Reality gaming - the next big craze?

Stop press for all enthusiasts of the Nintendo Wii console, the game that allows you to control on-screen action by using a hand-held controller to imitate a bat.

A new wave of development is expected to overtake the gaming world with news of "reality gaming", the closest the industry has come to emulating the virtual world of console play.

Still in their evolutionary phase, these "extra-virtual" games, to use the jargon, rely on the game developers' ability to exploit environmental conditions that can take conventional screen-based gaming out of the living room.

The games have harnessed "green resources" to create wooden bats and rackets that, when used with balls in fields, can reproduce realistic game play.

"The real-play games have an extra dimension, allowing scope for socialising with other players. They also help to build muscle tone, team work and leadership skills. We think they have a great future," said a spokesman for the International Cricket Council, promoting its own branch of real-play in a series of test matches.

Players, however, have pointed to drawbacks. "The chances of getting injured are high," says a member of one of the leading international teams. "There is also a problem with commercial exploitation and professionalism that has introduced wage structures to something we envisaged initially as a game."

So what can they do to ease the pressure? "Some of the boys are relaxing with old-style video games," says the player. "They don't involve you quite so much as the Nintendo Wii but there's a lower risk of the damage associated with console play. I've heard of a game called "space invaders" and one guy I know is experimenting with something called tiddly winks. But that's all in the future."

See wiihaveaproblem.com

This site is not very interesting. I include the link because it exists as, sadly, does the Wii. But not in my house.