“Patients become so engrossed mentally they’re almost oblivious to the rigor,” said James Osborn, a physical therapist at a rehabilitation center in southern Illinois. Wii Sports games call for players to move their body similarly to movement exercises in physical therapy, which is why several physical therapists are incorporating “Wiihabilitation” into patient recovery in the United States and in several other countries such as Canada and Germany. Unlike most video games that rely on players sinking into the couch, the nature of Wii Sports gets people standing and involved in physical exercise. Of course, today, it seems that players are a bit rusty with their skills and are having difficulties meeting their old records. After earning 1,000 skill points in a sport, players get upgraded to the “pro” level status and unlock features like the glorious sparkly bowling ball and the silver boxing gloves.

Wii Sports monitors each player’s progress, awarding them with skill points when they win and docking them down when they lose. It was a close match, but O’Brien emerged with an upset victory. Later, in a 2007 episode of “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” Conan O’Brien competed head-to-head with the tennis legend Serena Williams. As much as we would all love to see this competition go down, video evidence of this episode is mysteriously missing from the internet. On an episode of “ The Colbert Report” in 2006, Stephen Colbert challenged Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to a boxing match. Using the motion-sensor remote, players mimic the actions of these sports such as swinging a baseball bat or throwing a bowling ball. The game is a collection of five different sports simulations: tennis, baseball, bowling, golf and boxing.

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