The all new Nintendo Wii, introduced in the fall of 2006, has become a great success in the game box battle competing with Sony's Playstation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360. So what makes Wii so appealing, that they are sold out in stores within hours of being stocked. Compared to the other next generation game consoles the graphics are nothing to get exited about. What Wii has managed to do, is get people off the couch to have some fun. The new system is easy for all age groups to play from the 5 year old child to the grandmother. The other thing so appealing about the Wii is the price is about half that of the Playstation 3 or the Xbox 360. The size is also about half that of it's competitors, and with the ease of setting up it is much more portable. The popularity of the new system has caused sales to outpace supplies. The easiest way to buy a Wii is online. You can always find a vendor selling new units on Ebay.
The most innovative part of the system is the TV remote looking controller. Instead of the traditional two-handed device, the Wii's wireless controller is a rectangular device with an array of sensors, wireless transmitters, and receivers that communicate with the base station through a sensor bar. Game designers love finding new uses for the Wii Remote. In a tennis game, it becomes a racket you swing with your arm. In a driving game, it becomes a steering wheel. The possibilities are endless! The Wii Remote also packs a speaker, rumble feature, and external extension connector for other input devices, like the classic controller or the new Nunchuk with the same sensor technology.
What really makes a game system popular is the games exclusive to the system. The included game Wii Sports is an addictive tech demo that provides for tons of single and multi player fun. Tennis, golf, and baseball work just like one would expect, and when you plug in the Nunchuk the boxing mini game can really help you work up a sweat. For the more traditional hit games Nintendo has upgraded Super Mario Brothers with Super Mario Galaxy and the popular Legends of Zelda with the release of Twilight Princess. New games like Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party and Guitar Hero III has revolutionized the way games are played. Nintendo has also come out with the new Wii Zapper to use with games like Crossbow Training and Medal of Honor: Heros 2. Just slide the remote into the barrel and the Nunchuk in the rear and you are ready for any shooter game.
The Wii would not be ranked with the next generation of gaming consoles without an online component. Wii comes standard with Wi-Fi capabilities, which makes it simple to connect to a home wireless network. Once online you start with the Wii channels which include Shop, Weather, News, Mii and more. The Mii channel is where you can create 3D avatars that can interact with other Miis all over the world. In specific games, such as the included Wii Sports, your created Mii can be the main character. Up to ten Miis can be stored on a controller, so you'll be able to bring your characters to a friend's house without needing any sort of memory card. The Channel interface is intuitive and shows how even the most basic tasks can be revitalized thanks to the Wiimote.
Nintendo made the Wii a great success by making it simple and fun for everyone at an affordable price. It is also more popular in other countries. It may be hard to get, but it is well worth the effort.
For more information visit popvideogames.com
Nintendo Wii Review
Using Technology to Help Your Workout
Technology has been pushing its way into the fitness market for the past couple years. There are several gadgets that make working out more fun, and several that allow you to track progress during your workout. These gadgets range from the iPod to heart rate monitors. Video games are also being developed to make workouts more fun, both for children and adults. Following are several gadgets that you can either find on the market now, or are being developed for use in the next couple of years.
Progio Training Companion
The Progio Training Companion is a small hand-held machine that gives complete instructions for personal workout programs. These workouts have detailed instructions to provide a safe and satisfying workout. You can choose fitness, rehabilitation and sport-specific workouts that are designed by fitness experts to meet specific needs and workout goals. The Progio tracks your results, monitors your heart rate and helps to keep you motivated throughout each workout.
Workout programs from fitness sites like HyperStrike can also be downloaded to the Progio Training Companion as well as to your iTouch, iPhone, Windows Mobile device and PDA. Working out has never been so convenient!
Nike + iPod Sport Kit
Apple and Nike teamed up a couple of years ago to bring a unique sport kit to the market. This sport kit has a sensor in the Nike shoe that records information and transfers it to an iPod nano. The sensor tracks distance, time, pace, and calories burned. It syncs to the iPod, and you can track your progress through your workout as well and track it on your computer; when the iPod syncs with your computer, the information is transferred so you can track your progress over time. You can even program your iPod to give you audible progress updates in your earphones. If you want to know when you've run two miles, you can program your iPod to give you an audible update when that happens. This sport kit is perfect for anyone who wants to track their workout statistics and monitor them.
Wii Fit
The Nintendo Wii swept the market when it arrived a few years ago. Due to its interactive and completely physical style, many people have been using it for a workout. Nintendo is currently developing Wii Fit, which is an exercise program that you can complete in the privacy of your home and have fun doing it! Wii Fit will include a balance board that you stand on to perform workouts; games such as aerobics, yoga, muscle stretches, and various sports will be available. This program is perfect for those who already own the Wii; since the Wii game console is in such high demand, this can be a hard item to track down.
Dance Dance Revolution
This is another video game that has taken the market by storm as far as getting a great workout. This game has a dance pad that you step on, guided by the television screen. Many people use this as exercise, and the newer games have ways to track your calories burned as well as track your progress over time. Just recently, this game has been introduced in several schools for use by children in gym class. This game is a great way to have some fun while working out!
Various Watches
There are many watches on the market which contain gadgets such as a heart rate monitor, pedometer, and body fat calculator. These gadgets are also available individually, but many watch makers like Timex have integrated all three of these into one easy-to-use device. Most of these watches will also track distance and time, making one gadget handy and extremely useful when you are working out.
You can definitely expect the above gadgets to continue to be improved upon as technology continues to develop and grow. There seems to be more of a push for gadgets that can track most statistics throughout your workout so you can make the most of your time and know the details of your workout. With those details, it is much easier achieve your end result, whether it is that 26 mile marathon or just losing a few pounds.
Fastest Way to Lose Weight - I Hate the Treadmill!
So you've done your research on the fastest way to lose weight (because of course you want the weight off ASAP), you've started a new eating plan and you are doing great with your diet. Now you just need to add a cardio workout to your routine, but the only piece of home equipment you have room for in your home is that tedious and infamous treadmill, and you hate it! It's just so boring even with a radio or TV.
Does this scenario sound familiar? Don't worry, you are definitely not alone. Many others have been in yours shoes (including me) and have gone through the same thing, just needing some cardio to complete a daily workout, but finding running or even walking on the treadmill just insanely boring almost to the point of being intolerable.
So what can you do for your workout that doesn't seem like torture? Here are a few ideas:
One thing that may help is to break up your routine into 15-minute sessions. Run or walk for 15 minutes, then get off and do some crunches or stretching, then back on the treadmill for another 15-minute session. You can also try listening to an audio book instead of the radio or TV. I actually use this and it really helps the time to fly by. Still seems like torture but not quite as bad and doesn't seem to last as long. Download an unabridged book to your iPod and you'll have 12 to 15 hours or so of company for your workout. Alternatively, you can read a book while walking. Some treadmills come with a place to set your book and hold it in place, but otherwise you can just rig it up yourself. I've used this method before but it's just easier nowadays to download the book and listen to it. But here is a tip to hold the book open if you go with that method - just use a big hair clip.
For some people, you just need a different workout entirely. If you have a local YMCA you can head over there for a workout every other day or so and add some variation to your routine with the many machines they have. It should also help to have some company. Bring a friend if you can, as that really helps the time go by faster.
Swimming is another way you can get in your cardio. If you don't have a pool, the YMCA has this available as well.
Biking is another great alternative. But I recommend the real thing, and not the stationary bikes because I find those just as boring if not worse than the treadmills. If you have some bike trails around where you live, a bike is a great investment in your quest on how to lose weight quick because it will really burn through the calories fast. If you happen to live in an area where there are a lot of hills, that's even better. If you do think you would like the stationary bike, you can buy a device that allows your regular bike to be used in the house. I actually would prefer this rather than use those exercise bikes that have your arms going back and forth which makes no sense to me. Who rides a bike like that?
There are a number of video games out now to help you lose weight, and those are really great for cardio. There is Dance Revolution, and Wii has a new fitness "game," and there are many others available so it should be no problem to find one that will grab your interest.
Dancing is another great way to get your daily workout in and lose weight. If you are into country music, try some line dancing. Most cities have at least one country bar with a dance floor that has line dancing lessons on certain nights of the week. It's great exercise, lots of fun, and a super way to shed some pounds fast. If country is not your thing, take some ballroom dancing lessons. With all the dance programs on TV lately this has become very popular so you should be able to easily find a place to take some lessons. Great fun.
Weight Loss for Teens: a Teen Weight Loss Success Story
Teens can get into a variety of fun activities in order to lose weight. With overweight teens getting increasingly more common nowadays, finding more enjoyable ways of getting rid of excess weight.
Unique ways may appeal to more teenagers as they not only want to look at losing weight as something that they have to do instead of being something that they really want to do. Once they enjoy doing it, they have an increased likelihood of keeping it up and become more successful in trying to lose weight.
But how can you make losing weight more fun? Well, exciting activities that appeal to the teenager will likely do it. There is a story of a certain teenage girl who lost weight simply by playing a video game. Now, what can be more exciting and fun than that? Losing weight while playing a video game? This is some story that is worth listening to.
This typical teenage girl makes use of her time at the arcade to lose weight. She started playing a popular video game called "Dance Dance Revolution (DDR)" at the age of 17. At that time, she was a senior in high school and weighed about 235 lbs, pretty overweight for a teenage girl. But after four and a half years of playing the said video game, she now weigh about 140 lbs.
She couldn't even imagine just how much a video game would come to affect her health and weight concerns with positive results. The said video game even helped her grow to be a better and more self-confident teen. Before discovering the video game, she was a rather inactive person not used to go about doing such activities.
Although she was active as a member in different bands, orchestras, drama, and had already played video games, she didn't regularly get out for exercise. She became really unhappy when she realized that she was at an unhealthy weight. Just as what happens with most obese people, she started losing hope that she will ever be a normal person again when faced with the fact that she had so much weight to lose. The Internet became a form of escapism so that she didn't have to face people in person because of her overweight condition.
In college, she became increasingly unhappy being in a new environment and her weight continued to yo-yo, usually staying at around 235 lbs. Sometime around October of 2002, a fun new game version of a game called DDR USA was released that contained a ton of new songs to dance to. She tried the game out and soon became addicted to the video game with a high activity rate. Not long after, she began frequenting the video arcade almost everyday playing the video game for hours and hours.
At one point, she came to discover a website which had a Bulletin Board where people would meet online and talk about DDR and music games and she quickly became friends with the regulars. She was able to get to know friends who were able to motivate her to play more frequently and for hours at a time. It was during around this time she began losing most of her weight.
In her first six months of playing, she was able to lose 45 lbs with no change in her diet whatsoever. Once she discovered that she can find herself at a more comfortable weight again, she decided to make healthy changes in her life such as following a more healthy diet. She became more conscious of what she ate and as a result, lost an additional 20 lbs.
Playing the game regularly and coupled with a healthy diet has allowed her to maintain a healthier weight than she ever thought possible. All because she was able to enjoy losing weight by playing a video game that changed her life.
Weight Loss: a Teen Weight Loss Success Story
Teens can get into a variety of fun activities in order to lose weight. With overweight teens getting increasingly more common nowadays, finding more enjoyable ways of getting rid of excess weight.
Unique ways may appeal to more teenagers as they not only want to look at losing weight as something that they have to do instead of being something that they really want to do. Once they enjoy doing it, they have an increased likelihood of keeping it up and become more successful in trying to lose weight.
But how can you make losing weight more fun? Well, exciting activities that appeal to the teenager will likely do it. There is a story of a certain teenage girl who lost weight simply by playing a video game. Now, what can be more exciting and fun than that? Losing weight while playing a video game? This is some story that is worth listening to.
This typical teenage girl makes use of her time at the arcade to lose weight. She started playing a popular video game called "Dance Dance Revolution (DDR)" at the age of 17. At that time, she was a senior in high school and weighed about 235 lbs, pretty overweight for a teenage girl. But after four and a half years of playing the said video game, she now weigh about 140 lbs.
She couldn't even imagine just how much a video game would come to affect her health and weight concerns with positive results. The said video game even helped her grow to be a better and more self-confident teen. Before discovering the video game, she was a rather inactive person not used to go about doing such activities.
Although she was active as a member in different bands, orchestras, drama, and had already played video games, she didn't regularly get out for exercise. She became really unhappy when she realized that she was at an unhealthy weight. Just as what happens with most obese people, she started losing hope that she will ever be a normal person again when faced with the fact that she had so much weight to lose. The Internet became a form of escapism so that she didn't have to face people in person because of her overweight condition.
In college, she became increasingly unhappy being in a new environment and her weight continued to yo-yo, usually staying at around 235 lbs. Sometime around October of 2002, a fun new game version of a game called DDR USA was released that contained a ton of new songs to dance to. She tried the game out and soon became addicted to the video game with a high activity rate. Not long after, she began frequenting the video arcade almost everyday playing the video game for hours and hours.
At one point, she came to discover a website which had a Bulletin Board where people would meet online and talk about DDR and music games and she quickly became friends with the regulars. She was able to get to know friends who were able to motivate her to play more frequently and for hours at a time. It was during around this time she began losing most of her weight.
In her first six months of playing, she was able to lose 45 lbs with no change in her diet whatsoever. Once she discovered that she can find herself at a more comfortable weight again, she decided to make healthy changes in her life such as following a more healthy diet. She became more conscious of what she ate and as a result, lost an additional 20 lbs.
Playing the game regularly and coupled with a healthy diet has allowed her to maintain a healthier weight than she ever thought possible. All because she was able to enjoy losing weight by playing a video game that changed her life.
Solving Your Wii Sync Problems
Ok, let's be honest, why do we buy a Nintendo Wii?
We didn't buy it for shooters, because or playing DVDs, because then we would have bought an Xbox 360.
We didn't buy it because we wanted a powerhouse in terms of processing power and graphics, because then we would have bough a Play station 3.
I might even say that we didn't even buy it for the Mario and Zelda series. Sure, they are great games, but there are other platform and action RPGs in the other consoles as well.
No, the reason why we bought the Wii is motion. Swinging a bat, bowling, brandishing a sword, aiming your crosshair at an enemy, you name it. Mimicking the movement is much more natural and satisfying than pressing a button. That's also the reason why games like Dance Dance Revolution have had so much success (try playing Dance Dance Revolution with a normal control, see how fun it is).
The Wii remote functions with two small flat pieces of silicon that rest against silicon springs, which keep them in place. When you move the Wii remote around, the centrifuge weight of these silicon pieces is measured, registered and translated to videogame input.
Wii remotes have to be synchronized with the console in order to transmit information to them. This process is known as sync, but I'm sure you knew that. The Wii remote that comes with your console is already synchronized; however, new Wii remotes will have to be synchronized in order to use them with your console.
Likewise, if you want to use your Wii remote with another Wii console, let's say, your friend's, you will need to sync them with that console as well.
However, sometimes, Wii sync problems arise. You might find that after following the instructions, your controls are not synchronized. Or only some of them are. Another source of Wii sync problems is the fact that there are two types of synchronization, so you might have used the wrong one for the situation.
Yet another Wii sync problem is that Wii remotes that have been synchronized don't work anymore. That is, only the LED lights flash and then stop working.
Get Fit the Fun Way
The effort and stress involved in most conventional workouts discourage people from getting fit. Here are a few activities which offer you the opportunity to lose some weight while having fun.
Walking
Walking can be a very fun way to reduce weight and stay fit. In fact, experts say that walking 10,000 steps daily can help keep you healthy. Some people think that walking only exercises your feet and legs. However, you should know that walking actually helps improve your cardiovascular system, building up blood vessels so you have more oxygen stored in your blood. This helps increase your endurance and helps you keep your energy up after a long day.
When you take a walk, remember to enjoy the journey. Some people use treadmills, but that would actually be pretty boring and would seem like too much work to be worth it. When you take a real walk or even a jog, however, you'll get to enjoy observing what's going on around you. You might even manage to forget that you are exercising.
Video Games
Oh yes, there are actually video games that can help you stay fit and active. This equals to a lot of fun and a lot of calories lost. One of the most popular active video games is DDR or Dance Dance Revolution. This video game involves you stepping on a dance pad in time to instructions on the screen. Just a few minutes on DDR will get your heart pounding, your sweat pouring and your face smiling.
Another option would be the ParaParaParadise dance machine. This game is actually based on a popular dancing style in Japan called "Parapara". Although the traditional modes have specific steps to follow in order to be considered a legitimate score, the game also offers a "freestyle mode" which allows you to be more creative and be more active. Offering different difficulties accompanied by energizing music, you'll never realize you are actually exercising on this machine. A version is also available for use with Sony's eye-toy.
The Wii is the latest to come out with active video games. Using motion-sensor controllers, a gamer will actually have to move in order to play the games. You need to punch when playing boxing games, you need to swing the controller in order to wield your sword and slay the dragon.
The active video game also helps boost morale by making you feel as if you have accomplished something. There are high scores to beat, after all.
Martial Arts
Forget repetitive and seemingly-senseless movements. What discourages people from doing aerobics or other types of traditional exercise is that they can be pretty boring and actually only burn a few calories per hour.
Martial Arts, on the other hand, can help you burn as much as 1000 calories an hour! Now that is some exercise.
In Martial Arts, your whole body will stay active -this means you will be able to tone and shape every muscle in your body. What's more, this workout is far cry from being boring. You get to learn a new skill, practice it against opponents and generally focus on something other than how much weight you're supposed to be losing.
What's great about martial arts is that every move has its purpose. Whether it's knocking out an enemy or regenerating life energy, martial arts is something where all movements count. Did you know that people who begin practicing Tai-Chi during their retirement years can actually extend their active life?
Dance
Dancing is another activity where you can get fit without actually thinking about exercise. It allows you to let lose, get those muscles working and that blood pounding. Dancing is all about having fun and feeling good about your body and your moves. It's all about self expression and communication without words. Real exertion in dance can burn off as much calories as martial arts!
Dancing allows you to learn a skill and improve your overall personality. It allows you to become more aware of what you can do as a person. Dance also helps relieve stress and produce endorphins for that natural high.
Actually, various types of workouts are based on dance movements. Although these workouts pretty much focus on getting the same results as your regular exercise routine, the pacing and rhythm involved makes the exercise fun and more vigorous.
Swimming
Swimming is another activity that exercises the whole body. If you live near the beach or at least have a pool nearby, you should take advantage of the exercise opportunity. Of course, in order to keep fit with swimming, you'll need to actually move. Just lounging about in the pool will not help sculpt your body.
What's great about this activity is all the resistance you have to contend with. The water, despite supporting your buoyant body, actually causes every movement to require extra exertion. It also cools off your body. This equals to a great intense yet comfortable workout.
Why should you stress yourself when you can relax and get fit at the same time?