Move Yo’ Butt With Let’s Yoga!

I wrote a long and sprawling feature article for What They Play, a completely excellent gaming site geared towards parents. The article is called “Healthy Balance,” and it looks at the rising problem of child obesity—and debunks the popular reasons why video games shoulder the blame.

Smart people have noticed that video games make a potentially excellent gym substitute for people who don’t want to deal with the judgmental stares of cubicle lambs (ie, me and my tacky Final Fantasy VII “work out” shirt). I like Dance Dance Revolution. I plan to buy Wii Fit. People ask me why I don’t go hardcore and start jogging. I have an old knee injury that didn’t heal properly after surgery, so it acts up with repetitive stress, which jogging on hard surfaces defines. Video game fitness is a pretty customisable experience, letting me get some good exercise without sending me back to the hospital.

What especially surprised me in my research is Konami’s Let’s Yoga! and Let’s Pilates!, two portable work-out games for the Nintendo DS. I cover Let’s Yoga! in more detail in the article, but it’s a brilliant sell for anyone with a lack of time on their hands (isn’t that everyone?).

(Let’s Yoga! image copyright Konami)