From Aaron Stanton,
Your Guide to Nintendo Games.
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Introduction

No matter how much we love games, there’s no doubt that a lot of people - we’ll call them the uninitiated - often attribute it to a waste of time. Never mind that there are social and psychological benefits to playing interactive games, never mind that game players show an average 30% faster reaction time than non-gamers, and that doctors that pick up the controller once a week make fewer errors during microsurgery than do those that let the controller be; games are a waste of time because we do it for fun and not to get something done.

More than that, it’s just one more activity that sets us down in front of the TV, keeping us from going outside, romping through the grass and singing songs about the music we hear in the hills. Sitting, I’m told, is an easy way to gain weight. Sitting lots, in fact, can be very bad for you. Surveys have shown that people who spend more hours each week in front of the TV are more likely to carry around a bit more weight than those that spend their time up and about, lending authority to your family member, friend, or significant other when they stroll into the middle of your latest Resident Evil 4 binge and declare, “You need to get out and exercise.”

But I'm busy right now...

Six months ago my response would have been to shrug and say something that proved just how ignorant they were about my many physical exploits. “You’re blocking the screen,” was a typical response, for example, or as a journalist sometimes I'd just say, "I'm working," and leave it at that.

Since then, though, things have changed. I still yell, “Working!” whenever I sense someone about to get in my way, but it has more authority now because I’m bigger, buffer, and slimmer than I was six months ago. I got that way by using the best exercise machines money can buy:

• a GameCube
  
  
• an Xbox
  
  
• and a Playstation 2

Turning your gaming habit into something more than just a “waste of time” is now something that every gamer should consider. Keeping yourself in shape by blending the work of exercise with the play of games might save your life one day, and that’s not an exaggeration.

New Products Make Your System Burn:

There have been a number of products introduced over the years that make exercise and gaming no longer automatically opposite activities. Most of these systems look like exercise bikes, and require you to peddle in order to make your character or car move faster. This isn’t a particularly new idea; a company called Life Fitness produced an exercise bike for the Super Nintendo way back in 1995 that did much the same thing as many of these modern systems do now. It cost nearly $3500, and never had more than two games available for the system, but it did the trick. Most people, though, myself included, aren’t interested in just racing games, or just riding a bike. Besides, I’ve seen the old Charles Atlas commercials, with the scrawny kid getting sand kicked in the face and losing the girl; I don’t want to just be fit.

I want to have muscles.

I want to be buff.

As a consequence, this article will focus on using a new exercise device called the Kilowatt SPORT, which uses isometric exercise to make you stronger and burn calories playing any game on the market. Smash Brothers? Resident Evil 4? Nearly every game can be run through this device, and not only is it fun, but it does what it claims to do. It turns your GameCube, Xbox, or PS2 into a certified exercise machine.

Kilowatt for muscle, DDR for lungs:

On top of building muscle, though, you’ll want to work that cardio as well. While you could run out and buy one of those nifty-difty exercise gaming bikes, a far cheaper and easier option is one you’ve probably heard of before. Dance Dance Revolution. Sure, it takes a little bit of practice, but this game is probably the most fun cardio workout you’ll ever experience, even if you have no sense of rhythm at all. For all you GameCube owners shaking your head, saying things like, “But there is no GameCube DDR,” well, we’re going to help you with that one too. Keep reading, and we’ll lay out how to turn your home gaming systems into a workout station that’s valuable for its longevity, offering an experience that you not only look forward to each day, but that keeps fresh with the latest game rental. A copy of DDR and the Kilowatt SPORT might be the best defense you have against the slow, creeping weight gain that stalks most Americans, or the best argument you have to that nagging voice inside that claims you should be doing something productive instead of just playing games.

Dance Dance Revolution: What's a Nintendo fan to do? -->