A British doctor received a £35000 grant in order to establish whether Nintendo‘s darling Wii is an effective retardant of Parkinson’s disease symptoms, instead of just a retardant to alien invasions and lack of Mario games, according to Eurogamer. They also quote a lady suffering from Parkinson’s disease and who appears in TV adverts for the Wii as saying that the Wii helps in relieving muscular spasms and discomfort. for anyone wishing to know whether this is merely a placebo effect or any actual information on whether the Wii actually does help more than regular exercise or other similar devices, no luck. They do quote a doctor after all though.

“if the project is successful the benefits could be twofold. it could allow us to develop a simple way to assess Parkinson’s symptoms yet provide a safe and effective way for people with the condition to be more active and keep fit.” Dr. Cathy Craig said. oh, so they want to use it to assess symptoms and they only chose the Wii to allow people an easier form of exercise. a far cry from the miracle cure it’s made out as in the article, but all to the good we suppose.