more
subtle than it first appears. Whilst your natural tendency when
you first play is to lash out furiously with Wii Remote and
Nunchuk, once you’ve been playing for a little while you get
used to the more subtle angling of the controls and direction of
punching that allows you to perform combos.
It is worth mentioning as well the boxing training exercises.
One in particular, known as “Working the Bag” challenges you to
knock down punchbags in a time limit. It is frantic fun and,
unlike boxing against an opponent, concentrates entirely on
throwing punches and ignoring defence.
Calorie Burning and Fitness Results
I played tennis in single player mode against computer
opponents. Playing for half-an-hour my heart rate monitor showed
that my heart rate didn’t drop below 100 beats per minute (I
average 70 at rest) and I burned 160 calories. This was great
fun.
After the session was finished I felt
like I had had a solid aerobic workout, equivalent to a very
brisk walk of the same duration. I should mention that I was
playing the game single player against reasonably advanced
computer opponents. I was also hitting shots with effort,
deliberately swinging the Wii Remote as hard as possible.
With boxing, I concentrated on the training exercise “Working
the Bag”. In a ten minute session my heart rate monitor showed a
peak heart rate of over 150 beats per minute and that I had
burned 155 calories. I stopped simply because I was tired! The
effect was very much like a boxercise session. Again, much like
tennis, this was swinging both the Wii Remote and Nunchuk as
hard as possible.
Wii or not to Wii - Conclusion
The Nintendo Wii and Wii Sports are definitely great fun but
do they help you exercise? The answer is definitely maybe.
It’s
clear from the results of my simple testing that some of the
games can give you a basic workout. Whilst they aren’t designed
for this purpose they can get your heart rate up and burn a few
calories. However, this does depend on how you play the games
and it is possible to “cheat” and play with minimal movements of
the remotes. Also, none of the games involve you using your legs
although you do need to stand up to play if you don’t want the
person on the sofa next to you to get a face full of Wii Remote!
Overall, whilst a welcome addition to your fitness training
regime the Nintendo Wii cannot replace properly structured
exercise. However, rumours abound that Nintendo have realised
the potential in the Wii and that fitness programmes may well be
on their way. Watch this space.
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