Were you lucky enough to find a Wii console to put under the tree this year? Were you planning to engorge yourself at Christmas dinner tomorrow and then work off all that excess with a family session on Wii Sports?

Well, it's not gonna work, according to a study in the British Medical Journal. As summarized in a BBC article last week, Wii play increased energy output by 60kcal, a "trivial" figure according to the report. Researchers did acknowledge that playing such games "stimulated positive activity behaviours," which perhaps would encourage more frequent, more intense activity of the kind necessary for weight loss or management.

However, as I learned from reader Kevin, the article itself appears in the annual Christmas Spoof issue of the British Medical Journal (oh, those daft Brits). And apparently the BBC has a tendency to fall for these spoofs every year too, then sharing their gullibility with us stateside thanks to reprints and coverage pickups like that in Gamasutra today.

So go ahead, eat that extra score of mince pies. :)