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It's fast becoming one of the world's favourite past times. Some may have given up socialising and even their vacations for it, yet according to new research (and we often wonder who actually gets paid to find out these things) surgeons perform remarkably better in the operating room if they have had a little dabbled with their favourite game before they have reached for the knife.

However - not all games played on Wii will actually work for quacks. Don't think for a minute that a doctor about to perform a kidney transplant had only half an hour ago made a down hill dash on the Swiss slopes, there are, it has to be said only certain high precision games which will help a steady hand in theatre.

Because, as if we need to be told, Wii is a physical past time. So, it has been recorded that surgeons who play certain games which require slow and steady movements of the hand, will carry out the task better on the table. Why? Simple. They are merely warming up the muscles in their wrists and hands the expensive way.

According to Banner Good Samaritan Medical Centre, doctors are better in the operating theatre when they have made scalpel skills an art form - that's nice to know.

So to stop surgeons fancying themselves on the driving range before they drive you into theatre, Wii manufacturers are spending more time and money on coming up with software which will "accurately stimulate surgical procedures."

The study took eight trainee surgeons and asked them to play a certain Wii game, called Marble Mania, (which required specific hand manoeuvres) for half and hour before then performing virtual reality surgery on another game.

Those who played the Wii games before surgery scored almost 50% more on tool control than other trainees who had not played with the Wii products initially.

Leading the research was Kanav Kohel, who told BBC News,

"You don't gain a lot from swinging an imaginary tennis racket. The whole point about surgery is to execute small finely controlled movements with your hands, and that is exactly what you get with the Wii."

Because the marble game meant that the player had to carefully guide the object around a 3D maze with a steady hand, the trainees found their hands were equally careful in virtual surgery.

Fellow researcher, Mark Marshall was certain that the games could be also used in other countries where they might not be able to afford the top of the range Wii's, meaning that surgeons there too could also train to perform difficult tasks such as keyhole surgery in real life.

The team who carried out the study is preparing to present their finds at the "Medicine Meets Virtual Reality conference" in California later this month.

...and before you ask, yes, there will be real life people there....