Minister: Wii the best boost for children's intelligence

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Mr Watson, the Government's e-minister and one of Parliament's most prodigious bloggers, said the Nintendo Wii and the Microsoft Xbox can give children real educational benefits and that he had already witnessed progress in his three-year-old son from interacting with computers.

"I'd rather my boy be playing on his Wii than passively watching telly. Most games are educational. They make you think, focus, challenge and change - 500 years ago a medium that did this would be called art," the West Bromwich East MP said.

He added that a friend's eight-year-old learned how to make bronze after playing the game Runequest.

His views are at odds with several politicians who have attacked computer games. Home affairs select committee chairman Keith Vaz condemns violent games for links to real-life murder cases, and former sports minister Richard Caborn said: "We all have a role to play in encouraging young people to get out from behind their computer games and playing sport." Recent figures show a quarter of five-year-olds are overweight or obese.