This time of year you should be outside enjoying yourself, so it is surprising to have a deal pop up on game machines. The Nintendo Wii -- a system that the experts didn’t think much of, and thought would just be yesterday’s technology -- has taken the market by storm. It has a unique design based on research into what would be fun to play. The Wii is way beyond a cult item; kids, adults, men, women and anyone who’s ever played with the system has been pretty much excited by it. The reason is that you engage in physical effort to play the game! If you play a bowling game with the Wii, you’re throwing your arm (and the game controller) as if you’re in a bowling alley. If you play tennis, you’re swinging the handheld console as if it’s a racket. So it actually gets you off your rear end and playing, which should make people happy about sedentary kids and adults. You actually have to get up and break a sweat to win the game.

Because of the Wii’s success, the other game machines are really now on the ropes. The Microsoft Xbox and the Sony PS3 have historically been over-priced, burdened with problems and just are not selling. Sony had been asking $600 for one of its PS3s, but now the company has cut the price so there’s a model available for $399. The PS3 also doubles as a hi-definition DVD player, which uses Blu-ray technology. So there’s a possibility for a twofer here, where you can get the game console with hi-definition DVD capabilities. But there’s one caveat: Clark advises against collecting movies to view on your PS3 before some format issues are settled between Blu-ray and its HD DVD competitor. Instead, just rent them from Blockbuster and Netflix who both carry Blu-ray DVDs. So the opportunity is there for you that you could get a deal on a PS3, and you know Clark likes that!