AHA & Nintendo Power of Play

 It's been a great start to the American Heart Association & Nintendo Power of Play Summit: Innovations in Getting Active in San Francisco, CA at the Mission Bay Conference Center. Here is the video I made for my presentation.  Let me know what you think. It's been great chatting with Eelke Folmer, Floyd Mueller, Ann Maloney, Ernie Medina, Deb Lieberman, Ed Kassanders, Belinda Lange, Sheryl Flynn and more.

The Power of Play “Innovation often involves the fusion of different perspectives to create a new way of thinking. Active-play video games have already changed the landscape for consumers who want to be more physically active. ‘The Power of Play’ summit will offer a unique chance to look closely at ways in which technology and physical activity can both be incorporated into a healthy lifestyle.” - Indu Subaiya, co-founder of Health 2.0 The Power of Play: Innovations in Getting Active The Power of Play: Innovations in Getting Active, hosted by the American Heart Association and Nintendo of America, will bring together thought leaders with unique perspectives from the divergent worlds of fitness, science, health care, research and video games. Speakers will engage the audience in conversations that investigate the synergies and potential benefits of active-play video games and physically active lifestyles. This is your chance to think in a big-picture way about innovations in getting active: What is the future of active play? What are the most innovative experiments to track? What will the world of active-play video games look like in the year 2011? 2016? 2021? Invited guests – RSVP now to participate in this thought-provoking event. About the American Heart Association and Nintendo Relationship The American Heart Association and Nintendo of America have joined together in a multifaceted strategic relationship aimed at helping people create healthy lifestyles through physically active play. The two organizations are working together on multiple fronts to help consumers discover how active-play video games contribute to healthy living. Their joint efforts are arming consumers with information and providing people with hands-on experiences. The Power of Play: Innovations in Getting Active is a summit of representatives from different backgrounds convened to discuss the potential benefits of active-play video games.

Photo credits:

Positive Gaming

Get Active! Let's Kinect - 1st consumer-turned-commercial exergame?

Coming pre-loaded with Xbox Kinect and Kinect Adventures, this could be the first consumer exergame turned arcade/commercial. If you've got $5000 laying around and you don't want anyone fiddling with your console, this might be an option. Not sure how the games would play if it is in redemption mode or if it's simply a time limited.  Has anyone tried this one out yet?

Game Gate VU Get Active! Let's Kinect | Coin Operated Xbox360 Microsoft Kinect Arcade Machine | Worldwide Get Active Lets Kinect Game Gate VU Xbox Console Delivery


(Via The Stinger Report & BMI Gaming)

Saying I to Eye Control (icontrol) Exergaming? [CES]

At CES 2011, Waterloo Labs (National Instruments) demo'd their proof-of-concept eye-controlled gaming system, using a DDR-type mock-up. It makes you wonder the limits a person can can sustain repetitive rapid eye movements in such distinct patterns - as opposed to regular game play where you get to look all around the screen (or HUD if using VR).  I also wonder how much interference you get once you start moving around and whether the artifacts and sampling error can be overcome with the use of a visual reference system, a la Kinect or PS3 Eye.

Now using eye movements is nothing new, but its good to see people taking the time to use affordable sensors for gaming purposes. I love the open-source EyeWriter project as a prime example of using eye control for computer interaction.  Get hacking!

Amazon Gets Moving

You know exergaming / active-gaming / motion gaming is big when Amazon "takes its talents" to our side. Although it's only a matter of time before they really make the link towards possible better health through gaming and technology.

I've seen a couple of neat things from the CES 2011 press releases including the Bodymedia Armband BW which integrates via Bluetooth to log your activity and energy expenditure.

Ernie Medina will be there getting all the latest "hands-on" with the newest devices.  Can't wait to see pictures!

HopSkipConnect to Healthier Lifestyles

“Healthy behavior. Everyone. Everyday. Everyway.”

That’s the ambitious mantra that the Center for Connected Health’s spinout, HopSkipConnect has adopted as its company’s mandate, according to CEO Rick Lee during a presentation here at the Wireless Life-Sciences Alliance event in La Jolla, California.

While the startup is still in a stealth mode of sorts, Lee sketched out some of the company’s plans as well as its vision for connected health.

HopSkipConnect is a device agnostic connected health company that uses personal health devices (glucometer, blood pressure cuffs, pedometers, etc.) from more than 50 partner companies to move biometric information into their analytics engine. HopSkipConnect runs the data through their “black box” and applies decision rules, clinical rules engines, pattern recognition and other tools to crunch the data and report it back to end users via text message, smartphone apps, Facebook, Twitter — or whever the user wants it, according to Lee.

[More Via Mobi Health News]

Treasure World

Image via Wikipedia

Nintendo DS is the most succeeful gaming platform on the planet and we've seen other DS exergames in the past including Pokemon: Soul Silver, Personal Walking. Here is Treasure World a game that uses WiFi to find treasures in the real world.

What makes Treasure World unique is its focus on mobile play through the wealth of Wi-Fi hotspots available around the world. The game contains more than 2,500 separate in-game items/treasure such as trees, flowers, candy, outfits, plants, etc., which are automatically unlocked as players access the more than 200 million Wi-Fi treasure spots worldwide that are registered within the game. Only a certain number of these items are accessible from a single Wi-Fi hotspot. This means that although the game can be played from a single location, players must take their DS with them wherever they go and access new Internet connections in order to continue to collect new items. Once players have a sufficient amount of items they can be used to decorate in-game environments.

http://www.amazon.com/Treasure-World-Nintendo-DS/dp/B0024KI7AE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1263889599&sr=1-1