Wii Could Be What the Doctor Ordered 156
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."
Nintendo will "donate" $1.5million (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Nintendo will "donate" $1.5million (Score:3, Interesting)
Yes.
There's nothing wrong with a mutually-beneficial arrangement that supports a good cause. Nintendo is donating money. Nothing about 'donating' implies you lose something. People would never donate if it did - they always get something out of it, even if its just the feeling that they're doing right in the world.
Sure, it's easier when it's monetary. Sure, it's not as altruistic. But it's still a donation. And it can still do good.
Neat (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Don't underestimate the Wii (Score:4, Interesting)
For somebody who is already very fit it might be of no benefit at all.
That depends on what game you're talking about. I'm sure DDR is probably about as far to the "good workout" end of the spectrum as you can get, so this is probably an extreme example, but you could give Lance Armstrong a DDR mat and copy of the game and after going through a little learning curve I almost guarantee he'd be getting a good workout with it.
People get good exercise with a good exercise DVD and they're just sitting in front of the TV; why can't you get good exercise if you replace the DVD with a video game?
Re:AHA will "endorse" Wii games (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
Either way, its a still head and shoulders above a cancer charity endorsing buckets of fried chicken from KFC.
Re:AHA will "endorse" Wii games (Score:5, Interesting)
The more aware people are of their ability to make better choices is a step in the right direction and if a seal on a video game box helps in part to achieve that goal, all the better I say.
I got the wii fit and - to my horror - it said that I was obese. I was always the skinny kid in school and never really paid attention to the scale that would go up 2 pounds a month. It was a real wake up call.
I started exercing using the wii fit games (I really like the obstacle course where you are jumping from ledge to ledge and avoiding giant wrecking balls.) I stopped because my downstairs neighbor started banging on her ceiling.
The embarrassment of being told I was obese (no doctor ever said that to my face) combined with my neighbor thinking her ceiling was going to collapse simple by me running and jumping really inspired me.
In the past 8 months, I have lost close to 60 pounds and am well past the obese range. I have 5 pound to go to no longer being overweight. I still use the wii fit, but as a measuring tool and will start using it for exercise soon since I should be nearing the point where I no longer shake the entire apartment.
The only downside to losing the weight is that I have the same stretch marks as a woman who gave birth. But since it was a lot of work to lose that weight - and since I am already married - I see those as marks of pride and accomplishment.
Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:AHA will "endorse" Wii games (Score:3, Interesting)
I lost 20lbs, by going for regular walks and eating less. People still thought I was skinny even before that, but I was *just* under the "obese" line on Wii Fit. I didn't realise until after I lost the weight how much fat I had on me. Though I'm sure some of what I lost will have been muscle, I have been build my weight back up again for the last few months by going to the gym.
If people are too fat then exercise may help, but the obvious thing to do is to stop eating and drinking sugar/white flour enhanced shit and fries. They both raise your blood sugar far too quickly for your body to actually be able to use the energy, and so you end up just storing most of it as fat. I see exercise as a way to build muscle and to feel healthy - it's a very simple matter to lose weight through eating more intelligently.
Re:Sort of healthy (Score:2, Interesting)
Three out of four Slashdotters will claim to suffer from Asperger's/ADHD, it's heavily overdiagnosed.
I don't know about pesticides but I know as a kid I didn't try to eat the lawn. Hell, since when do you need pesticides on a lawn anyway? Maybe herbicides (and even that's unnecessary if you just mow it regularly) but I don't think I've ever heard of people complaining about insects damaging their lawn (only the fruit on other plants). Either way, if you lick that stuff you'll taste it (bitter/burning taste) and spit it out. If your kids chug a bottle of pesticide maybe you should have taught them about poisons.
Overall the energy use of Wii Fit is lower than that of playing outside, it works as a first motivator, not as an all-in-one solution.
Re:AHA will "endorse" Wii games (Score:3, Interesting)
But don’t forget that that limit for “when you’re obese” is only a rough average. Some people would become very sick when they would have to adhere to those standards.
Get to the weight that you yourself feel best with. (Obviously that isn’t a good idea of your feeling itself is off, like with anorexia.)