Students exercise with Nintendo
With today’s video game technology, players are getting workouts in front of TVs at home.
Games such as Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero are designed to get people off the couch and losing calories. The Nintendo Wii, which reached the market last winter, allows gamers to interactively play bowling, tennis and other sports with motion-censored remote controllers.
Shawn Bonones, freshman majoring in electrical engineering, said he plays video games every day.
“I use to play DDR all the time at my work,” he said. “It can be very tiring.”
The object of DDR is basic. Gamers follow lighted arrows on the screen and move their feet to corresponding colors on electronic dance pads.
“I have been sore after playing DDR,” Bonones said. “I tried it on expert and I couldn’t. It was like I was having a seizure on the board.”
According to arcade-history.com, many consumers of DDR have reported a significant change in their weight and stamina. Some gamers who play on a regular basis have reported weight losses of up to 10 to 15 pounds, according to the Web site.
In one study done by the Web site, one player reported losing a drastic 95 pounds after playing on a daily basis. Researchers argued, however, that cases of such drastic weight loss have involved significantly overweight individuals who involved DDR in their weight loss plan, along with diet and other exercise programs.
Arcade-history.com also reported that with so many drastic results involving weight loss, many schools are now implementing DDR into physical education activities. Even Norway has registered DDR as an official sport, according to the Web site.
Studies show that playing Wii can also help gamers burn calories. One study out of Liverpool John Moores University in the United Kingdom states using Wii controllers burns 40 percent more calories than using other game console controllers provided with Xbox, PlayStation 2 and GameCube. Gamers burned up to 1,800 more calories over 12 1/2 hours of gaming per week.
Eric Budd of Smithfield said, “I like the Wii bowling because it is fun to see yourself progress.”
However, according to the Web site teachingtechnology.com, exercise levels generated by the Wii compare poorly to a comparable amount of outdoor play. Gamers who spend 12 1/2 hours a week biking burn around 4,500 calories, while walking burns 1,950 and playing basketball can burn around 3,400 calories.
Budd said he can feel the effects of active video games though.
“One night I played 10 to 15 games of bowling on the Wii, and the next morning my shoulder was really sore,” he said. “A lot of these games are designed to give you a workout. It just depends largely on what game you are playing and the design of the game.”
Guitar Hero, which is not as physically intense as DDR or interactive Wii games, allows players to act like they are playing electric guitar to a wide soundtrack of music.
According to Harmonix Music Systems, which developed Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero’s game play is similar to other music and rhythm video games because player must play scrolling notes to complete a song.
“Guitar Hero is challenging,” said Ryan Lamoreaux, freshman studying electrical engineering. “Everyone wants to be able to play the guitar, but hardly anyone can.”
“I’ve always wanted to be able to play the guitar, but I have always been too lazy to learn,” Bonones said. “Guitar Hero gives kind of the same idea as learning how to.”
-cournie.packer@aggiemail.usu.edu