"How can Mario be mean?" says gym teacher whose school bought seven Nintendo Wiis.
Physical education teacher Don Prorok has decided that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em: "They're going to play video games anyway, we might as well steer them to the right ones."
The "right ones" in this case would be Wii Sports, which is controlled by motions instead of buttons and comes included with the Nintendo Wii game system. Prorok and other P.E. teachers convinced the administration at Chelsea Intermediate School in Frankfort, Ill. to use a grant to buy seven of the perennially sold-out game consoles, along with a total of 28 controllers. The school's Wiis are available for the entire school to play, but the P.E. classes have priority. Students can choose from any of five sports included in the game – tennis, boxing, baseball, golf, and bowling – each one controlled by swinging the Wii Remote in a life-like motion instead of merely pressing a couple of buttons.
The idea of active video games to motivate school children to exercise is certainly novel, and schools have also experimented with using Konami's Dance Dance Revolution dancing game in P.E. programs. But it doesn't hurt that Wii Sports is also completely nonviolent. "That's why I love Nintendo games, there[sic] not like shooting games," says Prorok, "I mean how can Mario be mean?"
