Wii Could Be What the Doctor Ordered

crimeandpunishment writes "The American Heart Association and Nintendo are teaming up to promote Wii. The popular games can be branded with the AHA's logo, to indicate that they're considered a healthy choice. As part of the deal, Nintendo will donate $1.5 million to the AHA. The Heart Association is concerned about childhood obesity, and now concedes that its campaign for traditional forms of exercise just isn't getting through."

Re:AHA will "endorse" Wii games

[Trepidity]

In theory, as a non-profit charity dedicated to reducing the incidence and impact of heart disease, the AHA should be making its endorsements on the basis of some sort of measure of validity, not selling the rights to use the AHA logo as a purely commercial transaction.

Now presumably they did actually evaluate these games, but it sure gives the appearance of something being a bit more commercial than charitable if they gave their endorsement of these games in return for a $1.5 million donation.

Re:Don't underestimate the Wii

[MichaelSmith]

The thing is that there are scales of exercise. For a morbidly obese person playing a wii game might be a good workout. For somebody who is already very fit it might be of no benefit at all.

Re:Sort of healthy

[PeanutButterBreath]

Its the diet soft drink of game consoles -- healthy relative to gaming that requires no physical exertion at all.

Re:Sort of healthy

[Ethanol-fueled]

Alarmist yuppies like you are part of the problem.

Playing outside(or at all, for that matter) is much less fun than it used to be because of overprotective parents who feel the need to keep their kids on short leashes and wrapped in bubble-wrap.

Because of people like you, the American Heart Association would never put their name on a football because you'd sue them if your kid missed a pass and got a bloody nose.

With apologies to Matt Stone and Trey Parker -- America, FAT yeah.

More Important

[Anonymous Coward]

Will health insurance companies reimburse people for Wii purchases?

Re:AHA are a joke

[oldhack]

Applies to most of the medical PR orgs.

I trust my mechanics more than my doctors, and y'all should. Chances are, your mechanics are more honest than your doctors.

The DDR Complex

[twoallbeefpatties]

I was wondering if anyone else would get around to DDR. I remember that back when I was in college seven years ago or so, you could walk into any arcade in the country and meet that one guy who was 20 pounds overweight who used to be 80 pounds overweight, and the reason he'd gotten so much closer was just because of DDR. That sucker introduced a certain generation of nerds to the concept of sweating outside of gym class, and it was great.

A lot of people talk about, oh, just go to the gym! Go play some sports! Stop playing stupid video games! But the truth is that motivation matters. If you're not enjoying your workout or your diet, you're not going to hold to it. A better message would be that if you enjoy the Wii, you should get out there and try some different things, try to find some pick-up games of different sports, try things at the gym, go find something active that you enjoy doing. And if you can't find something out there that you enjoy, then by all means, keep swinging that Wiimote. It's better to own a WiiFit and use it four times a week than to own a gym membership and stop using it after a month.

Re:Virtual vs. Physical

[RKThoadan]

Wow, that came off as way to confrontational. I apologize for the tone of that and especially for the last statement.