“Our goal was to test the efficacy of both exergames and determine if their activities are enough to produce results that meet or go beyond recommended physical activity guidelines,” said Cedric X. Bryant, Ph.D., ACE’s chief science officer. “While we found that playing the Wii Fit burns twice as many calories as a sedentary video game, the outcome of the study suggests that Wii Sports, the Wii’s suite of exergames that includes tennis, boxing, golf and bowling, is a better option and more capable of helping consumers meet minimum intensity guidelines for exercise. On the other end of the spectrum, the Dancetown study showed a significant increase in exercise intensity and calorie expenditure for all subjects as they participated in each of the program’s increasingly difficult modes.”

When played for 30 minutes, Wii Fit’s Free Run and Island Run burned an average of 165 calories—the most out of the six activities tested—and yielded the highest energy expenditures. Rhythm Boxing expended an average of 114 calories, followed by Super Hula Hoop, Advanced Step and Free Step at 111, 108 and 99 calories, respectively. In all instances, researchers found that performing the actual activity as opposed to the virtual has a significantly higher caloric expenditure. This is especially evident with conventional step aerobics, which burns almost 12 calories per minute ACE Announces Test Results on Fitness Benefits of Wii Fit and Dancetown by typically stepping up onto a six-inch high bench, verses Wii Fit’s Free Step and Advanced Step, which burn much less by stepping up onto the one- or one-and-a-half-inch balance pad provided. Similarly, its Rhythm Boxing activity burns just one third of the calories per minute of traditional boxing.