I was pleased to receive a lovely email yesterday from a Wii Health Zone customer who is working their way through the Wii Tips, Tricks and Walkthroughs step by step.The email reads:

hey Jodie,
I am a customer of yours and I simply love your E-book it is great.It has everything in I need.

Your best customer,

Jiorji Gunning

Make sure that you don’t miss out on getting your hands on this ebook. Visit http://www.wiihealthzone.com/book now!

“The Biggest Loser” For Nintendo Wii is set to be a staple to any Wii fitness Guru’s game collection. Game includes exercise, healthy recipes and motivational voice overs. Great if you want a serious workout.

“The Biggest Loser” Now for Nintendo Wii

I have really been enjoying my EA Sports Active and, I think, from looking at this new The Biggest Loser game that I would like it too.  While I will admit that not all of the Nintendo Wii fitness games are created equal, the ones that are good really do make me work up a sweat.

The game, available exclusively for the Wii and Nintendo DS, features two of the world’s most successful trainers, Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels (of course, host Allison Sweeney, will also be included!).

Players will be given nutritional goals (along with 50 healthy recipes!) and will have access to a variety of comprehensive workouts that are fun and innovative including upper, lower and core body exercises, as well as cardio and yoga exercises (no big surprise considering how much Bob loves yoga!).

Fans of the show will be thrilled that it all takes place on the ranch, there will be challenges and they can compete against former contestants in four, eight or 12-week programs.  I’m not sure how it will all work out but there will also be weigh-ins and eliminations.

“The hardest part of getting in shape and staying fit is knowing what to do, as well as maintaining the desire to stick with it,” said Bob Harper.  “The Biggest Loser video game incorporates years of research and proven results taken from The Biggest Loser television show. This program offers personalized fitness and nutrition goals to give players the tools they need to lose weight and keep it off. ”

A really cool feature is that, if you have a Wii and a DS, you can use the smaller console as an on-the-goal tool for counting calories and providing tips.

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I still think it’s number 1, but how effective is it really? Is is just a gimic, or can you really get healthy with it?

The genius of Wii Fit by Keith Stuart Guardian.co.uk

It’s still number one. Here’s why.

Wii Fit: a whole new way of selling games

Unlike it’s considerable army of users, Wii Fit is sitting still. The game has just enjoyed its sixth week at the top of the software charts, seeing off contenders like Godfather 2 and Wolverine without breaking a sweat.

There are obvious reasons for its success. The Wii console remains ludicrously popular, of course, and most of the in-house titles have done well. On top of that, in Wii Fit Nintendo has a game that offers both the hilarity of the system’s novelty interface and, ostensibly, a means of getting fitter. This is the motherlode. Most people hate exercising but know they ought to do it, Wii Fit offers the prospect of working out and having fun – at the same time. And what’s more it’s all in the warmth and comfort of your own living room.

But this is only part of the success story. And it might not even be the most important part.

This is the key thing. Wii Fit is being sold, primarily to women, not as a game, but as a health brand. The recent television adverts starring ex-pop star Louise Redknapp, draw heavily on the techniques used to market products like low cholestoral diary spreads and pro-biotic yogurt drinks. There are documentary-style interview moments intercut with Louise using and enjoying the product. It’s all very naturalistic and chatty – we are encouraged to view Wii as the ultimate guilt-free consumer product: fun but healthy, indulgent, but also a benefit to the whole family. Someone in Nintendo’s marketing department knows the correct buttons to push for this demographic.

At the same time, Nintendo is getting out on the road, demo-ing the game at shopping malls and fitness centres – which, again, mimics the techniques for pushing food brands. There’s also a dedicated website, which is definitely not called wiifit.com, that’s far too unintuitive – it’s Feel Great Britain – and it’s filled with user testimonials and health tips from fitness experts.

This isn’t just about reaching a new audience – it’s more subtle and ambitious than that. In effect, Wii Fit has been removed from the traditional videogame marketing cycle. Every other release is treated like the launch of a new album or movie – a one-off event with a limited window of publicity potential. But here, the advertising emphasises personal choice and circumstances – “when you’ve had a year off from exercising, which a lot of pregnant women do, it’s a really easy way to get your fitness and confidence back,” says Louise.

In this way, the product is aligned to personal circumstances – it’s there when you need it. And vitally, it’s not just about physical fitness it’s about confidence. The pregnancy thing is smart too – it’s a time of personal re-evaluation and re-assessment, and to brands that represents an opportunity.

Wii Fit, then, is a world apart from every other game in the chart – not only because it’s hanging around more than a couple of weeks, but because it doesn’t obey the rules; doesn’t even know them. These are new rules. The question is, can any other game work the same angle?

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“Health Gamers Interview: Julie from WiiMommies”  written by Health Gamers.

HG: How did you first come to learn about the Nintendo Wii and eventually the Wii Fit – have you been a fan of gaming prior?

Julie: I learned about the Wii from my mother, who heard that the seniors in the senior center where she visits her father were playing the Wii Bowling and was amazed at how it got everyone up and moving about.  The Wii Fit was introduced to me before it was brought to the states by my husband, who read an article on it and asked if I’d like to have it.  Of course I said yes!

HG: Your site mentions you started the [WiiMommies] forum after losing 60 lbs using the Wii. Which Wii Fit games(s) did you find most effective?

Julie: The Wii Fit 10 minute hula hoop works wonders for a woman’s waistline.  I think everyone should make it a point to fit that in their daily workout, even if they can’t find time for any other game.

HG: How would you compare standard exercises, such as jogging on a track, to jogging on the Wii Fit?  What are the pros and cons?

Julie: I actually combined the two.  I didn’t feel comfortable running in place, so i ran on my treadmill with the remote in my pocket.  I’ll also involve my children by giving my son a remote and chasing him around the room.  We’re both getting exercise and having a great time bonding while we play!

HG: One of the features of the Wii Fit is weight and BMI tracking. Because of this, would you recommend kids using the Wii Fit?

Julie: I’d recommend everyone use it.  Even kids need to be aware of what a healthy BMI and target weight is.  Of course, this game was intended for adults and not children, so I believe kids should use their game under adult supervision only.

HG: Should users ever worry about safety?  For example, there is potential for bodily harm if yoga poses are done incorrectly.  Do you think Nintendo has done a good job in trying to decrease these kind of risks?

Julie: I think so.  Nintendo has a disclaimer on their website and even while using the Wii it tells you to pace yourself, remember to breathe and clear the space around you so you don’t accidentally hit anything. With any exercise regime, you have to remember safety.  The key is to not push yourself to hard.

HG: What do you think the future of gaming for health will be? Obviously the Nintendo Wii is leading the pack – do you see any other innovations or potential uses of exercise-gaming in the future?

Julie: A friend of mine has a child that requires physical therapy and she uses the Wii Fit to strengthen her core muscles and work on her balance.  She has so much fun, she doesn’t even realize how much it’s benefiting her.  I know more and more therapists and using it in their offices and encouraging people to play to improve their general fitness and as I mentioned earlier, I know it’s getting the seniors up and moving about as well!

HG: What is your favorite thing about Wii Fit?  Are there any other Wii games you recommend for those trying to get in shape using their Wii?Any parting words of advice for those out there trying to get in shape with the Wii?

Julie: My favorite thing about the Wii Fit is that it’s versatile.  You can have a traditional workout with yoga, strength training or step aerobics, or you can just kick back and have a good time playing the games.  Everything you play benefits you both mentally and physically.  I think it’s key for people to remember everything takes time.  The reason this worked for me is because i enjoyed it so much, I wanted to come back and play the next day.  I never find working out on the Nintendo Wii a chore.  Find what you love and stick to it.  If you remain dedicated, you’ll achieve your fitness goals.

HG: Excellent! Thanks so much for your time and insight Julie – you’re doing an awesome job inspiring moms and families everywhere to give the Wii a try

Julie: I appreciate you taking the time to contact me and please let me know if there’s anything else I can do!

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Nintendo Wii Games Training for surgical residents to improve hand eye co-ordination and dexterity. Wii games set to be the new homework for medics!

Why a Wii could be good for your health

Nintendo’s Wii console is not just a toy – one US hospital is using it as a training tool for its surgical residents

Photograph: Olivier Pirard/Rex Features

Unlike most 27-year-old men, Jeff Henke has never owned a videogame console. So after eight years of conscientious swotting to qualify as a doctor it came as somewhat of a shock to Jeff to learn that his homework now includes an hour a night on the Nintendo Wii. “This isn’t exactly what I pictured of when I thought of medical school,” he says. “But I’m not complaining.”

Henke is a second-year resident surgeon at the Banner Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, and for the past year he has been a willing guinea pig in a study measuring the effects on surgeon proficiency from regular gameplay on Nintendo’s popular console. And the results are impressive.

“The surgeons develop an increased efficiency, less errors, more fluid movement – basically they’re just better,” says Dr Mark Smith, director of the hospital’s Simulation Education and Training (SimET) Center. To be precise, the doctors who regularly played on the Wii scored 48% higher on tool control and performance than those who didn’t.

Not all fun and games

There have been numerous studies carried out across the globe that all come to the same conclusion: surgeons who play videogames have better hand-to-eye coordination and dexterity. So does this study in Phoenix merely reiterate that point, or is there something that sets the Wii apart from the crowd?

“We can always tell the surgeons who are gamers, because they’re naturally better,” says Smith. (He’s also keen to point out that within a very short time period, non-gamers are on a par.) “But what we’re finding with the Wii is that the surgeons that use it regularly are achieving results that far outstrip those who have just gamed before. And that’s because the Wii is very different.”

The difference being down to the “Wiimote”, the motion-sensitive controller that transforms real-life movements into movements on the screen. Just over a year ago, Smith’s partner at the SimET Center, bioinformatics expert Dr Kanav Kahol, first started pondering the Wii’s potential.

“The whole point about surgery is to execute small, finely controlled movements with your hands,” says Kahol. “Then we saw people using the Wii and noticed the precision of some movements looked very similar.”

Kahol and Smith rounded up 16 surgical residents, split them into two groups and started one of the groups on a strict diet of videogaming, the other being a control group. Some games proved to be of more benefit than others. “You don’t gain a lot from swinging an imaginary tennis racket,” says Kahol.

It soon became apparent that the game benefiting the lab rats most was Marble Mania (called Kororinpa in the UK) – a game that requires slight hand movements to guide a marble through a maze. Hand movements were tracked using a Cyberglove covered in sensors and the readouts showed the manoeuvres had a 90% correlation to those of a surgeon performing a laparoscopic surgery.

“Minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery is a very fine art,” says Smith. “A laparoscope is inserted into the abdomen through small incisions. There’s a camera in the probe and surgeons work off monitors. Very small instruments are used and they are controlled by the smallest of hand movements.”

Put like that, the similarities are not too hard to see. Additional training is obviously required to get doctors accustomed to working from a screen and using the laparoscopic instruments. Increasingly, this training is done using virtual reality machines whose value can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, only affordable to wealthier hospitals. Whereas a Wii and a copy of Kororinpa can be bought for around £200 – even less in the US.

Wii will cut you

Now the hospital has created stations where the controllers have been extended to make them feel more like probes to the user, and doctors warm up on them before going into surgery.

And the hospital is developing its own basic games – such as picking up rings and putting them on pegs – but the movements are very sensitive. And in the next two years the team at the SimET Center hopes they will be ready for mass production. In the meantime, many in the medical world are excited about the implications of Smith and Kahol’s findings.

“Of course there are the obvious advantages: better surgeons,” says Susanna Barascu, a Romanian senior surgeon who has spent most of her career working in developing-world countries, with the past 10 years in Africa.

She says: “During minimally invasive surgeries there is reduced exposure of vital organs, meaning a reduced risk of infection. There is also reduced blood loss, meaning reduced need for transfusions. And patients can get out of hospital and back home sooner.

“In the countries I work in, where risk of infection is high and supply of blood and beds is short, any cheap development that can lead to fewer open procedures is incredibly exciting.” And for those who are just embarking on their careers the excitement lies in the direction the profession is heading.

“The future of surgery is utilising remote onscreen technology,” says Henke. “But what makes it exciting are minds like Dr Kahol and Smith’s, who look at everyday inexpensive technologies and think, ‘How could I use that?’ ”

With such conviction and a first-hand benefactor of such thinking, one could be forgiven for thinking that Henke musts pend his evenings at home in front of his Wii honing his skills. Doesn’t he?

“Well, I know I should really buy one for home … but I still keep holding out hope that the hospital might give me one for ‘research’.”

Employers urge workers to keep fit and healthy

CARY ASPINWALL, Tulsa World

TULSA, Okla. (AP) – At the Holmes Organisation, you’re not only encouraged to take a break from your work day, but also to take a walk or play Nintendo’s Wii Fit during it.

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Employees can grab fresh fruit from the break room and log onto a computer to upload their pedometer mileage. But if they want a soda, they’ll have to bring it from home.

Holmes’ wellness coordinator, Eric Moon, has swapped sodas for fresh fruit and lower-sugar beverages, and is challenging employees at the insurance and benefits company to take the stairs, park far away and walk long distances on weekends.

If they catch Moon taking the elevator to the 10th floor instead of the stairs, they can fine him $5.

If an employee walks the round-trip distance between Tulsa and New York City before November, the company will buy her airfare and a three-night stay to visit the Big Apple.

“We have tried to take walking to a whole new level,” Moon said.

At Holmes, employees dine on roasted vegetable sandwiches from Jason’s Deli while learning about the impact of air quality on health from an American Lung Association guest speaker. Typically, the group goes for one-mile walks after their “Wellness Friday” lunches.

The company purchased high-tech pedometers for employees and their spouses who wanted to participate in the walking challenge.

“We want them to take these behaviors home,” Moon said.

The goal was to get employees walking as many as 12,000 to 15,000 steps a day. Several have reached that goal and exceeded it, some walking as many as 20,000 to 30,000 steps per day.

“You either make time for wellness now or make time for sickness later,” Moon said.

Most employees want to be healthier, they just need help finding the tools and a balance that works for them, he said.

Cara Mohler, 31, a customer service representative at Holmes, said the company’s wellness efforts have made it easier for her to stay in shape. She’s one of the crew competing for trips by walking the equivalent of the distance between Tulsa and various cities. She’s got her eye on the Big Apple and she’s well on her way, logging more than 300 miles since January.

“It just makes a difference when there’s support,” Mohler said.

A few weekends ago, she and her husband opted to walk three miles each way for a Saturday breakfast at Brookside By Day.

“And I felt no guilt when they brought out the cinnamon roll,” she said.

In tough economic times, when many cash-strapped businesses are cutting back, a few local companies say they refuse to skimp when it comes to employee wellness programs.

Employees’ well being – and the potential health care savings from fitter workers – are too important to shortchange, they say.

Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group has a comprehensive employee wellness program focusing on healthy diet, exercise, stress management and illness prevention, and it’s one of 10 national programs honored recently by United Healthcare for its efforts, said Chris Payne, senior manager of corporate communications.

Recently Dollar Thrifty employees dined on omelets, turkey sausage, sweet potato hash browns and fresh fruit to learn about healthy breakfast options and raise money for the American Heart Association.

“It’s a complete win-win for us,” Payne said. “It maybe started as, ‘How can we bring down some of these health care costs?’ But our heart is on the side of we want our people to be healthy.”

Dollar Thrifty has walking and Weight Watchers groups, smoking cessation programs, an onsite fitness center and a reimbursement program for employees’ outside gym memberships. Through his own participation in the wellness programs, Payne lost 29 pounds and lowered his blood pressure.

By spending on wellness, the company has saved on health care costs, Payne said by recent estimates as much as $3.56 in savings for every $1 spent.

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3 Wii Games That Will Get Your Body Into Shape

Sun, Jan 25, 2009

Are you just sitting there in your room, having a snack while playing all those addicting games? You are aware that by doing that, you are just adding more fat and making that body look like some big barrel. I know you keep telling yourself that when you finish that game you will go outside and move that body someway. But then again, when you look at that game you say: ” Just one more level and I’m done!”.

If you’re that kind of person (don’t be upset, you’re not alone) then there is a great workout alternative that will let you stay in your, so much comfortable room, and still shake that body and burn some fat.

Maybe you’ve heard about new console that Nintendo released a while ago. It’s called Wii Fit. It combines fun and fitness in one product. It can change how you exercise, how you balance, and even how you move.

The Wii Fit is able to calculate your BMI by prompting you for your height, birthday and weight. After some other tests it calculates your ‘Wii Age’ which it then uses to challenge you with running, push-ups, yoga, strength, and balance exercises. It gives health tips, tracks weight loss, and sets goals helping monitor your progress for a better and healthier life style.

So here are 3 cool games (for Wii) that you might want to try if you want to lose some weight:

1. Wii Fit

An ambitious and refreshingly different project that is only barely a video game; here, for the first time, is an effort that could be used as a weight loss and management tool and unlike your recent trip to your local gym, you might have some fun between the repetitions.

2. My Fitness Coach

There is no doubt that any Wii owner interested in My Fitness Coach will immediately compare it to Wii Fit. Both are great exercise games, but they take two very different approaches. Where Wii Fit gave off a casual workout vibe (a sweat inducing vibe nonetheless), My Fitness Coach comes at you more like an aerobics DVD.

3. My Health Coach

The game enables you create a daily session where you can set a number of goals. One of these is related to the packed in Pedometer that tracks your steps and plugs into the GBA slot. Other goals include food challenges (where you commit to making a healthy lunch or drinking more water), activity challenges (where you agree to perform certain exercises) and surprise challenges that aren’t revealed until they are selected. Offers encouragement and indeed its own gadget appeal of coming boxed with a pedometer to make sure you aren’t cheating!

So far none of these titles can be judged as vacuous cash-ins on the Wii Fit ‘phenomenon’ as such. They mean well and are nicely produced. Still to come there’s Jillian Michaels’ Fitness Ultimatum 2009, released 1 April on Wii which does use the Balance Board, and later this year EA Sports Active – you guessed it – exclusively for Nintendo Wii that comes packaged with, among other things, a Health and Wellness Book, and two leg straps!

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Right now, get ‘Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party’ and ‘Shaun White Snowboarding Road Trip’ For just £17.99! That’s such a good deal, you won’t find it cheaper anywhere else.

My shop has all of the cheapest Wii games around, so be sure to visit the shop regularly for new offers.

My Wii Shop is powered by Amazon, so you can get your Wii shopping shipped and delivered straight to you with speed and ease. Go on, spoil yourself!

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Fun and games, the key to rehabilitation

Thursday 18th December 2008

STROKE patients at Trafford General Hospital are enjoying rehabilitation – in the form of video games – to help their co-ordination, balance and physical mobility, thanks to fundraising by a former patient and his friends at Urmston Men’s Club.

Jim Cork, 69, from Urmston, used to be the compere at Urmston Men’s Club and was treated at Trafford General when he had a stroke in August 2007.

He wanted to help other patients on the stroke unit, so organised a fundraising evening last summer at Urmston Men’s Club.

The evening raised more than £1,400, enabling the purchase of a Nintendo Wii console and plasma screen for Trafford General’s stroke unit.

Wii is a computer games system that detects players’ movements and translates them into the action on screen.

Players can engage in virtual rounds of golf, bowling competitions and even boxing matches by using the Wii remote control to hit the ball, bowl or throw a punch.

It means stroke patients at Trafford General will be able to use Wii to aid their recovery in a fun way by having bowling or golf competitions with each other.

The Wii system will mainly be used during recreation time and will be in addition to the usual therapies provided to stroke patients.

The games can be played from either a standing or a sitting position, making them suited to patients of different ability levels.

Jim said: “The unit has given me a lot of help so I wanted to say thanks. I hope that patients on the unit enjoy using the Wii and that it helps them in their recovery.”

Stroke unit physiotherapist, Sjoerd Jorritsma, said: “We would like to thank Jim and his friends at Urmston Men’s Club for this fantastic donation, which will help patients recovering from stroke. As well as being fun, there is some anecdotal evidence that Wii has therapeutic benefits by encouraging people who have experienced stroke to be active and practise their eye-hand coordination, balance and concentration.

“These are all skills that can be affected by stroke but rehabilitation can help people improve and make as good a recovery as possible. Our patients will now be able to use Wii as an additional part of that rehabilitation.”

Urmston Men’s Club president, Peter Radley, said: “Urmston Men’s Club is proud of its efforts in supporting local charities, and particularly Trafford General Hospital, and we will continue with our support. We wish the stroke unit continuing success with its efforts for local people. Due to Jim’s high profile on our committee, it was fitting to offer our support on this particular occasion.”

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Food Lion employees bring holiday cheer to Brian Center Friday,

December 19, 2008 By Sarah Nagem

For many, the holidays are a time for families.

But for nursing home patients, it can be a different story, said P.J. Minton, administrator of the Brian Center Health and Rehabilitation.

“A lot of the patients don’t have families,” Minton said. “Even though we get them stuff for Christmas, it means a lot when someone else steps in.”

Employees of Food Lion’s information technology department did just that Thursday morning. They stepped in and presented Brian Center residents with gifts and holiday cheer.

Someone anonymously gave a Nintendo Wii video game system.

The Brian Center had been raising money for a Wii, Minton said.

“It gives the patients an opportunity to be interactive,” he said.

And some of the games can be used during physical therapy sessions to help patients develop better motor skills, he said.

Minton said one patient who used to play golf will likely enjoy a golf video game.

Food Lion brought the game “Cooking Mama: Cookoff,” which allows players to virtually prepare meals.

The nursing home has a cooking class, Scales said, but some patients aren’t allowed to use the stove.

“So now they can. They can’t get burned on (the game),” Scales joked.

Having a Wii does no good without a television to go with it.

So the group also brought two televisions – one of which was donated anonymously.

The 32-inch television will stay in the rehabilitation room, Scales said. The 27-inch one can be wheeled into patients’ rooms.

Alease Hayes, 61, was excited to see her presents: a throw blanket, socks and a radio.

Hayes said her daughter and her sisters visit her at the nursing home.

But receiving the gifts from Food Lion showed “that somebody cares about me,” she said.

Ruth Petty, 87, said she couldn’t believe the amount of gifts piled up in the dining room of the nursing home.

Petty’s daughter, Susan Dekok, celebrated with her mother at the Brian Center on Thursday.

Dekok, who lives in the Woodleaf community, said she visits her mother almost every day. She will take Petty to her home on Christmas Day, she said.

Dekok said she knew the celebration and gifts meant a lot to the nursing home patients.

“This is a lot of stuff,” she said.

The day meant a lot to Ted Keziah, 63, who has lived at the Brian Center for almost a year.

After Keziah fell down a cement staircase in 1991 and damaged the speech center in his brain, doctors thought he would never talk again, said his sister, Doris Robinette.

He also had a stroke.

“Our mother waited on him hand and foot,” she said.

But their mother, 90-year-old Lucille Keziah, couldn’t do it anymore, Robinette said.

So mother and son both went to live at the Brian Center. They’ve been there since January.

Robinette said the activities at the nursing home, like the Christmas party, have been great for her brother.

“He smiles and everybody loves him,” she said. “Before, he was depressed.”

Ted Keziah has regained the ability to talk.

He enjoys taking part in gatherings at the nursing home. He likes to be out of his room, Robinette said.

“Mom says, ‘He never stays home anymore,’ ” she said, laughing.

As for the gifts, Robinette said she was grateful for the show of support for her family.

“I just think it’s wonderful,” she said.