Gamer Health Record (GHR) debuts as Kinect PlayFit to track exergaming calories

Launching today on Xbox Live is a free new downloadable dashboard for Xbox LIVE members. Kinect PlayFit is hoping to be a stepping stone to the Holy Grail of the Quantified-Self movement as it will track the time and calories you burn while playing exergames like Dance Central 2 and Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012. Indeed it is the first time a major console will integrate fitness tracking across games as previously it only existed in game info from games like DDR, EA SPORTS Active, and EyeToy Kinetic. 

Exergaming Points to Ponder (ExP2P)

If more developers make user-generated data available to the dashboard - we might be witnessing the start of something incredible as a health application, research tool, and social engagement tracker. Some might say that the gamification of this data is not enough, but it just might be once they pair the Joule Heart rate monitor, mobile phone, and other motion trackers to this Gamer Health Record as predicted by many including Ben Sawyer at the Games for Health project. This is truly a step in the right direction, now if we can only get all the makers to use similar or standardized caloric expenditure guidelines to make the tracking more reliable and consistent.

• Kinect PlayFit is a new fitness dashboard that aggregates and tracks the calories you burn as you play a variety of Kinect games, from “Dance Central 2” to “Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012” to “Kinect Star Wars.”
• Kinect PlayFit lets you view your personal stats over time and see leaderboards that show how you rank against Xbox LIVE members across the globe. Get credit for the calories you burn while having fun with Kinect, and earn Kinect PlayFit Achievements, Gamerscore and Avatar Awards.

Kinect PlayFit inspires an active and healthy lifestyle through fun and play:

• First of Its Kind – This is the first ever fitness tracking application on a video game console.
• Social Motivation – Kinect PlayFit keeps it social with activity challenges, rankings on leaderboards and integration with the Xbox LIVE community to break a sweat together.
• Survey Says – According to a recent survey (presumably the UnitedHealthcare study) *nearly 75 percent of respondents believe that video games should include a component that encourages physical activity. Also, 70 percent said that physically active video games can complement or supplement traditional exercise.

Click here to explore more of ExerGame Lab's archived posts involving Kinect PlayFit.

TEN Chairman Will Jump Out of a Plane for Exergaming Student Research

Jump into Exergaming

The Exergame Network (TEN) is a not for profit advocacy group promoting exergaming and wishes to give students new opportunities to research this exciting new field.

The Exergame Network Chairman of the Board, Richard Coshott, will undertake a sponsored skydive in August this year to raise awareness and money for TEN towards funding students study designs into research reality. TEN will be inviting students to submit study designs for consideration by the board of directors towards an award.

Awards will be made in October and not limited to funding but include donation or free borrowing of exergame equipment and, most valuable, expertise from TEN exergaming researchers in to form of help, advice and study quality assurance.

"I am raising money by way of a sponsored skydive in August 2012 to provide TEN with funds to support aspirations towards quality research in exergaming, by engaging the new generation of researchers. The skydive is a solo jump, which represents the leap of faith and commitment of purpose we would expect to see in candidate submissions into the field of exergaming research from the students." said TEN Chairman Richard Coshott.

The Exergame Network already freely provides a rich source of exergame information at it's wiki http://exergaming.pbworks.com and is supported by the sectors leading, independent experts. The awards for the Future of Exergaming Research will be made by TEN following an international invitation for study designs open to all universities across the globe.

Please support the inititive by showing your support at https://www.fundraise.com/the-exergame-network/active-gamer. All donations will be attributed directly to award winners, full details of the contest will be available via TEN.

Games for Health 2012 - Dr. Bill Crouse - Microsoft Kinect Keynote

Click here to explore more of ExerGame Lab's archived posts involving research studies. 

Games For Health 2012 Pre-Conference #gfh12

There is lots going on here in Boston for the Annual Games for Health Conference. Here is a feed from all those tweeting out with the #gfh12 hastag and pictures will be uploaded soon as well. Wish you could be here, but if not, you'll get a glimpse of the many (400) people that will be attending the conference over the next 3 days!

Alec Gourley (BitGym Co-Founder) at the Games for Health 2012 in Boston June 13-14, 2012, www.bitgym.com @acgourley
Alec has a long history of athletics and a longer history of video games. When he moved to San Francisco the only regular exercise he could find involved a treadmill, and so he began investigating how to take the best elements of sports and bring it them to cardiovascular machines. Before founding Active Theory he ran Loopt's internal metrics and analytics, worked on a source-code search engine at Krugle and lead a team building an autonomous vehicle at UC Davis.

Doris Rusc from Depaul University demo's Zombie Yoga at Games for Health 2012 in Boston, MA on June 14, 2012.

Exergaming Active Gaming Track at GFH12

This week will be our biggest and best Games for Health Conference in Boston at the Hyatt Harborside. Keep your eyes and twitter feeds open right here at www.exergamelab.org for live updates, videos, and photos of the entire conference including great keynotes and presentations.

Games for Health Keynotes & Master Schedule! 

Constance Steinkuehler Squire, senior policy analyst for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, will discuss the opportunities for videogames to address national challenges, including those in health, health care, and biotechnology. 

Bill Crounse, MD, senior director of worldwide health for Microsoft, will present “Connecting & Kinecting Health and Health Care,” which will explore how Microsoft and its partners are merging its information and game technologies to create global solutions for personal health and professional health care.

Jane McGonigal, New York Times bestselling author and co-founder of SuperBetter Labs, will highlight the design and release of SuperBetter, a game-based social application designed to help people boost personal resilience and lead healthier, longer, and more positive lives. 

Jay Walker, curator and chairman of TEDMED, a global community of people who passionately believe that the future of health and medicine is here, will provide the end-of-conference special guest keynote: “Gaming the System”. 

About Games for Health 

Founded in 2004, the Games for Health Project supports the development of the health games community, champions efforts to mainstream health games, and brings together researchers, medical professionals, and game developers to share information about the impact games and game technologies can have on health, health care, and policy. The Pioneer Portfolio of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is a major supporter of both the Games for Health Project and its annual Games for Health Conference. 

About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and its Pioneer Portfolio 

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing the United States. As the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. Projects in the Pioneer Portfolio are future-oriented and look beyond conventional thinking to explore solutions at the cutting edge of health and healthcare. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org/pioneer.

Are #exergames effective? #Exergaming criticism & infographic

I know there's been a lot of press (or at least tweets) that pile on the poor effects of exergaming to improve fitness and health outcomes but with every study its also really important to be able to dissect the strengths and weaknesses. Although the stats look to be correct, of course they were carefully selected to tell a certain story. If you look at the studies at the bottom, you will find articles that show exergaming can: illicit MVPA, lower body composition and BMI, improve executive function if given the correct conditions. It's in the Way That You Use It!

Browse more data visualizations.

Click here to explore more of ExerGame Lab's archived research studies. 

http://tweexgaminggeek.com/blog-fitness-games-wont-work/

Related articles

• Promoting health and fitness through exergames (slideshare.net)
• 'Exergames' Can Improve Cognitive Function in Older Adults (rwjfblogs.typepad.com)
• Kids get more active when given more toy choices, studies show (eurekalert.org)
• Beyond fitness: New frontiers for improving health through video games (gamasutra.com)
• ModalityX Launches ExerWellness in Bend (people-powered-ep.com)

Games for Health Keynotes!

Constance Steinkuehler Squire, senior policy analyst for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, will discuss the opportunities for videogames to address national challenges, including those in health, health care, and biotechnology.

Bill Crounse, MD, senior director of worldwide health for Microsoft, will present “Connecting & Kinecting Health and Health Care,” which will explore how Microsoft and its partners are merging its information and game technologies to create global solutions for personal health and professional health care.

Jane McGonigal, New York Times bestselling author and co-founder of SuperBetter Labs, will highlight the design and release of SuperBetter, a game-based social application designed to help people boost personal resilience and lead healthier, longer, and more positive lives.

Jay Walker, curator and chairman of TEDMED, a global community of people who passionately believe that the future of health and medicine is here, will provide the end-of-conference special guest keynote: “Gaming the System”.
About Games for Health
Founded in 2004, the Games for Health Project supports the development of the health games community, champions efforts to mainstream health games, and brings together researchers, medical professionals, and game developers to share information about the impact games and game technologies can have on health, health care, and policy. The Pioneer Portfolio of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is a major supporter of both the Games for Health Project and its annual Games for Health Conference.
About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and its Pioneer Portfolio
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing the United States. As the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. Projects in the Pioneer Portfolio are future-oriented and look beyond conventional thinking to explore solutions at the cutting edge of health and healthcare. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org/pioneer.