Navy Looks to Video Games to Get Recruits Fit

At the risk of setting off a wave of "This is my Wii Fit, there are many like it but this one is mine" jokes, the Navy is looking into using Nintendo's workout board to limber up its sailors. The Navy has found recruits are coming to the service less physically able and hopes that video game training can help out with that.

"There are lots of programs now that people can [use to] become very physically active while they're using interactive computer games," Navy Surgeon General Vice Adm. Adam Robinson said. "So, in other words, this isn't about [starting] with computers and stopping [everything else] -- because we're not going to do that. This is about incorporating those types of activities into something that people can use to become more physically active."

If Robinson's plan is ever implemented, games like Wii Fit and Dance Dance Revolution would complement a trooper's training regimen. So, why are people coming to the military so out of shape? Refreshingly, Robinson, who seems keyed in enough to games, doesn't blame them. He certainly could when thinking of games such as, say, World of Warcraft. Hell, even Google's Pac-Man drained 4.8 million hours of people's time in a 48-hour span.

"I have no doubt that today's youth and the people that we're talking about are capable of becoming physically fit," Robinson said. "But I think that there has been a definite difference in the amount of time that people have devoted to physical activity, and I think that is a manifestation of physical education in the school systems in America."

The Navy Times, via CNET, via GeekSugar