Kids with Active Wii Games Don’t Move More

You can give kids a Wii console and an active game, but you can’t make them use it. That’s the finding of a study that appears to dash hopes that active video games would get kids moving. Researchers gave a new Wii game console to each of 78 children, ages 9 to 12. Half of the kids received their choice of 5 active games, such as Wii Fit Plus. They could choose a second game 6 weeks later. They also received any accessories needed to play the games. Children in the other group were given their choice of inactive games. They also got a second game after 6 weeks. Everyone was required to wear an accelerometer to measure movement. The groups had about the same activity level before the study began. This did not change after 1, 6, 7 and 12 weeks. Kids who got the active games were no more active than kids who were given passive games.