In a tragic turn of events, the American Council on Exercise released the results of a 2008 study, which revealed that WiiSports burns fewer calories than actually playing the real sport equivalent. MTVMultiplayer found the results via the PDF that was released yesterday. The meat of the findings was in this passage:

Compared to golfing at a driving range (3.9 calories per minute), playing Wii Golf burned 0.8 calories less per minute. Actual bowling burns nearly twice as much (7.2 calories per minute) as Wii Bowling, while baseball burns 7.3 calories per minute and Wii Baseball burns 2.8 calories per minute less. Similarly, Wii Tennis burns 2.8 calories per minute less than the actual game (8.1 calories per minute). Finally, Wii Boxing burns about 3.0 calories per minute less than conventional sparring at 10.2 calories per minute.

Captain Obvious was so busy with the nature of these findings, that he forgot how to fly and ate some pavement. Captain Obvious will be fine after his accident, but you may not be if you consider WiiSports a part of your exercise regimen. I have to say, as a gym addict, nothing can possibly replace what free weights, elliptical machines, or treadmills can do for your body in terms of calorie burning. A point of interest from the study reveals that they made participants in the WiiSports part actively play the game. That means, no sitting on the couch and waggling.