Active video games otherwise known as Exergames are being touted as the ultimate cure for obesity. Refreshing, since everyone is still looking for that magic diet pill!

In contrast to traditional video games, this "active entertainment gaming system allows players to experience various activities such as bowling, fishing, tennis and golf in a virtual world" or "even take a walk or run along streets facing obstacles." In exergaming, hand controllers are eliminated and the body is used to power the game. One of the first exergames was Konami's Dance Dance Revolution (DDR), which was released in 1998.

Obesity is a global epidemic. In 2004 the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies announced that "approximately 9 million children in the US are overweight". This figure is at least double of that three decades ago. The trend observed for children is similar in adults and internationally, in both developed and developing countries. The National Health Survey England carried out between 1993 and 2006 revealed that "the number of overweight and obese teenagers in the UK has trebled in the last two decades, with nearly one in five 15 year olds now classed as obese".

Obesity is indeed a serious public health problem. A combination of many factors are responsible for this, such as environmental setups and family pressures that either or both decrease access to sports and traditional physical activities and encourage the consumption of convenience foods which are usually high in calories.

2003 statistics in England showed that the percentage of adults meeting the recommendations for physical activity declined with age for both sexes. Since the early 1990s there has been a steady increase in the use of cars and a decrease in walking and cycling to school or to work. Among children aged five to ten, the proportion who walked to school fell from 61 per cent in 1992-94 to 52 per cent in 2002-03. For adults aged 17 and over, the proportion of journeys to work where the main mode of travel was by car rose from 66 per cent in 1989-91 to 71 per cent in 2002-03. During the same interval journeys that were mainly on foot fell from 13 to 10 per cent."

Nielsen Wire reports that "the average American watches approximately 153 hours of TV every month at home, a 1.2% increase from last year. In addition, the 131 million Americans who watch video on the Internet watch on average about 3 hours of video online each month at home and work. The 13.4 million Americans who watch video on mobile phones watch on average about 3 ½ hours of mobile video each month."

Not only TV, but the presence of other media competes with traditional leisure activities. "In the last decade, computer and video game sales have increased by $5.2 billion and more than 83 percent of U.S. children age 8 to 18 have video game players." The Pew Internet & American Life Project revealed that 97% of American children play videogames and 53% of the adults play computer games. There is no difference among ethnic and income groups.

The Media Use Statistics reveals that those who do not have computers at home have a game console, such as PlayStation, Xbox or Wii. In a recent study published in the Journal of Preventive Medicine it was found that male video game players usually have higher body max index.

Research has shown that obesity increases the risks for many diseases from cardiovascular disorders, to arthritis, to sleep disorders and cancer. In children this may be associated with serious psychosocial problems. Moreover, "every day, one in three children from age 4 to 19 eats fast food." Partly to blame here is the significant "increase of fast food chains and considerable marketing that focus on children."

Exergames, perhaps, can be used positively to treat 'Globesity' and "get kids twitching more than just their thumbs." In fact, research was undertaken and revealed that children were six times more likely to take to exercise if it involved a video game. Experts think it is "a step forward in working towards reducing obesity among the young" as "electronic entertainment is not going away. So, if we want to promote physical activity in the context of contemporary society, we will have to fight fire with fire."

There are several successful exergames in the marketplace such as Xavix, X-Bike, X-Board Snowboard Simulator, Eye Toy Kinetic and WiiSport. Basically, there is a console which makes the players imitate bikers, boxers, golfers, tennis players etc. or do a particular sport such as in the case of NEXGYM which is an "interactive sports arena" where one can attend sports training like aerobics, karate and yoga.

WiiFit was the #2 selling game in 2008 with 8.31 million sold. Another popular product Gamercize connects a device, usually a mini-bike or a step machine to any video game system and is kept running only as long as the user keeps moving on the device.

Four published studies from 2007-2009 have evaluated exergaming. All of these studies involved children ranging from 6 to 17 years old and the results revealed the following:

(1) Calories burned and heart rates increase after engaging in exergames when compared with seated video games. Not a surprise!

(2) The amount of energy spent doing exergames is equivalent to doing moderate-intensity walking. This was very clearly shown from the investigations of Dr. Graf from the University of Oklahoma who compared energy use in two popular exergames with treadmill walking. Dr. Maddison and co-workers from the University of Auckland in an earlier study concluded that exergaming is "similar in intensity to light to moderate traditional physical activities such as walking, skipping, and jogging."

(3) Although the energy spent in exergaming doubles that when doing seated video gaming, the former does not equal the energy used to doing the sport itself. And Dr. Graves and co-workers from Liverpool stated that exergaming does not meet the daily requirements of exercise recommended for children.

(4) Little movement is better than no movement. Dr. Mellecker and Dr. McManus, who did a study involving primary school children in Hong Kong commented that low-intensity activity may still have positive health benefits like washing and cooking in adults.

So if the choice is between moving and not moving at all, the alternative of exergaming is indeed preferable. Whether this improves health is still questionable. After reviewing the published studies to date, researchers at the University of Birmingham in the UK concluded that there is no adequate evidence supporting the contention that exergaming positively influences children's health!

In fact, there are some downsides.

(1) Gaming or watching TV encourages consumption of unhealthy food. The importance of diet should not be taken for granted. Though better nutrition coupled with exercise has long been the favored prescription for losing weight and avoiding obesity, a new study suggests diet actually plays the key role. A longterm diet change must be associated with exergaming to achieve positive results.

(2) Exercise programs can cause injury. Exergames are no exception, experts say. They also worry that people will substitute light game workouts (such as the three-minute hula-hoop sessions on Wii Fit) for more vigorous activities (such as brisk 30-minute, real-world walks).

(3) And there is also the risk of isolation in exergames. There is now a strong correlation between video gaming and social isolation and therefore depressiveness in adults. This leads one to think: how "different" are exergames to traditional games and how do they influence our thinking process. Will exergames still encourage social interaction? Are they as satisfying as doing sports itself? A complaint of a WiiFit user is "...the virtual trainer who keeps trying to strike up a conversation with me, but it's all one sided as he never listens to me telling him to shut up and get on with the next exercise."

Dr. Holder and colleagues from the University of British Columbia published a report on the importance of active leisure undertaking to a child's feeling and well-being compared to passive video games. After all exergaming is still passive entertainment!

However, Exergames fans believe the benefits go beyond just physical activity. The influence of exergaming in acquiring basic movement skills such as balance, agility and reaction, is still being unravelled and is the object of current research at Canada's first Exergaming Research Centre.

Additionally, Linda Carson, a professor of physical education at West Virginia University, recently stated that exergaming may stimulate children to engage in outdoor sports for the first time.

Another potential of active video games is in rehabilitating people after injuries or encouraging elderly to walk and thus "learn to maintain their balance, strength and reaction to physical events."

And exergames may offer an alternative to moderate exercise for those leading sedentary lives and at high risk for obesity and diabetes. The actual benefits, however are not well-known as the current state of evidence is not really conclusive.

A trainer and mother gave these words in an article in the Boston News, "If you're not doing anything at all, then DDR ( Dance Dance Revolution) is better than doing nothing...But kids have to be creative; you're not making friends when you're sitting inside playing Wii". Exercising or playing outside is still irreplaceable.