Survived the storms!

4-13-08: Last week, I was at the AAHPERD conf. in Fortworth, TX. Amid all the thunderstorms, hail, and tornadoes, we had a good presentation. I was part of a session with several others, speaking on the clinical aspects of exergaming. Here are a few shots from the conf.

These were the other folks I spoke with at our session (click on the picture to enlarge; you can see our listing at 3:15 PM on Wed). L-R: John Foley, PhD (Cortland College) spoke on adapting exergaming for the disabled; Andrea Oh (iTech) spoke on the economics of adding an exergaming area in your facility; Steve Yang, PhD (Cortland College) spoke on some of the exergaming research; and myself, where I spoke on the clinical and practical applications of exergaming for kids, seniors, and disabled.
Unfortunately, Lisa Hansen (PhD candidate) and her faculty advisor from Univ. of South Florida (Tampa) were booked on American Airlines...and due to their flight being canceled, they were unable to make it--watch for her presentation at Games for Health!

In the expo, this was my first time to see Sportwall's new dance game in person. Very nicely done--wireless, and able to handle up to 32 people playing at the same time!

I wasn't sure how that would look on the screen with all those players...till I saw it in person. The 3 columns are easy, normal, and difficult arrows. Players 1-32 can choose which difficulty level they will play at and follow those arrows. Their score and info are at the top black bar. Pretty out-of-the-box thinking! The best handling of true group DDR that I've seen yet. The cost may be a bit prohibitive, but that's what it takes when you are developing a new type of game!

After my 2nd speaking gig this year, I'm here the rest of April. Next stop, the Amer. Osteopathic Sports Medicine conf. in Kansas City the first couple of days in May!

Coming to a RWJF video soon!

We started off March with an exciting event: being part of a Robert Woods Johnson Foundation video production! Thanks to Serious Games and Digital Mill, we were recommended for this video project. Seth and his crew were great in coming out and doing a day of taping at the Zone. They videod our Senior XRGaming Workout class and our Homeschool Zone. Watch for the URL of this production soon!

Taping a nutrition session in our Homeschool Zone.


They taped several interviews--here they are interviewing Erin Haugh, of the San Bernardino Public Health Dept. who works with seniors. They also taped Christopher Burton, MD, from Loma Linda University School of Medicine, who is involved with rehab and looking to get into exergaming as a treatment modality. And of course, I had to say a few words on exergaming and health! ;-)

Feb. visitors

During Feb., we were privileged to have some visitors drop by the Zone. These were folks I've been e-mailing with for some time, so it was the first time to meet them in person.

Biray Alsac is a multi-talented fitness professional, educator, and techno expert. She was out doing a seminar on using the Internet for health behavior change. It was great visiting together in person and you can check out her blog at "Be Fit with Biray".
The 2 distinguished gents below are Dr. Miguel Encarnacao (far right) and Paul Puopolo (middle). They are with Humana Inc., a large insurance company that is very progressive. They are also the title sponsor for our upcoming Games for Health conf. in May at the Baltimore Convention Center. It was great to meet them an brainstorm on various initiatives, and I look forward to meeting with them more at G4H.

XRTZ at NASCAR!

During Feb's NASCAR race at the Fontana Speedway, we were fortunate to have a booth as part of the San Bernardino Business Dev. exhibit. While Jeff Gordon and Kyle Bush didn't try out our exergames, a lot of other folks did.

Updated Homeschool Zone!

Also in Feb., we had a new addition to our Homeschool Zone: Grace Soeter, a nutritionist from Irvine. She has added a lot to our enhance our nutrition education with lots of hands-on activities for over 40 homeschoolers in our 12-week session.
In addition, Jules, our personal trainer, works them out for their PE. She works them out in a circuit so that they get both exergames and traditional exercises.

AU Alumni gather at the Zone

Feb. saw alumni from Andrews University gather at the Zone again for food, fun, and updates from AU. Next year, I'll have to get a picture of the prez playing one of the games!
President Andreassan gives an update.

Speaking in Saskatoon!

My first speaking appointment for the new year was way up in Saskatoon, Canada, at the SaskInteractive Media Summit. This was a gathering of those in the interactive and video game development community. I was there to talk about games for health and the opportunities for game developers in this space.

We were fortunate to get in their local newspaper the 2nd day of the conference, featuring Deborah Black, the president of the Sask Interactive Media Assoc. doing the Xavix Dash! (Read the whole article at this link: Sask Exergaming article)

If the link doesn't work, cut and paste: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/business/story.html?id=d0e2b64a-0fb9-4f8b-bb39-c847da905ac4

Sacto School Conf.

Jan. 23, 2008: I was invited to bring a demonstration of exergames to a school conf. up in Sacramento. Here are some shots of health educators, nutritionists, teachers, and public health workers trying the games.

End of 2007

Nov. and Dec. 2007 were a whirl wind of trips and things! Here's a slideshow to catch you up to the end of that year.