That’s the conclusion of a study sponsored by The American Council on Exercise (ACE), which has just announced it’s research findings.

Conducted exclusively by University of Wisconsin, La Crosse Exercise and Health Program, the study, released Tuesday, shows that playing the five Wii games – golf, tennis, baseball, bowling and boxing – will burn anywhere from 3.9 to 10.2 calories per minute.

“While the caloric benefit was rather modest, the take home message from this study, as the researchers indicated, is that playing these games on Wii is better than sitting around,” said Thayne Munce, Ph.D, a professor at University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition.
The study called for eight men and eight women between the ages of 20 to 29 years old to play the Wii games as they would be playing the sports in reality. The participants played the games for 10 minute intervals, and researchers recorded their heart rates and oxygen uptake every minute.

According to the study’s results, boxing burned the most calories, compared to the other games – 216 calories for 30 minutes of play. Wii Boxing is also intense enough to qualify as a way to improve or maintain cardiorespiratory endurance, according to the Indianapolis-based American College of Sports Medicine.

At the low end, 30 minutes of Wii Golf only burns 117 calories.

However, playing a real game of golf or boxing will burn more calories, experts said, and the skills used for playing Wii sports and playing real sports are not necessarily the same.

“While many of the Wii Sports games are fairly realistic, one should not mistake the skill set required to be successful in these games with the real thing,” Munce said. “I don’t think that anyone is going to become an all-star baseball player by skipping practice and playing their Wii.”

On the upside, Wii Sports are a great alternative for people, like senior citizens, who cannot play sports because of physical ailments.

“If we can get these older people to engage in a variety of movement activities, we can help them maintain better joint mobility,” said Cedric X. Bryant, Ph.D., chief science officer at ACE.

Interestingly enough, adults are more frequently the purchasers and players of Wii and its games, according to Chicago video game merchants.

“I don’t see many kids coming in here looking for Wii games,” said Cordero McCalure, an 18-year-old senior game adviser at the GameStop in the South Loop. Since the Wii was released in 2006 – and sold with the Wii Sports game as a package – more adults have purchased it than kids, he said.

Best Buy employees in the South Loop agree that more adults play with the Wii than do kids, but it’s hard to tell if adults are buying it for themselves or for their kids.

Nintendo’s newest Wii gadget, Wii Fit, is specifically targeted to adults as a workout device. And ACE is already researching its potential health benefits.

Even though kids are the stereotypical video game users, it appears that Wii games which promote physical activity are ultimately more popular with adults.

Xbox and Playstation 3 are more popular with kids, according to McCalure, because, “You can sit down and play instead of doing all the movements.”

“Kids don’t want to play the Wii,” he said.

Via: Medill Reports

Nintendo’s upcoming Wii MotionPlus accessory for the revolutionary Wii Remote controller again redefines game control, by more quickly and accurately reflecting motions in a 3-D space. The Wii MotionPlus accessory attaches to the end of the Wii Remote and, combined with the accelerometer and the sensor bar, allows for more comprehensive tracking of a player’s arm position and orientation, providing players with an unmatched level of precision and immersion. Every slight movement players make with their wrist or arm is rendered identically in real time on the screen, providing a true 1:1 response in their game play. The Wii MotionPlus accessory reconfirms Nintendo’s commitment to making games intuitive and accessible for everyone. Nintendo will reveal more details about the Wii MotionPlus accessory and other topics Tuesday morning at its E3 media briefing.

Via: MTV Multiplayer

Check out Motus’ Darwin controller being played with Tiger Woods PGA 08 on XBox.

Looks pretty impressive, check it out and also visit the official Motus site.

Via: Neo Geo

Apparently Custom Play Golf, one of the most realistic golf games on the PC is making their way to the Wii Q1 2009. Called CustomPlay Golf 2009 it will be published by Lexicon.

From the forum we have a little nugget of information from Dean Baker of CPG:

It’s very early days for the Wii version but it will probably use a modified version of the engine and we would want to offer online play for sure.

The deal we have with LiveCaddie means we get courses licenses, Kungsangen came from them and some others will follow.

Check out the rest of the forum discussion thread.

Here is a little more information from Nintendic:

Lexicon is aiming to make the follow-up to CustomPlay Golf 2 the most feature-rich golfing title out there, complete with 15 full-sized championship courses; crazy and mini golf extras, driving ranges, and play mechanics based on realistic physics. There will also be a substantial customisation editor, allow players to create a player and shape it to their heart’s content.

“We are excited to be working with the CustomPlay Golf team as their experience and knowledge in the creation a golf game is exceptional. Lexicon Entertainment believes they can create a new unique benchmark as they truly understand the most important nuances of this great sport and we believe a golf title that will have gamers coming back for more,” said Christopher Allcroft, President of Publishing for Lexicon Entertainment UK Ltd.

“We are pleased to be working with a publisher who shares our vision of creating the best golf game going. Our goal is to create the most realistic golf game and to add as many options and varieties of the game as we can! We also look to work closely with our fanbase to keep improving everything we do and we will continue to strive for perfection. We strongly believe Lexicon to be the perfect partner to help us take our game to a much wider audience,” said Dean Baker, CustomPlay Games Ltd.

Personally, I think for the realism issue the swing mechanics need to be razor sharp. Perhaps with a niche golf focused game, they can get it right, but personally my feeling is the sensitivity (or insensitivity) of the Wii remote hardware is letting us down here.

What every it is, if we can get the licenses of all the courses with gorgeous graphics, and good online play, I’m pretty pleased. Do stay tuned for more Wii-Golfing news here at WiiGolf.net.

Once again a big thanks to Spikel for the heads up!

A fun party golf game, ah, I supposed news worthy, but not likely for those looking to get that Single Handicap on the Wii!

Crazy Mini Golf will have 74 holes in 4 wacky courses to play through and features different game modes including Single Hole, Championship Challenge and the Crazy Golf Tour.

Gameplay will take full advantage of the Wii’s motion controls with two different play modes. Beginners can press the A button when the shot is lined up, then swing their arm golf style and press B just before hitting the ball. For real mini golf fans, there is the sim mode where how you hit the ball and how hard you hit the ball is fully motion controlled.

Via: ThatVideoGameBlog and Wiibite.

I love it! Get yours with your purchase of We Love Golf from the Capcom store.

Via: Wiifanboy

Teeing off with Tiger! Graphics look damn good and crisp. It looks like they brought back the Green grid plane that makes it easy to track the lie. Also it seems there is a power bar that allows you to track the power of your putting stroke. Nice.

Some great shots to showcase the new one to one ratio swing. You can now stop mid swing, or for example, at the top of your back swing. Reminds me of Golf 101 class! The chip/flop shot looks fixed as well. However that ability to stop on that back stroke to control your power does concerns me on the realism factor, but I guess the choice is up to the player.

Finally the new party mode with mini games for all to play. The ball tug, where players can influence the flight path of golf shots looks fun.

I am going to get it for sure! Now I just have to wait for that PAL translation to get done. BAH!

I know we last reported that Hank Haney was going to be in Tiger Woods PGA 09, but we had no information on the swing mechanics for the game.

Fret no more! I’m please to report to you that IGN’s has a great write up on this nagging issue in their recent hands-on preview of Tiger Woods PGA 09.

We’ve got some great news to report, though. EA has gone back do the drawing board with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 for Wii and the end result is a game of golf that feels both much more tailored to the Big N’s platform and more polished than it ever has before. You will notice this newfound presentational finesse from the moment the game boots complete with a new interface overhauled with pointer-ready menus, and even better, enhanced in-game graphics. And when you pick up the remote to drive the ball, you’re going to see Tiger’s swing move at a one-to-one ratio with your own — finally.

I wonder why it took EA that long to fine tune the swing mechanics?

The major improvements to this year’s game aren’t accidental. While EA Redwood Shores handled previous iterations of PGA Tour on Wii, Florida-based Tiburon took over duties for 09, erecting a 30-man team dedicated to the Nintendo version. “We decided to move development over to Tiburon mainly because the 360 and PS3 versions of the game are made here,” explains Greg Rinaldi, development manager, Tiburon. “It’s really just one big Tiger team now. One big family, you could say. Although the Wii team is kind of split off a little bit. We do share a little bit with the other guys, but we’re pretty much separate because we want to treat the Wii title as its own thing. It’s got its own set of plusses and challenges.”

Ah it looks like Tiger Woods 08 was a just place holder, until they got their act together and have the new team up and running and firing on all pistons.

More of Tiburon’s take on the swing:

The team at Tiburon took a hard look at the previous Woods titles and decided that they really needed some work, starting, of course, with the swing mechanics, the most important element of any videogame golf experience. “That’s the backbone of the game, the swing. It’s something that we took a really hard look at this year because if that’s not right, the rest of the game falls apart. We took a look at what was done in the past and we felt that it needed some serious overhaul, so we basically almost rewrote the whole thing from scratch this year. And we’ve created a real one-to-one relationship between the Wii remote and the actual golfer’s swing on-screen,” Rinaldi says. “So you’ll notice that as soon as you engage the swing by pointing the remote down and holding the B button, as soon as you start to pull back on the Wii remote, your golfer will do the same. That allows you to really dial in the power percentage that you want. You know, you can actually try to find, well, where’s 80 percent of my backswing? Where’s 100 percent of my backswing? You’ll still have to worry about pacing and the speed of your swing because we’re trying to replicate a real golf swing. Part of it is your backswing and part of it is your pacing. But if you can time it and get the feel of it, you’ll really be able to nail it. It does have a little bit of a learning curve, but once you get over that, it just feels so good. It feels so natural. And we’re having a blast playing it here.”

Not only that the system allows you to Draw AND Fade!

Take your standing position. Twist the Wii remote left and inward to add draw, pull back the controller and make your swing. If you’ve done it correctly, the ball will curve to the left. To add fade, twist the controller outward and make your swing. Done. And combined with the one-to-one system, you’ve got one of the most realistic golfing sims available.

Hmm not the way a real golfer does it, but it is a lot better that the previous titles and the other “kiddy” golf games out there.

Thankfully, there is another alternative. You can manually set draw and fade with the Wii remote when you preview your shots. Hold the A button and the camera will sweep over the course and toward the area at which your ball will land.

Well you can’t beat them all? As long as you have the ability to control the power and pacing of the swing, that is good enough for me. Especially in regard to that horror Chip shot bug in Tiger Woods 07.

In normal swing mode, it’s very difficult to accidentally add draw or fade. Your drives will usually fly straight unless you really slice them. And you can manually add draw and fade at the lie. In advanced mode, your swings are measured more precisely and every nuance could reflect positively or negatively on your drive. In other words, it’s extremely easy to flub a shot if your swing is not absolutely straight, but it’s also much easier to add draw and fade without really twisting your remote inward or outward. In advanced mode, you aren’t able to manually add draw and fade at the lie — it’s an option made specifically for purists who don’t want any traditional assistance.

Finally, some difference in the two modes. I could never tell what they did in the earlier Tiger Woods PGA versions. They both played out the same for me.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is the All-Play control option — a setup very clearly created for videogame novices. Rinaldi often cites younger brothers and grandparents, not to mention kids, as the prime candidates for the control configuration, which can be accessed in-game at any time.

I think this is a big one, not only will it cater to many types of players, but the ability to switch it on the fly is powerful, and people can just jump on and off the game anytime even playing with different settings. This increases the group game play experience element by leaps and bounds.

Well all the rest of the bells and whistles are there, a quick stroke game or a full blown PGA career, Tiger Challenges, the ability to jump right into the FedEx Cup, and of cause Hank giving you tips and tutorials in the fully developed club tuner.

However let wrap up this discussion with one last big news, we not are able to run a flight of 4 players ONLINE!

Woods returns to Wii this year, though, with full online play. Not just one against one, but four-player simultaneous play online. “We brought online Tiger to the Wii for the first time this year. It’s something I know people have been asking for and we’re really excited about it. We decided to bring in simultaneous online play. The reason we decided to go that direction is because an online match with four people and 18 holes can take, you know, three hours. So we decided to go the other way and allow people to play all at the same time and it allows you to get through 18 holes in the same amount of time with four people as it would with one person,” explains Rinaldi. “The cool part about that is that you actually still see the other players. You can see their shot arcs, you can see where they are, you can see their score, so it feels like you’re all playing together, but you’re not waiting for them to take their turn. You’re not watching somebody setting up their shot. You’re just playing through. It’s much more of a real-time experience.”

Honestly, I did not quite get how this co-playing would pan out, I supposed you dont have to worry about the slower players, and you just get to play your own game. Regardless it is a good first step, and I can see the potential there.

In conclusion, I am looking forward to this version of this game franchise, and will be doing a full review when I get is. So do stay tune to WiiGolf.net for the latest in Wii Golf action!

Do check out the full article at: IGN

A BIG Thanks to WiiGolf.net reader Spikel for the heads up!

But behind the success of the Wii lies a dirty secret, says GameFunk: That very few quality games are being made for the console. In fact, if you look at the aggregate reviews, most of the games suck. Sure, Wii has some standout titles (Super Mario Galaxy is a classic, one of my favorite games in recent years), but most of the great games have come from Nintendo itself, not from third-party developers.

Via: Yahoo! Tech