ExerGame Korea Launches at KSF 2009 - Korea Serious Games Festival

Founder of ExerGame Korea, Daniel Joon (3rd from right back row) officially launched his company as the exclusive distributor of Exergame Fitness (www.exergamefitness.com) in South Korea. With the governor on hand to launch the Korea Serious Games Festival 2009 and try out iDance (www.positivegaming.com) and Lightspace Wall and Floor (www.lightspace.com), the media and crowds kept everybody really busy. Besides myself (far left, back row), also on hand to support the launch of ExerGame Korea at KSF 2009 was (left to right, front row) Emily Rosenberry and Basilius van Houte from Positive Gaming and Ed Kassanders and Kurt Turner from Exergame Fitness USA.

Check back for more updates from the 2009 KSF. Wee Hii Yaa!

Grand Theft BikExergaming

Now, for those not intersted in a robot as a fitness leader, Grand Theft Bicycle is a PC hack based on GTA codes but re-worked so that the two competing gangs represent world leaders (Obama,Blair, Harper & Allis vs bin Laden, Hussein, and Jong-Il). Pedaling on the Borgcycle pedals your character's bike through "Bagdad" city and you use the controls mounted on the handlebars to jump and shoot your way to political and terrorist nirvana. I've been using the Cateye GameBike for a while and always wanted to try games where I could shoot something (not necessarily someone). Looks like GTB has melded the best of GameBike's features with the massively popular Grand Theft Auto series.

The viewer is mounted on the Borgcycle — a stationary, sensor-modified bicycle that operates as a joystick with any PC game — that he or she can pedal through “Baghdad” (which bears an uncanny resemblance to Las Vegas), or shoot Invaders and Insurgents.

Dōmo arigatō Mr. Roboto! Is This The Face of a Future ExerGame Fitness Trainer?

Will one of these $8000 Taizou be your fitness trainer. In Japan where the number of centenarians in the country has doubled to more than 40,000 over the past six years, there is a real need for people to help lead exercises. A cute Taizo is now capable in leading people in 30 different moves, mostly seated which is great for our greying population and people with disabilities. Dōmo arigatō Mr. Roboto! Roboto氏本当にありがとう

[Via Crave]

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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 )

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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.
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