This article may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details.(October 2007)

Exergaming (formed from "exercise" and "gaming") is a term used for video games that also provide exercise. Exergames have one element of exercise and one element of gaming. The "gaming" aspect is a short form for video gaming. "Exergames" sub divide into two main implementations, those with a game specifically designed to use an exercise input device and those implementations using a genre of, or a generic game. Image File history File links Emblem-important. ... The term Exercise can refer to: Physical exercise such as running or strength training Exercise (options), the financial term for enacting and terminating a contract Category: ... Gaming is an umbrella term that includes a number of special hobby game types: Board games Collectible card games Computer and video games Tabletop wargaming (i. ... This article is about computer and video games. ... “Computer and video games” redirects here. ... A genre [], (French: kind or sort from Greek: γένος (genos)) is a loose set of criteria for a category of literary composition; the term is also used for any other form of art or utterance. ... “Computer and video games” redirects here. ...

Games fit in to the category of entertainment, and similarly Exergames are a category of Exertainment (formed from "exercise" and "entertainment"). Exertainment includes one aspect of innovation or entertainment to an exercise work out. The term Exercise can refer to: Physical exercise such as running or strength training Exercise (options), the financial term for enacting and terminating a contract Category: ... A stilt-walker entertaining shoppers at a shopping centre in Swindon, England Entertainment is an event, performance, or activity designed to give pleasure or relaxation to an audience (although, for example, in the case of a computer game the audience may be only one person). ...

History

Exergaming contains elements that were developed in the virtual reality community during the 1980s. The pioneer in this area was Autodesk, which developed two systems, the HighCycle and Virtual Racquetball. The HighCycle was an exercise bike that a user would pedal through a virtual landscape. If the user pedaled fast enough, the virtual bike would take off and fly over the landscape. Virtual Racquetball tracked the position and orientation of an actual racquet that was used to hit a virtual ball in a virtual environment. This environment was shared with another user equipped with another tracked racquet, allowing the two users to play each other over phone lines. In both systems, the users could wear the VPL eyephones, an early Head-mounted display (HMD), that would provide more immersion for the user. ^[1] This article is about the simulation technology. ... Autodesk, Inc. ... an HMD A head-mounted display (HMD) is a display device that a person wears on the head to have video information directly displayed in front of the eyes. ...

The first true attempt at what would later be called Exertainment was the Atari Puffer project (1982). This was an exercise bike that would hook up to an Atari 400/800 or 5200 system. Forward speed was controlled by pedaling while steering and additional gameplay was handled by a handlebar-mounted gamepad. The machine was nearly ready for production with several games (Tumbleweeds and Jungle River Cruise) when Atari declared bankruptcy and the Puffer project was abandoned. Nintendo also dabbled in this space with the PowerPad in the late 1980's. This article is about a corporate game company. ... Nintendo Company, Limited (任天堂 or ニンテンドー Nintendō; NASDAQ: NTDOY, TYO: 7974 usually referred to as simply Nintendo, or Big N ) is a multinational corporation founded on September 23, 1889[1] in Kyoto, Japan by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards. ...

The first exergaming system released to the market was the 1986 Computrainer. Designed as a training aid and motivational tool, the Computrainer allowed users to ride through a virtual landscape generated on a Nintendo NES, while monitoring data such as power output and pedaling cadence. The product had a price that was far too high to be considered as an entertaiment product, but was affordable by dedicated athletes. The product continues to this day, where it now runs using Microsoft Windows compatible software with extensive graphic and physiological capabilities. “Windows” redirects here. ...

About the same time as the Computrainer, Concept II introduced a computer attachment for their rowing machine. This has become their eRow product and is used for both individual motivation as well as competition in "indoor rowing leagues"

During the 1990s, there was a surge of interest in the application of "virtual reality" technologies to high-end gym equipment. Life Fitness and Nintendo partnered to produce the Exertainment System; Precor had an LCD-based bike product, and Universal had several CRT-based systems. The Netpulse system provided users with the ability to browse the web while exercising. Fitlinxx introduced a system that used sensors attached to weight machines in order to provide automated feedback to users.

The most sophisticated of these entries was the Tectrix VR Bike. Developed originally by CyberGear Inc., The VR Bike allowed users to pedal through a number of virtual environments as well as engage in single and multiplayer games. It was joined later by the VR Climber.

Three issues combined to ensure the failure of these systems in the marketplace. First, they were significantly more expensive than the equivalent models that did not have all the additional electronics. Second, they were harder to maintain, and were often left broken. Lastly the additional expertise required to operate the software was often intimidating to the users, who shied away from the machines out of fear that they would look foolish while trying to master the machine.

For about 10 years, nothing significant happened in the field of videogame exercise. Hardware was still too expensive for the average home consumer, and the health clubs were gun-shy about adopting any new technology. As high-performance game console capabilities improved and prices fell, manufacturers once more started to explore the fitness market, but this time with the home as the focus of development.

The most recent development is the Nintendo Wii, which has taken exergaming to the public on a massive scale. This move by a major brand name has been matched with another in the Fisher-Price Smart Cycle.

Gamercize played on Xbox

Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ...

Recent activity

Exergaming came to the mass media attention at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2004 where a pavilion was dedicated to video game technology that also worked as sports and exercise equipment. Exergames "evolved from technology changes aimed at making videogames more fun." ^[2] The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is a trade show held each January in Las Vegas, Nevada, and is sponsored by the Consumer Electronics Association. ...

Examples of Exergames include: NeoRacer, Dance Dance Revolution, ExerStation/Kilowatt, EyeToy, Wii Sports and Gamercize. The NeoRacer is a portable magnetic fitness bike that interacts with video games on several platforms. ... Dance Dance Revolution, a. ... The EyeToy is a color digital camera device, similar to a webcam, for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable. ... The Wii (pronounced as the pronoun we, IPA: ) is the fifth home video game console released by Nintendo. ... Gamercize played on PS2 Gamercize is an example of an exergaming accessory, connecting exercise machines such as stationary cycles and steppers to video games consoles. ...

Examples of Exertainment include: Yourself!Fitness, Expresso Fitness S2, Wii Fit Yourself! Fitness is not a traditional video game, but is, rather, a virtual personal trainer software program for Xbox, PS2, and the PC. It features an animated fitness coach, Maya, who leads the player through a series of workouts and tracks the players progress over time. ... Wii Fit (referred to as Wii Fitness on Nintendo of Europes E3 website)[4] is an upcoming video game for the Wii video game console, currently in development by Nintendo. ...

Recent studies

Eyetoy Kinetic - Thin AG, Howey D, Murdoch L & Crozier A (July 2007). Evaluation of physical exertion required to play the body movement controlled Eyetoy Kinetic video game. Life Sciences 2007, SECC, Glasgow, Scotland.

Wii Sports - Professor Tim Cable (February 2007). School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, John Moores University, Liverpool, England.

Design considerations

When making an exergaming system, the manufacturer of a consumer product must make the decision as to whether the system will be usable with off-the-shelf games or if custom software must be written for it. Because it takes longer for a user to move their entire body in response to stimulation from the game, it is often the case that dedicated software must be written for the game to playable. An example of this is Konami's Dance Dance Revolution. Though designed to be played by users moving about on a specially designed dancepad, that game can alternatively be played by pushing buttons with one's fingers using a standard hand-held gamepad. When played with the dancepad at higher levels the game can be quite challenging (and physically exhausting), but if the game is played using the buttons on the hand controller, none of the sequences are terribly difficult. A system that uses the major muscle groups and still provides rapid enough response times for so-called "fast twitch" games is the Powergrid Fitness Kilowatt. The Kilowatt incorporates strain gauges in its controller post that converts the forces that the user applies against the controller into the equivalent of controller thumbstick input. The system can incorporate forces of up to 300 pounds (135 kg) into game play. Konami Corporation ) (TYO: 9766 NYSE: KNM SGX: K20) is a leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines and video games. ... Dance Dance Revolution, a. ...

Trends

Newer systems such as the EyeToy and Wii utilize alternative input methodologies. The EyeToy uses image analysis to extract the motion of the user against a background and uses these motions to control the character in the game. A specifically-designed exercise game Kinetic, superimposes animated objects to be punched, kicked, or otherwise interacted with over a video image of the user. The Wii and Playstation3 both incorporate motion sensors such as accelerometers and gyroscopes into the hand-held controllers that are used to direct behaviors within the game. An accelerometer or gravimeter is a device for measuring acceleration and the effects of gravity. ... A gyroscope is a device which demonstrates the principle of conservation of angular momentum, in physics. ...

Exergaming systems are also re-entering the commercial gym. In response to the growing concern with childhood obesity, health clubs are starting to introduce "kidzones". These are special-purpose areas that contain a mix of exergaming systems targeted at children and young adults. A pioneer in this area was the YMCA, which has been putting these areas into its clubs since 2004. More recently, dedicated exergaming centers such as the XRtainment Zone (http://www.xrtainmentzone.com), co-founded in August 2006 by Dr. Ernie Medina, Jr. and Attorney Joel Peterson, are starting to open up across the USA and Canada. The XRtainment Zone's Family FitZone program is the first 7-week exergaming fitness program subsidized by an insurance company. These children vary in their proportion of body fat. ... Not to be confused with YWCA. This article is about the association. ...

References

1. ^ Howard Rheingold. "Virtual Reality" pp188-189 Simon_&_Schuster. 1991. ISBN 0-671-77897-8.
2. ^ Tara Parker-Pope. "The PlayStation Workout: Videogames That Get Kids to Jump, Kick and Sweat." Wall Street Journal. October 4, 2005. Retrieved on December 1, 2006.

Jean-François Millet Le Semeur (The Sower) Simon & Schuster logo, circa 1961. ... Year 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the 1991 Gregorian calendar). ... The International Standard Book Number, or ISBN (sometimes pronounced is-ben), is a unique[1] identifier for books, intended to be used commercially. ... The Wall Street Journal is an influential international daily newspaper published in New York City, New York with an average daily circulation of 1,800,607 (2002). ... is the 277th day of the year (278th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 335th day of the year (336th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

The external links in this article may not comply with Wikipedia's content policies. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links.

• Lawrence, Star. Exercise, Lose Weight With 'Exergaming'. Fox News. January 18, 2005.
• Jeannine Stein. "Exergaming Blends Video Games With Workouts." Los Angeles Times. April 30, 2007.
• S2 Exercise Bike Vmix video Expresso Fitness September 2006
• Tectrix VR Bike and VR Climber [1]
• Computrainer history[2]
• Atari Puffer [3]
• Fitlynxx [4]
• Nintendo Power Pad [5]
• Powergrid Fitness [6]
• EyeToy [7]
• Wii [8]
• YMCA [9]
• XRtainment Zone [10]
• MIT cyclescore [11]
• Gamercize [12]