A healthy mind and body without leaving your home

Here in Belgium it was mothers day on August 15th and as a gift from my kids they bought a Wii. For those of you who think it's a rude word, let me explain. A Wii is a game console made by Nintendo, sort of like the play station 3 or the x-box 360. The difference is its innovative new control scheme. Instead of using a traditional controller, the Wii relies on the Wiimote,a device that looks like a standard television remote, and the "nunchuck" attachment for it to control your games.

The system uses infrared sensors to detect the motion of the two devices. The applications of this control scheme make you feel as if you are actually holding whatever item you need to play the game,e.g. where you swing the Wiimote to swing a tennis racket or sword, aim it like a gun and shoot on screen bad guys or even tilt the Wiimote left and right to steer cars.

It was very easy to install, even by my standards, since I'm not tech savvy and I thoroughly enjoyed playing the different games like tennis, bowling and golf. So much so that I woke up the next morning with muscle ache! Nintendo has also introduced brain academy, a game which trains your brain. Initially it was only sold for the DS Lite but now I can "work" on keeping not only my body but my mind fit and healthy too.

If you think its only for the young generation, think again. My mom is 61 years of age and she enjoys playing on the Wii just as much as my kids do. This is the first game console that I have found interesting and fun to do. No more sitting on my butt trying to understand how all the different buttons work with my thumbs (with my eldest getting frustrated because I don't know what I'm doing) but good exercise in the comfort of my own home.

I use it several times a week, sometimes for pure fun, sometimes to help me relax and relieve the stress that undoubtably many people feel throughout their week. For christmas I'm going to buy myself a game called "trauma center second opinion". I've seen how it works on YOUTUBE and it looks really cool! :=)