Presenting Active Gaming at 2009 Korean Serious Games Festival

Korea Gets Serious About Games: Active Gaming Included!

I am fortunate to be headed to Korea to speak at the 2009 Korean Serious Games Festival on September 25th-27th at the Seongnam Korea Design Center near Bundang. The Gyeonggi Digital Contents Agency (organizer of the festival) posted some promotional videos (in Korean) for 2009 KSGF on their YouTube channel.


Some of the exergaming / active gaming products going will be the iDance multiplayer system and a LightSpace Floor and Wall system. I will be traveling with Ed Kasanders and Tommy Seilheimer of Motion Fitness / Exergame Fitness and I just heard that Ole and Bas of Positive Gaming AB will also be presenting iDance at the festival. This will be a great opportunity to see how Korea is embracing Games For Health and what their goals will be for the next few years in terms of the Serious Games movement.

Rising star in the industry sees Serious Games as ‘an emerging blue ocean’

The South Korean government has pledged to invest 80 billion Won ($63m) into the nation’s growing serious games market.

The government expects these investments will catalyse the nation’s Serious Games sector growth to reach a market value of $400 million by 2012. The initial 80 billion Won investment will fund the development of general educational games, military simulations, as well as medical training titles.

The initiative was sparked from a joint effort between the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and national newspaper Etnews. Those two forces together sponsored the nation’s Serious Games Forum, a national network where professionals and interested parties could network and exchange ideas.

Yu In-chon, ex-film star and now South Korea’s minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said: “The functional game market is at an early stage, but the market is an emerging blue ocean. The government is going to give support to prompt private investment in that field.”

Last year the South Korean government had invested 350 billion Won in the recreational games industry. (Via )

And here is the rest of it.

Are you GameFit? The GameFit Cross Trainer Exercise Device (#G4H09 Wrap-up)

Meeting VisionQuest International CEO Brent Meldeau at the 2009 Games for Health Conference in Boston was great as he was able to explain to me how their upcoming GameFit Cross Trainer will be a disruptive technology in the exercise and gaming world. As previously mentioned, the company is looking to have working prototypes at next year's 2010 Games for Health conference in Boston and hopefully into the hands of some early beta-testers.

Essentially the GameFit Cross Trainer is two aerobic steps attached to a concave slide board which will first interface with its own games then hopefully get ported over to the Wii platform to start. The sensors in the GameFit can be used in one of three ways; 1) steps sensors alone, 2) slide sensors alone, or 3) step and slide sensors together. Besides the obvious low-impact nature of sliding, the cardiovascular benefits can be quite substantial if done for the correct Frequency-Intensity-Time-and Type (FITT). The GameFit Cross Trainer will weigh in around 30 lbs and be over 8 feet long, but will fold easily and have handles. I have no idea what the game-play will be or look like but once I find out I will update the blog.

Can the GameFit Cross Trainer capture the elusive market of whole-body gaming controllers that are fun to play and provide awesome health benefits?

Listen to Brent's response to "What is the GameFit Cross Trainer?"

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Listen to Brent's response to "When will GameFit Cross Trainer be seen in public?"

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Listen to Brent's response to "What platforms are you planning to build for or will it be a stand-alone device (plug and play)?"

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Fore more information, be sure to check the GameFit link in this blog archive. If you need more information on the research and partnerships being created in the Exergame Lab, please contact Stephen Yang at the exergamelab@gmail.com.

Sensi Karate Bears: Kata Your Way To Health (#G4H09 Wrap-up)

Big John Games attended the 2009 Games for Health Conference in Boston, MA this past June. Ken Patterson, CEO demonstrated their early prototype for their new WiiWare game "Karate Bears" a game designed to actually teach you correct karate moves using the WiiMote and Nunchuk. Check back soon for the videos of an early version of the software.

BJG also showcased their 2007 release "Soccer Blast" which I believe was a PS2 release that incorporated a DDR pad to play an an oversized-ball game sort of like soccer but also very reminiscent of Omnikin Ball.
And here is the rest of it.

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.

Sam Yohannan - Physical Therapy - Video game reh

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

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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.
And here is the rest of it.