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.

And here is the rest of it.

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.

And here is the rest of it.

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.

And here is the rest of it.

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.



And here is the rest of it.

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.


And here is the rest of it.
[Via MAKE, ]

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.


And here is the rest of it.