Video games: “Exergaming”, which combines on-screen action with physical exercise, shows that gamers need not be couch potatoes
FROM THE ECONOMIST
IN THE heart of Silicon Valley, not far from Google’s headquarters, a new gym aimed at a teenage clientele opened its doors last September. As befits its location, it is an unusually high-tech establishment. As well as the weights and cardiovascular exercise gear, Overtime Fitness has “exergaming” equipment that combines video games with physical exercise. One controller allows ordinary Xbox games to be played using full-body movements: players exert pressure on a padded metal bar, rather than pushing buttons on a plastic controller. With another system, players stand in front of a screen and wear a belt equipped with motion sensors, controlling on-screen action with real-world movements.
Filed under: 14-18, 19-39, 30-45, diagnostic, environmental, gaming, lifestyle, motivation, movement, personal, research, science
Computer game translates physical activity into video games |
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Filed under: 14-18, 19-39, 30-45, 45-60, 5-9, gaming, lifestyle, motivation, movement, play, prevention, research
Video Games: Good for the Body, Good for the Brain
Mon Oct 1, 2007 5:48PM EDT
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Treadmills and stretching are out: Physical therapists are turning to the Nintendo Wii to help the injured and infirm get their grooves back while increasing flexibility and strength. Click on over to see a video of a 70-year-old patient looking awfully spry as he hits a few balls in Nintendo’s Wii Sports tennis game… all part of a medical therapy regimen. (more…)Filed under: 14-18, gaming, motivation, movement, object, play, prevention, research
P.E. Classes Turn to Video Game That Works Legs
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Children don’t often yell in excitement when they are let into class, but as the doors opened to the upper level of the gym at South Middle School here one recent Monday, the assembled students let out a chorus of shrieks.
In they rushed, past the Ping-Pong table, past the balance beams and the wrestling mats stacked unused. They sprinted past the ghosts of Gym Class Past toward two TV sets looming over square plastic mats on the floor. In less than a minute a dozen seventh graders were dancing in furiously kinetic union to the thumps of a techno song called “Speed Over Beethoven.”
Full Body Games, by Jonah Warren (US), is a set of three video games where the player can affect the game’s action by using his or her body, free of wires and controllers.
The user�s silhouette is extracted from a video image and projected in front of him/her. The silhouette can then interact with graphic game objects such as moving colored blocks and balls.
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We Don’t Play Games for Fun
January 16, 2007 | 1:58:44 PM
If you’ve ever been asked why you play video games so much, and you answered, “Because they’re fun,” it turns out that you are, in fact, a damn dirty liar. According to a study published in the January issue of Motivation and Emotion (sounds like a chick mag to me…all those feelings), video games can fulfill a number of psychological needs, opportunities for achievement, freedom and even a connection to other players. Surprisingly, “fun” was found to be a far less motivating factor.
