Will The Wii And The Kinect Really Help Gamers Get Fit?
Parents, doctors and nutritionists have been complaining about how difficult it is to get kids to go outdoors and increase their activity levels, and for awhile it seemed like the Nintendo Wii and the Xbox Kinect would help them to achieve at least one of their goals. Gaming consoles that turn gamers into virtual controllers appeal to a number of parties, but can these technologies really encourage people to become more active? Recent studies have shown that gamers are responding to the Wii and the Kinect positively. The only downside to relying on games to get more healthy is the fact that gamers quickly lose interest.
Both Nintendo and Microsoft have released a number of titles that they hope will encourage gamers to really get into their games, but all video games have an expiration date. Since the average video game costs around $50, most consumers only purchase around one or two a month. In order for gamers to really see results, they would need to play continuously for approximately 60 minutes a day, five days a week. The simple fact is, gamers aren’t able to dedicate enough time in order to see real results. Some exercise experts are recommending that the games released should have more solid story lines in order to entice gamers to spend more time actually playing. Another negative aspect of gaming is that it can sometimes cause people to lead to the kitchen more often as they wait their turn or become bored most often than not.