HopeLab 2.0: Re-Mission & Virtual Heroes Tackle Cancer Together (#G4H09 Wrap-up)

I finally got a chance to meet Richard Tate (right in photo) of HopeLab, a non-profit organization that aims to "improve the health and quality of life of young people with chronic illness', is teaming up with online virtual world creator Virtual Heroes to produce Re-Mission 2.0. Listen also to how their physical activity monitor, GDitty, is going through a second phase of testing.

June 11, 2009

HopeLab and Virtual Heroes Team Up to Create Next Version of Re-Mission™ Video Game for Teens with Cancer

Project funded in part by Vivendi, the Annenberg Foundation and
the Lance Armstrong Foundation

Boston, June 11, 2009 — HopeLab and Virtual Heroes today announced a collaboration to develop the next version of the breakthrough Re-Mission™ video game for young cancer patients. The project is funded in part by HopeLab partners Vivendi, the Annenberg Foundation, and the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

“Re-Mission has proven that strategically designed video games can be powerful tools in healthcare,” said Fred Dillon, director of product development at HopeLab. “We’re delighted to be working with Virtual Heroes to create a new version that is even more fun and engaging and that amplifies the game’s positive health impact for young people with cancer.”

“Virtual Heroes is honored to have been selected by HopeLab for this project,” said Jerry Heneghan, Managing Director, Virtual Heroes. “Our collaboration on the next Re-Mission video game will be both a creative challenge and an exciting opportunity to develop a fun, biologically-based game that works to improve the health of young cancer patients.”

HopeLab has contracted with game developer Virtual Heroes to create a new version of Re-Mission that incorporates insights from research and direct feedback from young cancer patients collected since the 2006 release of the original game. The announcement was made at the Games for Health Conference being held June 11 – 12 in Boston. At the conference, HopeLab also will be presenting a session titled “Creating Games That Work.” The session offers insight into the highly iterative, customer-focused, research-based process for health games development pioneered by HopeLab. This process and its results have been documented in the medical journal Pediatrics and in the International Journal of Learning and Media. ^1,2 The conference session will also highlight the importance of strategic partnerships in these efforts.

¹ Kato, P.M., Cole, S.W., Bradlyn, A.S., Pollock, B.H. (2008). A Video Game Improves Behavioral Outcomes in Adolescents and Young Adults With Cancer: A Randomized Trial. Pediatrics, 122: e305-e317.

² Tate, R., Haritatos, J., Cole, S. HopeLab’s Approach to Re-Mission. International Journal of Learning and Media; 2009 1(1): 29-35.

About the Re-Mission™ Video Game

Re-Mission™ combines biologic accuracy with an honest depiction of the challenges faced by young cancer patients. Through fun, interactive game play, Re-Mission illustrates what occurs inside the bodies of young cancer patients and how they can most effectively fight their disease. Results from the largest randomized, controlled study of a video game intervention ever conducted showed that playing Re-Mission improved treatment adherence and boosted cancer knowledge and self-efficacy in teen and young adult cancer patients.

HopeLab has distributed more than 142,000 free copies of Re-Mission in 81 countries worldwide since its release in April 2006. Re-Mission is available to download or order online at www.re-mission.net. Re-Mission is also distributed through partnerships with organizations that support HopeLab’s commitment to provide Re-Mission free of charge to young cancer patients, including CIGNA HealthCare, the ESA Foundation, and Starlight Children’s Foundation. Re-Mission is rated T (Teen) by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board. Development of a new version of Re-Mission is currently underway and is sponsored in part by Vivendi , the Annenberg Foundation, and the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

About HopeLab

HopeLab is a non-profit organization founded in 2001 by Board Chair Pam Omidyar. HopeLab combines rigorous research with innovative solutions to improve the health and quality of life of young people living with chronic illness. HopeLab applies a research-based, customer-focused development model to create products that address chronic illnesses in young people, including cancer, obesity, major depressive disorder, sickle cell disease and autism. For more information, please visit www.hopelab.org.

About Virtual Heroes

Virtual Heroes, a division of Applied Research Associates Inc. creates Advanced Learning Technology (A.L.T.) solutions for the Healthcare, Federal Systems and Commercial markets. These collaborative, interactive learning solutions leverage simulation and digital game-based paradigms to accelerate learning, increase proficiency and reduce costs. Virtual Heroes applications facilitate highly interactive, self-paced learning and instructor-led, distributed team training on the Virtual Heroes (A.L.T.) platform using the Unreal® Engine 3 by Epic Games. Virtual Heroes’ many accomplishments include work on America’s Army®, Pamoja Mtaani™, Hilton Ultimate Team Play™, VirtualPeace™, 3DiTeams™, Zero Hour: America’s Medic™ and the upcoming official NASA game: Astronaut: Moon, Mars & Beyond™. Virtual Heroes is located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. For more information, please visit www.virtualheroes.com and www.ara.com.

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Sam Yohannan - Physical Therapy - Video game reh

Live cam interview with Sam Yohannan of New York - Presbyterian: University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell

Mobile post sent by ExergameLab using Utterli.  Replies.

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Are You AWare of Your Fitness Levels?

Another vendor on hand at the 2009 Games for Health Conference (Biray G4H09 Blog) in Boston was AWare Technologies of nearby Cambridge, MA. They showcased primarily 3 pieces to their company including the ActionTracker (waterproof triaxial accelerometer), ActionTracker Steps (web-based interface to track "steps"), and StepTrak Lite (iPhone app that integrates with MapMyWalk). I recently spoke with Becky Lockwood, Director of Sales and Marketing & Human Performance and she walked me through some more features as well as how companies are using their technology to improve and inspire others to be active.
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Game Fit Cross-Trainer: Slide Your Way To Health

Will the GameFit Cross-Trainer be the next great exergame / "Game Changer?" In Boston at the Games for Health Conference, I spoke with VisionQuest International CEO Brent Meldeau about their Game Fit Cross-Trainer which is planning to debut sometime in early 2010. The images and video are from early prototypes so it will be great to see what they can pull together in terms of product and game play. In the days to come, I will post the audio from my interview with Brent, but in the meantime check out one way you can slide your way to better health. FYI - Sliding can be an excellent way to burn a lot of calories and it is a low-impact activity (easy on joints).

The StepSlider (GameFit Cross-Trainer prototype) is a "Low Impact", "High Intensity" Aerobic Exercise Device. StepSlider, "The Ultimate Interval Training Device" is comprised of two aerobic steps with a slick concave slide board which attaches to the upper most part of each aerobic step whereby the exerciser may either exercise with the step portion only, slide portion only and/or combine the two exercise's together.

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Biray Alsac: Drawing Parallels between Web 2.0 and G4H (#G4H09 Wrap-up)

Here is Biray's presentation from Games for Health 2009 from Boston, MA. Entitled "Drawing Parallels between Web 2.0 and Games for Health" Biray outlined the importance of leveraging Web 2.0 technology to support healthy initiatives and community engagement. She truly embodies her commitment to helping her peers and students engage in meaningful activities and exercise. Check out her Webpage, Twitter, and LinkedIn profiles.

Here is her description of her session:
How do certain Web 2.0 technologies impact people’s health and fitness decisions? Are the audiences who spend hours of screen time in online destinations like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Second Life similar to the audiences who are drawn to exergaming and other games for health? Which outcomes from playing video games parallel those who micro-blog, engage in online social networks and nurture their avatars in virtual worlds? As programmers and researchers, what can we learn from making these observations?

Since the advent of broadband technology and the increased prevalence of wireless networks, the web has evolved into a powerful, interactive and ‘real-time’ environment – allowing content to be much more user-centric and user-generated. And because of this shift in digital culture, more fitness professionals are embracing online tools to create everything from fitness podcasts to cyber coaching sessions.

The objective of this brief, informal session is to bring these ideas to the forefront of our conversations, as they relate to games for health. More research is needed in this area and potential collaborative efforts could benefit from having gaming/web-based hybrids.

Drawing Parallels between Web 2.0 and Games for Health

View more OpenOffice presentations from Fittmaxx Institute.

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Exergame Lab Radio Interview Into Tomorrow: Games for Health 2009

Here is the broadcast of the 2nd hour of the Graveline Radio show. Check out the rest of the broadcast and interviews at the David Graveline Into Tomorrow Radio Show.

Be sure to catch the interviews with Ole Petter Høie, Managing Director – Positive Gaming, Kyle Ward, Musician/Engineer – Positive Gaming, Gary Florindo, President & CEO – LIGHTSPACE Corp., Jerry Heneghan, Managing Director – Virtual Heroes, Seth Sivak, Chief Product Officer – Deep End Interactive, Ben Sawyer, Co-Founder – Games For Health Project, and JoAnna Darst, Project Manager – Humana Games for Health.

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Games for Health 2009

Where to begin....??? The Games for Health 2009 from Boston, MA started out great with 2 pre-conference sessions (Accessibility & Virtual Worlds) and news that Ben & Beth were no longer taking registrations through the website or onsite. I think Ben mentioned that 350-400 people were scheduled to come and that is up from previous years. What followed was 2 great days of presentations, vendors, networking and meetings to keep all of us busy for quite some time. Keep your eyes tuned to more coverage, photos, videos, audio and recaps of some of the events.



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Augment eTable Tennis circa 1998

MIT's 1998 Smart Surface was ahead of its time, or maybe it was just on time. Either way the Ping Pong Plus project was created by "Craig Wisneski, Julian Orbanes, Ben Chun and Professor Hiroshi Ishii." and showcased regular table tennis play but the neat thing was that the ball would cause a reaction on whatever image was being projected onto the screen. Hmm - seems like today's mobile phones also have this augmented-reality feature (Click through to see the video at the end of the post). In some ways the pong pong plus project PPPP was the forerunner to the Flo Mueller's Sports at a Distance projects.


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[Via MAKE, ]



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Stephen Yang Interviewed by Dave Graveline @ G4H09

I was interviewed by David Graveline for his weekly nationally broadcasted radio show "Into Tomorrow: The Consumer Electronics & Technology Show" from the Games for Health Conference in Boston, MA. Check it out later this week. I think I am the first interview of the 2nd hour of the show.


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PS3 EyePet Crawls Into E3

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Another game that was featured last year is the Sony PS3 title EyePet featuring the PS3 Eye. It is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of using augmented reality in game consoles. We've seen AR in other technologies, but over the next few years there will be dozens of new games and consoles that will take advantage of this emerging and potentially "disruptive technology".

http://exergamelab.blogspot.com/2008/08/eyepet.html Not to be confused with Chia Pet, Pet Rock, or Tamagotchi (たまごっち) the PS3 EyePet looks to tap into our nurturing personalities. Maybe all families should have to take care of an EyePet prior to getting a real pet. With a lat 2009 release date, you'll have plenty of time to draw toys for it, roll oranges at its feet and clap to wake it up. It looks like they've incorporated the same technology from Camspace.
[Via Kotaku and Joystiq]

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Wii Sports Resort, Motion Plus (E3)

Due for a US release in July 2009, Wii Sports Resort will come bundled with the new Motion Plus controller/add-on dongle.  So unless you're really hard-pressed to get the dongle - for which none of the older Wii games are compatible (yet), or you buy the new Tiger Woods 10 (June 10 release), just buy the newer games that come bundled with Motion Plus.

[Via Kotaku,  Joystiq, ]
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Tony Hawk's Ride: Hosoi & Rodriguez Guest Appearance (E3)

Call it karma, call it lucky, call it whatever you want. Seeing an astonishing young looking Christian Hosoi in the game trailer really made me sit-up and think of all the sick tricks we tried as kids back in the day.

In my previous post about the upcoming Ride game, I must have had a serious case of cosmic karma:

Now to dig out my closet and dust off my my Van's and find my Christian Hosoi and Mark Fawcett signed boards to re-live some glory days, wipeouts and old scars

Check out more game pics at Joystiq

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Sony 3D Motion Controller with Webcam Wows E3

Video Games | PlayStation 3 | E3 09: PlayStation 3 Motion Controller

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Rick and Anton from the EyeToy development team showed off their new 3D 1:1 Motion Controller that integrates with a webcam (I would imagine the Playstation Eye).  To lots of applause, the demo goes through FPS demos, archery, fighting games as well as some fun casual games. Due to ship in Spring 2010 I will be waiting to see how this works and would love to try some of the demos.  Watching the demo I can’t stop thinking about the Motus Darwin I demo’s at last year’s Games for Health conference in Baltimore. Hmmmm? One report said that the Motion Controller does not require gyrometers or accelerometers but I will check and update this post.

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Motus Games Darwin 3D controller

Click here to see more information from E3 2009

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