Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Hop! To Happiness & Health (exergame)

Click here to read Hopscotch Hero

Although this is an older installation, it reminds me of the simple games we all played when we were growing up. It's interesting to play these games with students now because they haven't grown up playing them. Hop! was created by Tinker for the 2009 Kinetic Art Festival. Can simple games like Hop! inspire more movement and social interactions?  Can more than one person play on it a time?  It sort of reminds me of Modular Interactive Tiles (formerly Therapy Tiles) from Henrik Lund and Lightspace Play Floor & Wall.

the installation consists of a vertical light display that reflects and responds to play happening on a chalked-out hopscotch game on the ground. users play the game as usual and can watch as their actions on the ground are translated onto the colourful display. [Via Gizmodo]

Hop from Tinker on Vimeo



Monday, July 19, 2010

UFO Balance Catcher (exergame)


One of the most frustrating parts of those crane games you see all over the place offering you a "chance" to win a DS, stuffed toy, or video game is that the crane fingers couldn't hold a cotton ball. Well if you thought it was hard to win with a regular hand-controller, now try doing it with a Balance Board (a la Wii) on Sega's crane redemption game UFO Balance Catcher. [Via Kotaku, StartPlayRest]

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Behavioral Challenges in the Management of Childhood Diabetes - William Clarke, M.D - NIH Virtual Reality Workshop

  
Download now or listen on posterous
100715_002.mp3 (7757 KB)

 

Here is Dr. William Clarke presentation Behavioral Challenges in the Management of Childhood Diabetes at the Workshop on Virtual Reality Technologies for Research and Education in Bethesda, MD. Also keep updated by following my tweets or the hashtag #nihvrobesdiab

 

Posted via email from ExerGame Lab's posterous

Friday, July 16, 2010

Health Interventions Research Using VR (Exergaming) by Dr. Ernie Medina - NIH Virtual Reality Workshop

  
Download now or listen on posterous
100716_004.mp3 (4777 KB)
Here is Dr. Ernie Medina's Health Interventions Research Using VR - at the Workshop on Virtual Reality Technologies for Research and Education in Bethesda, MD. Also keep updated by following my tweets or the hashtag #nihvrobesdiab

Posted via email from ExerGame Lab's posterous

Ben Sawyer "Games for Health" presi at NIH Virtual Reality Workshop

  
Download now or listen on posterous
100716_003.mp3 (7269 KB)
Here is Ben Sawyer's presentation "Games for Health" at the Workshop on Virtual Reality Technologies for Research and Education in Bethesda, MD. Ben is keeping the exergaming term alive and well in his presentations. I've also included Ben's recent Google Talk presentation. Also keep updated by following my tweets or the hashtag #nihvrobesdiab

Posted via email from ExerGame Lab's posterous

Virtually Creating the Mindless Habit - Dr. Brian Wansink at NIH Virtual Reality Workshop

  
Download now or listen on posterous
100715_000.mp3 (6986 KB)

Here is Dr. Brian Wansink's (Cornell) Virtually Creating the Mindless Habit presentation at the Workshop on Virtual Reality Technologies for Research and Education in Bethesda, MD. Also keep updated by following my tweets or the hashtag #nihvrobesdiab

Posted via email from ExerGame Lab's posterous

Thursday, July 15, 2010

NIH Workshop on Virtual Reality Technologies for Research and Education

I am enjoying the presentations being given at the Workshop on Virtual Reality Technologies for Research and Education in Bethesda, MD. Also keep updated by following my tweets or the hashtag #nihvrobesdiab

Here is the schedule of the leading experts in Virtual Reality and Treatment of Obesity & Diabetes.

Workshop on Virtual Reality Technologies for Research and Education in Obesity and DiabetesVirtual reality uses multimedia content. Appli...

Virtual Reality (VR) technologies (human interaction with computer-simulated environments) have been developed for surgery, rehabilitation medicine, and behavioral medicine, and also might be useful in linking visual and other sensory aspects of food and exercise with the user’s internal cognitive and emotional states. This workshop will explore the research potential of VR technologies as tools for behavioral and neuroscience studies in diabetes and obesity, and the practical potential of VR technology in fostering more effective utilization of diabetes- and obesity-related nutrition and lifestyle information.ion in Obesity and Diabetes

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Saturday, July 10, 2010

Vinyl Record Exergame Spins Me Right Round Like a Record Baby

The Run-Around: Huge Vinyl Record = Tough Workout:
Theo Watson is at it again by making Vinyl Workout project the next possible music-based exergame.  Once a song is selected (no idea how that happens), you walk along the projected image of the record (I know old school for some us) and the song play faster or slower according to your walking/jogging/running speed - literally spinning you right round like a record baby.  Is there a threshold limit at each end of the speed spectrum? Running backwards makes the song play backwards,  as it is a "virtual" augmented representation of our old turntables without true a physical interface. We've seen plenty of Wii based DJ controllers but none that involves walking.


Vinyl Workout from Theo Watson on Vimeo.
WIBC (Wouldn't It Be Cool) to have a couple of of these turntables running side by side for DJ's to operate and use in a club.  Now that would be some really cool sweaty beat-mixing!  OK Theo - you have your next project!

Theo Watson's work has been featured before here on the ExerGame Lab for his interactive installation Funky Forest. More from Theo Watson on Vimeo

[Via Gajitz]

Swinxs Gets Gamers Away From Screens and Moving With Friends (Hands-on part1)

Swinxs is calling itself the first screen-free, family-friendly (and award winning) game console that uses technology to add a fresh twist to traditional play encouraging social interaction, creativity and physical game play suitable for in-and-outdoor settings.

I was lucky enough to have received a testing unit from Arnout Asjes - Managing Director for Swinxs with 40 FRID bands to test with my classes (Thanks Arnout!).  I will be giving the unit to my students to develop standard driven lesson plans that cover the 3 domains of learning (psychomotor, cognitive, and affective) but I wanted to try it out before the fall.  After charging the wireless base for at least 8 hours via the included USB cord, each unit is pre-loaded with 10 games but of course you can go online and download (for free) many other games or even develop your own games with the free SDK kit.  I will be playing with this unit for a while with my kids and others and will update this blog with my reflections and reactions.  Check back here for all the news on Swinxs via the ExerGame Lab.


Other Features
  • FREE downloadable games. (Most DLC's cost money)

Exergaming Benefits
  • Large groups of students can be active at the same time. 
  • Simple games that will be easy to play for kids of all ages.
  • Highly customizable games for the teacher to emphasize any domain or learning objective
  • The FRID XS-wristbands encased in silicone / rubber will be easy to clean.
  • For its size, the volume is surprisingly loud given that is the main method of communicating with the players. 
Exergaming Concerns
  • Included speaker might not be loud enough for noisy gyms or fields.  It would be good to have an external speaker output to be able to plug in a louder speaker. Our department has a couple of these wireless rechargeable speakers with iPod charging docks and hooking into one of those would be perfect outdoors.
Unverified
  • XS-wristbands made of silicone or rubber





Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Dance Central Wins E3 Critic Awards



Microsoft's Kinect launch of Dance Central could be the Dance Exergame that takes a place beside Eyetoy Kinetic as near full body interaction. The awards as reported by Kotaku, show yet another name for exergames (to go with active gaming, motion gaming, interactive fitness, iFitness, fitness gaming, dance simulation game, motion simulation game, video game exercise, video game fitness, motion-based video game, exertion interface, etc..).  From the footage I've seen so far, Dance Central seems to have tapped into the raw energy and simplicity of Just Dance, the inescapable rhythms and catchy beats of DDR/ Guitar Hero/Rock Band and partially into the group performance benefits of  Guitar Hero and Rock Band.  Can't wait to get this title into the Exergame Lab to test on students!


Best Motion Simulation Game
Dance Central
(Harmonix/MTV Games/Microsoft for Xbox 360)



Best Original Game
Dance Central
(Harmonix/MTV Games/Microsoft for Xbox 360)

Victoria Justice and Aria Wallace playing with...










Image via Wikipedia




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Screen Time and Metabolic Risk Factors Among Adolescents (Study)

Hardy, L., Denney-Wilson, E., Thrift, A., Okely, A., & Baur, L. (2010). Screen Time and Metabolic Risk Factors Among Adolescents Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 164 (7), 643-649 DOI: 10.1001/archpediatrics.2010.88

Objective  To examine the association between screen time (ST) (ie, television/DVD/video and computer use) guidelines and risk factors for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and fatty liver diseases in mid-adolescence.


Design  Cross-sectional.
Setting  High schools in Sydney, Australia.

Participants  Grade 10 students (N = 496; 58% boys; mean [SD] age, 15.4 [0.4] years).
Main Exposures  Body mass index, waist circumference, cardiorespiratory endurance, dietary factors, socioeconomic status, and pubertal status.
Main Outcome Measures  Screen time was categorized as less than 2 hours per day or 2 or more hours per day and calculated for weekday, weekend, and the entire week.  Fasting blood samples were analyzed for levels of high-density lipoprotein and low-densitylipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, insulin, and glucose; homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR); levels of alanine aminotransferase, glutamyltransferase, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein; and blood pressure. Abnormal results were categorized according to published guidelines.
Results  Mean ST for all students was 3.1 hours per day and for weekdays and weekend days, 2.6 hours per day and 4.4 hours per day, respectively. Boys were more likely to exceed ST guidelines than girls (odds ratio [OR], 2.71; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.67-4.38). There were no significant associations between ST guidelines and metabolic risk factors among girls. After adjusting for potential confounders, boys who exceeded ST guidelines on weekdays were more likely to have elevated HOMA-IR (adjusted OR, 2.42; 95% CI, 1.11-5.28) and insulin levels (adjusted OR, 2.73; 95% CI, 1.43-5.23).
Obesity Campaign Poster
Conclusions  Adolescent boys with ST of 2 or more hours per day on weekdays have twice the risk of abnormal levels of insulin and HOMA-IR compared with peers with ST less than 2 hours per day on weekdays. These results suggest there is an increased risk of insulin resistance among adolescent boys who do not meet ST guidelines on weekdays.
Author Affiliations: Physical Activity, Nutrition, and Obesity Research Group (Drs Hardy and Baur) and Discipline of Paediatrics and Child Health (Dr Baur), University of Sydney, UNSW Research Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity, University of New South Wales (Dr Denney-Wilson), and New South Wales Department of Health (Mr Thrift), Sydney, and Child Obesity Research Centre, University of Wollongong, Gwynneville (Dr Okely), Australia.
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