Shaun White brings snowboarding (game) to Norwood Elementary in L.A.

News item: Olympic gold medalist Shaun White visits Norwood Elementary School in Los Angeles as part of Ubisoft's effort "to get kids excited about physical fitness" by "hitting the slopes" on a balance board that comes with White's new video game: "Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip," which will be released Sunday.

Reaction: What's wrong with this picture? Isn't a key element in the fight against obesity to lure kids away from video games and into the great outdoors or, in this case, onto the real slopes?

Granted, the interactive game requires some physical effort and gives users a glimpse into the active snowboarding lifestyle. But this effort smacks of marketing gimmickry. It would be far more admirable if Ubisoft, which will visit two more Los Angeles schools in this campaign, were to give free lift tickets and equipment rentals to the students. But then, that's probably not wise business strategy for a maker of video games.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo: Shaun White celebrates after a gold medal-winning performance in the superpipe competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Italy. Credit: Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times