A new study by the University of Wisconsin La Crosse Exercise and Health Program on the health benefits of playing Wii Fit has produced shocking results: standing on a plastic board and tilting your body will not make you fit. And what's worse, no amount of flashy marketing or pictures of people doing yoga will improve Wii Fit's chances of actually making you exercise.

The problem, says Dr. John Porcari, is that the exercises in Wii Fit aren't nearly as strenuous as the ones you'd do on your own. "Step aerobics is a very good workout," he said, "but you typically step up onto a 6-inch high bench. In Wii Fit you step up onto the 1- or 1.5-inch balance pad so you're burning far fewer calories than you would in an actual step aerobics class."

Read on for Porcari's conclusion and his Wii-based alternative to Wii Fit.

In fact, Porcari says you're better off waggling to Wii Sports if you're looking to burn calories. "In Wii Sports there's more jumping around, and you're not constrained by having to stand on the balance pad. I just think there's much more freedom of movement and you get a better workout," he said.

In the end, Porcari had to give Wii Fit some credit, as it's better than doing absolutely nothing: "I guess anything is better than nothing, but we were a little bit underwhelmed with the exercise intensity of some of the exercises. The Wii Fit is a very, very mild workout."

What Dr. Porcari doesn't know is that now there's Wii Fit Plus, which surely resolves all of these problems. See, it's all about the gyroscopes.