2 thoughts on “Wii does not get families fit: new research”

  1. Not a surprise…

    …that families wind up losing interest in their new toy in fairly short order. Hopefully more than one person will find the interest to use it individually. As it often is, the hype is not the reality.

    Most of the buzz on Wii for fitness has been in more controlled environments–e.g. senior communities–where it’s often integrated into the daily schedule.  A more professional application of virtual reality is the IREX system (Interactive Rehabilitation and Exercise System) from GestureTek–‘heavy duty’ virtual reality for physical and cognitive therapy. It’s meant to be supervised and programmed for different functions. Great video here taken at Beth Abraham’s Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation.

  2. I’d question the value of this research

    Aside from the small size I would also question the validity of the research on the basis that these families weren’t buying the Wii device, rather using something that was loaned to them.

    This is a major feature affecting adoption and use of consumer devices eg. people “given” a Smartphone as part of their subsidised package rarely want or use 99% of its features (for example in the UK) whilst in a market where there is less operator subsidy (eg. Ireland) those people who stump up the extra cost for that same Smartphone will tend to make much more use of its features.

    Ownership and personalisation have similar effects.

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