From engadget.com:

Look out, vulnerable televisions — your worst nightmare is already up for pre-order. The two- and four-pound Riiflex Wiimote weights have escaped the "yeah right" stage and are now just months away from piercing all manners of living room fixtures. The pair (one for your Wiimote, one for your nunchuck) of two pounders will set you back $34.95, while the heftier ones run $5 more pet set. Wait, are you seriously considering these? Be honest.

From sfgate.com:

“Ubisoft’s latest Nintendo DS game can hardly be called a game.

My Stop Smoking Coach with Allen Carr breaks ground in using gaming hardware and software to tackle a particularly troublesome real-world personal challenge.

But the game, due this month, is just the latest in a growing tide of new titles, mostly Nintendo DS games, that help players achieve a personal goal or obtain a usable skill. The list includes My Weight Loss Coach, My SAT Coach, My Japanese Coach, What’s Cooking? With Jamie Oliver, Let’s Yoga and Let’s Pilates.

Call it self-help gaming.”

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From gizmodo.com:

“Lonely Japanese fatties now have a new way to make themselves lose weight: a virtual nagging wife. Metaboinfo.com allows you to set up a weight loss plan, then assign one of four “wives” (aid, businesswoman, nurse or salon worker) to email you on a daily basis.”

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From newsweek.com:

“The simplest tools, like a pedometer, are always popular. But just tracking the number of steps might become passé if fitness trends continue. Now there are ways to not only count the steps you take daily or hourly, but to compare those numbers over time and share them with others. And that’s just the start. Here are some of the best gadgets in a whole new wave of digital fitness products that use computer games, iPods and social networking applications to help you in your quest for a healthier physique:”

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From calorielab.com:

“The widely held view that the proliferation of video games, and gamers, contributes significantly to the increase in obesity among the young may have taken a serious hit to the credibility. A study by researchers at USC — which we’re betting supplied plenty of video gamers for studying — found that in the case of at least some games, specifically online role-playing games, and even more specifically “EverQuest II,” players are typically in better physical shape than the average American.

The study involved over 7,000 online responses to a survey that found, unexpectedly, that more “EverQuest II” players were in their 30s than in their 20s, that the older players logged more playing hours, and that the typical player put in nearly 26 hours per week — 29 for women, 25 for men. Even more unexpectedly, the surveyed gamers report exercising more — at least once or twice a week — than 62 percent of American adults, and based on their stated height and weight, are 10 percent leaner than the average American. “

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