It's the best combination there is: exercising and gaming at once. With so many obese people in the US, Nintendo should be payed by the government.

If using a controller is making you tired, your fat ass mo fo and should be working out.

These are the same people who start sweating after playing DDR on easy mode.

I don't think its too much.. but when I was trying out all the wii sports I was breaking a little sweat by the end of all the rounds. Tennis and bowling are mad fun.

Zelda was fun but we all found that it gave us all headaches after a bit... I'd guess it was the perspective or the viewing angles... boo to nintendo on that one

take a fencing class fatties. That'll help you master the wiimote, and for wii sports, go learn boxing, tennis, bowling, and golf.....go gettem next tiger woods.

I've had mine since launch, logged in some serious time and all I can say is WOW, the complainers are a bunch of pu$$ies. Come on, the Wii-mote weighs a few ounces and you move it a few inches at any given time. I am sure if its too hard they can find someone to take the system off of their hands.

I have noticed zero soreness, fatigue, or any other effects other than tired eyes from playing too much, whatever.

I like the fact that my Wii makes me work. It's a great compromise between screwing around and playing video games and actually staying arguably active.

It may be a problem for people with carpal or RSIs, though.

i run daily, and consider myself to be in good shape. and i played wii last night, boxing, maybe 3 times, and my left shoulder is sore this morning!!

i think it just uses different muscles.

Wait. So a bunch of gamers who probably type one handed (wink!) are complaining of arm soreness? Haven't most of these people been exercising the hell out of that arm for a good part of their lives?

I second the fencing class comment - plus, it's just a great deal of fun to fence!

Um, that soreness will go away after a while.

Keep playing!

I think Nintendo's response was right on.

It's great that "video games" can finally provide positive physical benefits rather than requiring longs hours sitting on a fat rear end. In fact, it's fantastic!

More power to the Wii.

first time playing wii sports boxing, my roommate was sweating his ass off... it was pretty sad. His response, "I better start hitting the gym." Why would he say that? was the wii too strenuous?, heavens no. he's just badly out of shape, like most of america. should wii games tire you out. no. if they do, go to the gym. Thus says a 30lb overweight man who has never gotten tired or sore playing wii. Despite hours of consecutive play

No doubt. Sweating and exercise is good. Too many lardo's out there just sitting there doing nothing.

Using the Wiimote is actually better for my carpal tunnel/RSI than conventional controllers. My kids and I have been doing some marathon Zelda sessions over the holidays and my hands/wrists don't hurt near as much as when using a regular controller. I could only play for an hour, maybe two, at a time with the old controllers before my hands cramped so bad I couldn't hold it any more. Then my wrists would bother me for days.

With the WiiMote? A little stiffness from holding the nunchuck too tight, but that quickly fades.

As for the people complaining that swinging a 7 ounce remote around is too hard? I'm at a loss. How out of shape do you have to be to be winded from lifting your arms?

After playing Zelda for a few hours my wrist hurt! I felt very comfortable jumping all around with wii sports, and I am a hefty guy!
I think we may see a new injury, wii wrist!

I could be bothered to get off the sofa to walk to my pc to order one in time.

is it normal to have a belly I can rest a 19" laptop on~?

awesome. I was looking for a way to trick my body back into shape. WIIIIIIIIIIIIII!

The only problems that I and my friends have run into is a little soreness in the upper arm from going through the throwing/hitting motions in tennis and baseball. This was after playing those games for more than an hour though, and none of us play those sports normally.

If getting in shape is what it will take to properly play the Wii, then mad props to Nintendo for getting an entire generation up off the couch.

I am an avid cyclist and after about 2 hours of Wii sports I woke up the next morning with a HUGE knot in my right shoulder and some elbow soreness(I think from trying to pitch faster than 94mph fastballs). A few rounds of boxing and I was looking for more airflow in the room as I had broken a nice sweat. The next time I go over to my buddies I will take my heart rate monitor, I will let you know how many calories I burn in an hour of sports play.

As a 44-year old gamer who spent the weekend with Zelda cutting grass, chucking rocks, swinging with monkeys and pretty much bashing everything that moves, I find the Wii controller much less stressful on my hands than previous Nintendo efforts. Maybe it's because one's hands aren't cramped together trying to hold a controller designed for an 8-year-old, maybe its the varied movement, maybe it's the fact that you can move your hands anywhere--but I give the Wii two (uninjured) thumbs up.

Imagine that .. Playing a game is actually a form of exercise? What will they think of next.

It is fantastic that Nintendo has taken us beyond pressing buttons. For those folks who can not be bothered to exercise, I would recommend an Xbox 360.

Yeah my arm was a bit tired after the first day or two but your arm gets used to it, I assure you. I got in 15+ hours of Zelda i the last two days and there are no problems here.

I am lazy, if I found a way to play without using a great deal of effort, then others can too. Although, the first night, I did play a little too vigorously causing small muscle cramps and sore shoulderblades, but it was mostly from boxing on the WiiSports disk. I've been fine ever since!

Yeah, my arm got a bit tired after the first day or two but you get used to it and it fades. After a couple 7-8 hour Zelda sessions over the holidays my arm feels fine.

Actually your not getting off the couch 100 percent of the time, you still might sit while bowling or plating tennis...or maybe not...but then metroid and zelda...you will be sitting.

I think it's great that people are starting to realize how fat and out of shape they are (well, unless you recognize a pear as a shape). When I first saw the Wii I got excited to see a game company taking lazy ass people off the couch and onto their feet. Am I in perfect shape? Ah, no, but hopefully our epidemic child obesity figures can see some reduction if things like the Wii get them off their feet.

I can't weight to see the new Spandex Wii attire line coming soon from Nike!

Granted, I'm far from in shape, but even I didn't get that sore from playing it. All I've got right now is Wii Sports and Zelda, and while Zelda's exertion ends at swinging your sword, you can definitely feel it after about 20 matches of Wii Sports tennis.

I think we all thought the same thing when we first picked up the Wiimote.

"Great...like I really need something else to make my right arm stronger than the left..."

Wii'ing after our monsterous Thanksgiving dinner was incredible. After dinner there were two completely different groups in our house, those that fell asleep on the couch in their tryptophan coma at about 9, and those that played the Wii until about 2AM. And the day after... no hangover. All that baseball and bowling and MonkeyBallness was the perfect solution to the glut.

OMG, wa in New York City for thanksgiving, went to Times Square, went to Toys R Us there, played with the Wii (I still think it sounds kinda dirty...lol)

what an awesome system. Red Steel is by far the coolest FPS i have ever played. the whole sword fighting and everything, you really need to be in shape.

I suppose you could just sit there and wiggle your wrist, but come on, then you just look ridiculous...

Thanks for the tip Monty. Be sure to wake this 5'10" 150 pound 360er up when the Wii supports HD.

Also, I'm not sure I'm done bashing the worst console name ever either.

That said I would really, really like the Wii to be fun but Nintendo's recent stances of "get to the gym fatty" and "we're going to tell you what you like" is really starting to grate me.

change that last "is" to an "are"

Hell, the physical interaction is part of why I want to get one.

I'm a happy PC/XBox360 gamer and have more than enough games right now to keep me busy but I'm still picking up a Wii. I messed around with the demo kiosks a few times and it really feels more interactive because you're.. well interacting more.

It's not as refined a gaming experience as an Xbox or even PS2 in some cases, but it's a 'different' gaming experience which makes it worth the fairly small price tag.

So is this the new generation's version of "Nintendo Thumb"?

Like the Marines say:

"Pain is just crappy gaming skills leaving the body"

Call me a lazy bastard if you want, but in my world, videogames are something where i excercise my mind and rest my body. I even admit i feel tempted by those games where you swing a sword... but then i look at my pc keyboard and get back to my senses.

It's closed-minded people like Paradise that make it seem like the Wii is SOOOOO bad. Here's a hint for ya buddy. before you bash it for requiring a miniscule ammount of effort (as it's been referred to before.... i'm pretty sure most male gamers spend a lot more effort with their right arm doing a certain OTHER activity...)..... go out and actually TRY the Wii. When i purchased mine... on the drive home i was slightly... SLIGHTLY skeptical about how it would be. got home, hooked it up, popped in Wii Sports, and my mind pulled a complete 180. it's just unbelievable how fun it is to play. Before the Wii, i would have NEVER... EVER imagined me and two of my friends sitting in my house for 3 hours playing BOWLING! it's an instant hit once you pick those controllers up and start playing.

And what Nintendo said is completely the truth. if you're too out of shape to play the Wii... my god do you need a personal trainer or to take a diet. there seriously is NOT a lot of effort needed. even Tennis only requires a flick of the wrist for it to swing... but the full motion just makes it more fun (least for those in shape to handle doing so for extended periods of time).

Oh.... and since you just HAD to bring up HD.... why do you think PS3 is so expensive? it STRESSES HD with BluRay and HDMI. same with the 360 when the HD DVD attachment comes out. it's like one other quote i read in message boards on GameFaqs:

"If you had to choose between two doors... behind door 1 was high resolution midget porn, and behind door 2 was low resolution hardcore lesbian porn... which door would you choose?"

This is a great thing. I just picked up my Wii (yay!) and I love it, especially on its selling point that video games ar eno longer a sit and click experience. It adds a new element to gaming, bringing life to the dull boob tube junkies that plague our world. Whatever happened to stickball, anyway? Kids nowadays could use a little physical interaction. Or you could get some McDonalds and a PS3 and be a standard couch potato american.

god forbid gamer kiddies that never leave their house all summer get some exercise... It might kill them! Make a controller a treadmill, lets see them play an RPG!

I am just waiting for the lawsuits from all of the ma's and pa's (and gma/gpa) who have been drawn in by the youngsters and are now getting virtual tennis elbow. That and broken hips from diving for that killer serve, or avoiding the uppercut to the face. :)

Million dollar idea here folks. Make attachments for the controller that increase the weight and market it as an exercise device. Just be sure to switch up which hand you use or we'll end up with an entire generation of fiddler crabs.

^ fiddler crab comment FTW! hahha

@ Troth74:
I like you idea but I wonder if those wrist straps will assure the destruction of plasma TVs when the remote is weighted like you say.

There is a funny sort of irony in all of this. Most of us "gamers" don't go out and play golf, baseball, tennis, bowling or boxing. Now they make it into a video game in which the motions for playing the games are realistic to the point that if you play Tennis for a long time you, gasp, actually might get real tennis elbow - or if you box too hard you might actually break a sweat. What is this world coming to? Some day games will be so immersive we might actually have to be fit just to play them - Oh the horror!

I was lucky enough to get my hands on two of the Wii's on the Release Day. Working at Best Buy sure did help since I had to be there early for a meeting anyways. Me and my girlfriend now have a Wii and the workout is no joke. I found that the only game that tires me out, would be the Boxing game included in Wii sports. Zelda requires little physical activity, but very fun non the less.

--Patrick

@ProsumeThis:
eh...that is what product disclaimers are for!

"Please note that the manufacturers of the Wiieghts(tm) are not responsible...blah blah blah"

I, for one, am getting tired of clicking through to a jump in order to read an extra paragraph or two (and sometimes as little as reading an extra sentence or two).

Sure, jumps are handy for long content such as Gizmodo-exclusive reviews, pictorials, and Low End Theory articles, but I wouldn't mind having slightly longer articles on the main page. It's a more efficient use of your readers' time.

You're not just making these extra jumps in order to increase your advertisement viewership numbers, are you?

WOOT - gamerz got pwned by teh NES WiiPR snapperz!!!!!1

do they have idea of so much people they are going to lose? but i dont think that playing wii its going to be so hard.¬¬

It doesn't take much energy to play the Wii. I've had one since launch day.

While it takes more energy than the 360 or PS3, I've found that the natural inclination to swing one's arms full stretch (in games like Tennis, Golf, etc) isn't particularly necessary. You can easily achieve the same motion/response with quick wrist movements. Although when people first pick it up, they seem to want to make full swings. Very odd...