A video game is helping seniors retain their mobility, helping wounded soldiers recover, and is fighting obesity in children.

The game is Nintendo's Wii, introduced in September 2006, a video game console with motion-sensing controllers that provides a remarkable degree of interaction between the game player and the game.

Wii has injected fun into rehabilitation programs at the Manorcare Health Services facility in Whitehall since it was introduced there a month ago, said Jim DePaolo, the director of rehabilitation there.

"It's increased socialization," he said. "The monotony's gone."

Seniors there love to play the Wii games, particularly bowling and boxing.

"They just light up," said Christine Matts-Brown, a certified occupational therapy assistant. "Their whole affect changes. You should see some of the ladies boxing!"

Brian Conely, 38, says he loves the boxing game because "I win all the time." Using a wheelchair after having been run over by a forklift at work, Mr. Conely gets a good upper-body workout throwing punches.

Joanne Maravich, 73, likes the bowling game for the same reason Mr. Conely likes the boxing game: "I'm good at it. I became high scorer," she said.

Harry Harker, 84, likes the bowling game, too: "You can be handicapped and still do it," he said.

Though the Wii games are surprisingly realistic, they don't replace traditional exercise, Mr. DePaolo said. But they've made his patients look forward to rehabilitation sessions.

The Medical College of Georgia is conducting a study to determine if Wii can be beneficial in the treatment of Parkinson's disease.

"We're hoping to show a slowing of the progression of the disease and a decrease in medication while increasing function," said Dr. Ben Herz, assistant professor of occupational therapy at the Augusta, Ga., school. "If we can teach patients to exercise and do functional activities, maybe we can have them take less medications."

Early results of the study show at least short-term gains, Dr. Herz said.

The Manorcare chain adopted Wii for use in its rehabilitation programs after reading about its use by the Army for rehabilitation of wounded soldiers, Mr. DePaolo said.

The Army began experimenting with Wii last year at its Landstuhl regional medical center in Germany. Military occupational therapists came up with the idea of using the video game even before it arrived on store shelves.

"The fact that players have to move the controller in different directions to play the game is why therapists saw some benefit of introducing it to patients," the Stars and Stripes newspaper reported last June.

There was no money in the hospital's budget to buy the Wii console, but a Navy corpsman assigned to the hospital loaned them his game, Stars and Stripes said.

Army Specialist Shawn Roberts, who broke his wrist and elbow and partially tore his rotator cuff when his vehicle rolled over in Kuwait, likes the tennis game because it involves using his wrist and elbow.

"I do all the same exercises [for rehabilitation]," he told Stars and Stripes. "But with Wii, your mind's off of it, and you do it a lot more. I was sore when I was done."

Graduate students at Carnegie Mellon University are taking Wii a step farther by incorporating a floor pad into the game.

"A few of us got together last semester," said Garth DeAngelis, 27. "We're all big fans of video games. We decided we wanted to design something active for children. We wanted to create an open-ended game a la Mario or Zelda, where the kids have to jump and run where the characters jump and run. We want to put the kids in the hero's shoes."

Seven CMU students are working on the project. Mr. DeAngelis, who is seeking a master's degree in entertainment technology, is the producer/designer. He has two programmers and four artists working with him.

Their game is still in the research phase. But tests with children indicate it's likely to be a big success. At Magee-Womens Hospital last month, children were lining up to play it, and were disappointed when the testing hour was over.

"I get to pick up stuff and run on a mat," said Gabby Payne, 9, of Penn Township. "You get a lot of exercise."

"It actually gets you to exercise," agreed John Antenucci, 9, of Pittsburgh.

"It was very fun," said Theresa Marr, 11, of Peters. "I like it more than normal video games. It takes both your arms and your feet."

The CMU student researchers hope to perfect their game in the fall semester. A game publisher has shown some interest in their research project, Mr. DeAngelis said.