Gathered together, a family of five is exercising. They are running in place, hitting incredible backhands and bowling strikes. Most importantly, they are also burning calories and getting healthy. However, the Webb family is not at a gym nor are they outdoors at a park or anywhere similar. Instead, they are camped out in the basement of their colonial-style home in Olmsted Falls, surrounding a television that is hooked up to a Nintendo Wii.
This form of exercise, or exergaming as it has become known, has grown more and more popular in recent years. When the Wii hit the market in 2006, it changed the face of gaming by placing a greater focus on movement and interactivity. Wii Sports pioneered the way for exergaming with the first title attached to the system. It included the console and contained the activities tennis, bowling, baseball, boxing and golf. Wii Sports is currently the highest selling video game of all time, having sold more than 75 million copies worldwide. The system itself is Nintendo’s highest selling unit, with more than 70 million units in homes across the world. Clearly, the company was on to something with their motion-based gaming
Nintendo took this a step further with the introduction of the Wii Fit in 2008. This game is marketed toward those seeking a healthier lifestyle and wanting to drop some excess pounds. It features more than 48 activities ranging from yoga to aerobics.
Kathi Webb, 40, of Olmsted Falls, and wife and mother of three, says, “The yoga is very much like taking yoga classes but in the privacy of your own home.”
Her family finds many great activities in Wii Fit. Her 12-year old daughter, Caitlyn finds the most fun in the exercises that target balance and coordination. “I think those games really help find the center of your balance and they’re a lot of fun. If you want to challenge yourself more in the balance games, you throw in a little juggling and challenge your coordination too,” says Caitlyn. All of these activities are performed on a balance board peripheral that comes with the game. But does Nintendo succeed in actually helping people becoming healthier?
In a 2007 study conducted by the journal, Pediatrics, 25 children were studied while exergaming in contrast to playing normal video games. The results showed that three times the calories were burned while playing games like Wii Sports or Wii Fit.
“I do think you get a workout with the Wii Fit. The only thing I would say is that it is not as much of a workout if you compare it to serious gym sessions. I personally like to run or go to spinning classes and do some weight lifting. I have never get as much intensity out of the Wii Fit as I do with those other activities,” says Kathi. However, she and her family still agree that the Wii has its purpose. “I do think it’s a good tool for people wanting to get in shape, especially those of us that are uncomfortable with going to a gym,” she says.
With these benefits and innovations in gaming, the sales for the console have soared and remain high. Perhaps as a result of this, other gaming companies began to take notice and capitalized on the trend.
The Xbox 360 has been around since 2005, but for the first several years of its lifespan the company was more concerned with furthering graphic display on the system. In 2010, Microsoft ventured into the world of exergaming by introducing Kinect, a camera attachment to the system. The Web cam-like peripheral records a player’s gestures and movement then translates them into actions in the game. The advantage of Kinect is that it require its user to hold no controls, their body handles everything. It is with this console and attachment that the Gorsuch family of Akron has found their way into exergaming.
The family of five partakes in the game that comes with Kinect, and that is Kinect Adventures. The game features five different game types along with three gaming modes. One activity is called, “River Rush,” and involves one or two players standing in a raft and trying to obtain the adventure pins scattered throughout the raging rapids. The raft itself is controlled by the player stepping left or right to steer, and by jumping, which causes the raft to jump.
Julie Gorsuch, 38, likes that with Kinect Adventures, anybody can play, regardless of skill or age.
“It’s nice because even a five year old can do something like this. Some of the Wii games require more skill but with the [Kinect] Adventures, everyone can be included. The whole family can participate,” she says.
Her 11-year old son, Joseph is a big fan of the game. He and his two other siblings, Anthony, 8, and Elise, 5, all enjoy the simulations of rafting and other activities. Their mother, is pleased by the exercise she sees her kids getting with the Kinect.
“I’m impressed with it, though I don’t feel like it’s that great of a workout for me personally, but my kids love it. They sweat and sometimes take their shirts off while playing. Then they’ll even be sore the next day, just like they had been to a gym,” she says.
While both families love their consoles that provides exergaming, they both agree that it is not a replacement for regular physical activity. Julie, herself a dietician, says, “It’s not a continuous workout and it shouldn’t used as a replacement for normal exercise. I think it’s a fun toy and a move in the right direction. I’m sure that better games that provide better workouts are coming.”
Accordingly, she confines the allotted gaming hours for her children to only being on the weekends. “We restrict hours they can play it. On the weekend, they can kind of play it, but they also play instruments and take part in other activities. Though Joseph would love to play it all the time.”
The Webb family continues this same notion by saying, “We all think the Wii Fit is for everyone but it really is what you make of it. It’s actually a pretty innovative and good way to stay active, especially in our area where for months at a time you may not be able to go outside at all. It still is no substitute for regular exercise.”
