Wii Sports no substitute for actual exercise

Although we've seen some interesting uses of the Wii for rehab and exercise -- and even seen some positive results -- a new study says that so-called "active" gaming is really no more active than simply sitting around. The research -- funded by Nintendo's UK marketing division, ironically enough -- compared the calories burned by five gamers playing Wii Sports Boxing, Tennis, and Bowling to the calories burned by the same group simply sitting around playing Project Gotham 3 on the 360. Although Wii Sports definitely burned more calories, it wasn't very significant: an increase of "less than two percent," according to the report. Of course, that doesn't mean that other active games like DDR or even a vigorous Rock Band drumming sesh won't burn more calories -- so don't give up your gaming-fitness dreams just yet.

[Via Ars Technica; Image courtesy of Nick Cueva]

[CharlieX @ Dec 21st 2007 8:38PM]

No, this is easy: you play Wii sports and drink "lite" beer.

[Flashpoint @ Dec 22nd 2007 10:31AM]

No matter what you do, activity creates caloric loss. that is a simple fact. Of course, you can't expect to play Wii Sports for any normal amount of time and expect to "shed pounds" right away. The games are not heavily cardiovascular.

DDR games are better for exersise because on BASIC mode, they really force you to move around. In 30 minutes of play, you'd be sweating bullets.

I don't think that regular excrcise is as good as game exersize because game exercise makes it more fun and keeps you doing it longer than exersise with complete freedom and minimal goals.

[vince @ Dec 21st 2007 8:58PM]

but...but...but...now there is Wii Fitness. So, it's all better, right.

[Bernhard @ Dec 21st 2007 9:00PM]

I guess its still better than me sitting in front of the computer everyday...

[xboxbuff @ Dec 21st 2007 9:09PM]

lol, Wii sports just makes you tired, not slim

[illVill @ Dec 21st 2007 9:10PM]

They try to make me go to Wiihab an' I say noooo no no

[skulldriveshaft @ Dec 22nd 2007 1:44AM]

applause from Amy Wiihouse LOL

[Aisorik @ Dec 21st 2007 9:12PM]

If people want to get healthier, they should drop the controller and just do actual exercise. Fifteen minutes a day (in addition to a decent diet) is enough to keep you fit.

[Bobs @ Dec 21st 2007 9:14PM]

I dont rember what it was called, but its like a stepper, and its spring loaded, and you connect your PS2 controller to it, and it to your PS2, and the longer you keep steping, the longer your controller continues to work. slow down too slow, or stop completly, and your controller stops working

[Duo @ Dec 21st 2007 10:11PM]

Obviously they didn't check out Wii Fit.

[VeganFreak @ Dec 21st 2007 10:21PM]

rofl you probably burn like a million calories in DDR. I used to play a lot and it slimmed me down to pure muscle. i gotta get back into that good stuff.

[DarkLightConnection @ Dec 22nd 2007 12:15AM]

Yes, no one can tell me that dancing videogames are not a substitute for actual exercise...

In my case it was Pump it Up, not DDR, but anyway, before becoming addicted to the beat, I was all fat and in an awful condition... now I'm really, really fit and can beat you any day :-) (or run away from you for that matter)

[VG @ Dec 21st 2007 10:55PM]

safd

[joegibes @ Dec 21st 2007 11:07PM]

Playing the drums in Rock Band is a pretty good workout; it's much more strenuous than Wii Sports.

[chris @ Dec 22nd 2007 11:11AM]

Yeah, this is a load of lazy bs. It appears to try to imply that the "exercise" from actively using the Wii is negligible. As Own V showed, even basic math shows that consistent use of the active games at the expressed low percentage increase of calories burned could lead to a minimum of 1 pound loss per month. Doesn't sound like a lot, but it's more likely a pound that will stay off.

I don't buy the numbers though. 2% sounds low. SITTING for an hour for a 175 pound person would burn 84 cals. The same person walking for an hour at 4mph could burn 410 cals. A heated match of Wii tennis and boxing I'd bet does at least that much. Someone's research involved some weak a$$ players... or bean-poles who don't have any body mass to move and therefore create caloric burns.

[deslock @ Dec 21st 2007 11:30PM]

Did you guys RTFA? The 2% difference was not for the Project Gotham 3 vs Wii Sports, but rather for a person's total overall energy consumption over a week. Playing Wii Sports actually burns 60% more energy:

# For Project Gotham Racing 3, the mean energy expenditure was 125.5 kJ/kg/min.
# For Wii Sports bowling, it was 190.6 kJ/kg/min.
# For Wii Sports boxing, it was 198.1 kJ/kg/min.
# For Wii Sports tennis, it was 202.5 kJ/kg/min.

It wasn't clear in the article how many hours of play would result in a 2% increase (maybe it corresponds to 1 hour/week?) but either way your write-up is way off.

[skulldriveshaft @ Dec 22nd 2007 1:48AM]

Nilay is lazy - what else is new?

I would be really surprised if playing gotham 3 was only "2%" less than actually standing up and shadow boxing.

Or is it the intensity of the button mashing?

They should have also recorded the number of wins and losses over games played :]

[Owen V @ Dec 22nd 2007 3:10AM]

if the statistic is a 2% increase in weekly calories burned, thats way more significant than what this article implies.
Using purely hypothetical numbers, and assuming food intake is the same, this would mean that someone who has a weekly intake of 10,000 Calories and neither loses nor gains weight would use 10,000 Calories a week, but if he/she played wii sports his calories burned would increase to 10,200 and he would slowly (the healthy way) lose weight.

its kind of like how a company that is making money could have a 3% increase in sales that would correspond to a 10% increase in profits. The numbers on the margin can have a larger affect than they appear to

[Haxxy @ Dec 21st 2007 11:31PM]

Wii Fit doesn't seem too helpful, honestly. Especially after watching the "Wii Fit Parody" on Youtube.

[Galley @ Dec 21st 2007 11:35PM]

I played my brother-in-law's Wii at Thanksgiving and was surprised how lame the controls were. You could play Wii Sports by doing nothing more than flicking your wrist.

[Reader @ Dec 22nd 2007 12:46AM]

Yeah, played with a kid that had a Wii and he would do just that. His wrist would snap to either direction about half an inch. Pretty much the same as using a normal controller for people that play the Wii a lot.

[skulldriveshaft @ Dec 22nd 2007 1:51AM]

I guess they're getting in some masturbation practice

It comes down to the game actually being played, and boxing doesn't really let you get away with that.

What other games did you play?

[Matt @ Dec 22nd 2007 4:03PM]

Yeah, you can play that way, but why would you?

[mushrooshi @ Dec 22nd 2007 12:04AM]

DDR made me gain leg muscles. Before DDR I could barely run 4 houses down, and now I can run down and back up a road with a steep hill!

[skulldriveshaft @ Dec 22nd 2007 1:52AM]

Hopefully the Wii can get a dancing game that uses both the Wii Remote + Nunchuk + Fit Pad

Now that's a great workout :]

[mushrooshi @ Dec 23rd 2007 2:41PM]

They have DDR Hottest Party. I don't like it though, its mostly songs in english, few in Japanese, and the charactors look like little bobbleheads. I wish Konami would let me disable them, or at least, make it look like the sexy camo-emi they showed BEFORE the shrinkafaction.

[thehumanyawn @ Dec 22nd 2007 1:53AM]

One word, especially familiar to Hyundai drivers: DUH. That's it. If this wasn't already obvious to you, then beat your head into a wall until some sense returns to you. I happened to get a Wii as a gift last May, and can say that, while you do burn calories, definitely isn't as much as I'd get from riding my bike somewhere. The study is a waste of money, because anyone with 1/2 a brain should figure this out. My local news station even made fun of this, saying "how much did this study cost?", and "yeah, it's pretty ridiculous". This is a classic emample of an IQ Booster study, basically they type a "study report", release it, call it research, with the outcome being mostly making themselves look smarter when bragging about this.

[Vasco @ Dec 22nd 2007 2:17AM]

I think this would depend on how you play the game. if I play wii boxing and only move my arms yeah i can see it being consider as such. however if you get up and start putting your whole body into it you defitely get a good workout. I really got into it one night and i was a coat of sweat.

[Michael Chastain @ Dec 22nd 2007 3:29AM]

I ride the exercise bike while playing Wii Boxing. You can't tell me that's not a decent workout.

[Technex @ Dec 22nd 2007 5:24AM]

Well it depends, everyone plays differently. When I had a go on the tennis around a friends house I had great fun, jumping around and that! I never thought I would but what the hell ;).

[Liam @ Dec 22nd 2007 5:41AM]

My favourite way to play boxing is to dangle the controllers over either shoulder, and then to freak-out dance all over the room. Very effective.

[dglaz @ Dec 22nd 2007 5:49AM]

Engadget,

I believe you are confusing effect size with significance. The effect is likely (very? ... typically significance, in the context of science, is either yes or no not degreed) significant; meaning that the probability that two groups would show a difference of 2% in burnt calories by chance is very small. The effect size, however, is not as large as Nintendo probably hoped. Depending on the amount of variance, there could have been a much larger effect but it may have not been significant.

You're welcome

[wickedpheonix @ Dec 22nd 2007 6:59AM]

LOL - I didn't read the article, but it would be inconclusive.

There's 2 ways to play Wii Sports - just flick the Wiimote around so that all you're moving is your wrist, or you can actually swing your arms about as hard as you can to hit the tennis ball or box the other guy. If you play really hard, you'll burn a lot of calories - just like the difference between lounging about in a pool versus swimming hard laps as fast as you can.

[Symotech @ Dec 22nd 2007 7:04AM]

Hey! what's up! I don't want to spend all my life in front of the computer, I'm not seek, and I'd better do my favorite sports near the beach or in a the wood, I'm still young and I WANT TO LIVE ALL MY LIFE NATURALLY.

[Gibson @ Dec 22nd 2007 9:48AM]

From the "No Shit" files...

[Ryan @ Dec 22nd 2007 11:20AM]

Hey, that's me dressed as a pirate, playing Wii!

[Roflgoat @ Dec 22nd 2007 1:18PM]

I thought this, but 2% is kinda surprising.

[Eh @ Dec 22nd 2007 6:50PM]

In other news, scientists have discovered that ice is cold.

[Seth @ Jan 8th 2008 5:43PM]

Personally, I find it harder to snack while playing Wii.