Video Games | Evolving Consumer

E3 2010: Exercise Games Coming to More Platforms than Wii

: EA Sports Active 2 is heading to the Xbox 360 and will be compatible with Kinect

The Wii and exercise games have made great companions the past few years. However with Microsoft Kinect on its way, the video game workout may get a whole lot more active. Electronic Arts’ follow up to EA Sports Active is expecting to add more activity to both its Wii and Microsoft Xbox Kinect versions. More activity also means ore sensors and gear however. A demo at EA’s press conference showed wireless activity for EA Sports Active 2, heart rate monitors strapped to the upper arm, and weights and bands added for strength training.

Expect more variation in workouts. The demo included an intense cycling sequence, weight lifting and boxing. The Kinect version measures movement of the entire body versus the Wii version, which measures arms and legs through holding the controller and leg straps.

An online log on EA.com is an added component. Workout data is stored so you can evaluate your progress and fitness goals. You can also share your results and compare progress of others.

EA Sports Fitness 2

E3 2010: Shape Yourself with Microsoft’s Kinect

Kinect Microsoft 360 E3 — Smile you're on the Kinect camera for the Xbbox 360

Exercise games on the market still require you to grab or stand on a controller to get your workout in. Yourshape Fitness Evolved, just announced from Ubisoft for the Microsoft Xbox promises a much more casual yet engaging workout. Using the video and sound controls of the game console’s Kinect, you just have to make sure you have space to move. The camera picks up your image and presents it as a polarized image or heat map-like image of you and captures all of your movements. Select cardio, toning or other activities and get to work. Yourshape Fitness turns some workouts into a game where you can kick and punch boxes that come into range. End your workout with a calming cooldown by doing Tai Chi and other relaxing exercises.

Check back all week for the latest fitness related news from the Electronic Entertainment Expo

Do Fitness Games Pose Health Risk?

Ever since the Nintendo Wii debuted in December of 2006, there has been an increase in more “active” games, such as Nintendo’s own Wii-Fit. As the video game companies prepare to showcase the next generation of fitness games at next week’s E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) in Los Angeles, an interesting question was brought up this week by The Boston Globe: can you get hurt by playing the games?

As we’ve noted this week, there have been findings that games are being used more and more as a form of exercise, but this needs to be done as part of an “active” lifestyle. So in other words, just sitting on the couch doesn’t do it. But now the other half of the equation is being presented, and that is whether you can actually over do it by playing games.

There are obviously the repetitive stress disorder type injuries such as mashing away with too much Rock Band, or mouse wrist from shooting all those zombies in Left 4 Dead. But could this lead to other injuries. The Boston Globe reports that a pilot study is “being conducted at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston this summer,” and “may be the first to address the injury problem directly, by looking into the biomechanics of Wii gaming.”

This no doubt comes as bad news to anyone who thought that gaming alone would be the ticket to better fitness. So maybe its time to take the advice offered earlier this week from the University of Essex researchers, and use fitness games as a way to cross train instead.

Via The Boston Globe: Healthy games offer risks, too

Games For Health Gets its Conference On

Boston is hometown to many sports. Beantown is home to the Boston Marathon, Head of the Charles crew boat race and the annual college hockey tournament Bean Pot (hence the name Beantown). This week the city played host to the sixth annual Games for Health Conference. The conference is part of Games Beyond Entertainment. At the show there were demos of exergaming using the Nintendo Wii and other gaming systems, a study for a fitness-themed virtual world, and training for therapeutic disease management.

It looks like there were demos of a few music games such as Guitar Hero, and surprisingly the players (guitarists) sat down to play. Kinetic Shift encourages playing Guitar Hero, Rock Band and other games in the category. However we advocate playing them while standing. Most games on the Wii are difficult to play while comfortably seated by design, and that is true for virtual strumming of the guitar. We hope other game demos set better examples for active gaming.

Grown Up Playtime

When we think of “play” too often we think of child’s play, as in something only a child would do. Adult games are typically considered the sort that deserve a rating with at least one X. But in the past few years video games, board games and other outlets have convinced us that there is a need for “playtime” for adults too – in a clean and fun sense.

This has been reinforced in a column over at Gamercize, another company that realizes that video games don’t have to be a stationary activity. In fact, the authors at ExergamingAustralia offer an interesting take, noting that “PLAY” is often a four letter word. This is stressed by the fact that exercise is often called “workout” and few say “I’m off to the gym to play.” So kudos to another site for helping promote the same message that we’ve been suggesting, which is that you can be active and still be found of your gadgets and technology.

Gamercize website

Virtually Climbing Your Way to the Top

Human-Soft-HardGrip — HardGrip from Human Soft, a virtual rock climbing challenge for the Wii.

Most games played on the Nintendo Wii require the user to stand and move around. This is likely to be true for the upcoming HardGrip from Human Soft. HardGrip is an extreme rock climbing game for the motion-based system. Using the Wii MotionPlus grip players will grab on, take a foothold, and rock faces in exotic locales. The game is expected to include competition with play against other opponents, and include races and scores for technical climbs. HardGrip will first be released for the Wii, but the game developer said Human Soft is working on versions of the game for additional, upcoming motion-based game systems.

Developer: Human Soft