While a study has warned that children playing videogames could be stopping them from exercising, the Wii was praised as a "godsend".

Those in the know have again pinned something else upon videogames - and this time its the expanding waistlines of the world's children. "There is a link," said Brian Wrotniak, a doctorate fellow specialising in obesity research at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). "It's not just being sedentary. Most of the time when you are doing things like video games, you are also snacking. And those snacks are usually unhealthy."

Apparently, obesity researchers have confirmed that children who played video games are plumper than counterparts who get their fun in other ways. "To our knowledge this study provides the strongest evidence for an independent association between time spent playing electronic games and childhood obesity," said Nicolas Stettler, a pediatric nutrition specialist at CHOP who co-led the study. "Our findings suggest that the use of electronic games should be limited to prevent childhood obesity."

Stettler told AFP however that action-inducing games such as Dance Dance Revolution and those to be played on Nintendo's yet-to-be released Wii gaming console as "a godsend" in the battle to keep children physically fit. "The more we come up with things to do sitting down, the fatter we are going to be," he claims. "Either video game makers realize they have a social responsibility and move the game in a more active direction or decide they have other priorities."

Thanks to N-E reader John Tomic for the heads-up on this!