XRTZ & US Dream Academy

5-21-08: Some of us from XRTZ took a whirlwind trip to Washington, DC, to attend the gala for the US Dream Academy. Dr. Steve and Sheila Hodgkin (far left) and XRTZ were one of the major sponsors. Wintley Phipps (middle man) is the founder of this non-profit org. that helps kids break the cycle of incarceration through an after-school program, giving them the skills and vision necessary to lead productive and fulfilling lives.

XRTZ is looking to collaborate with US Dream Academy to bring in the health and fitness aspect into their centers. We hope to open up a center here in the San Bernardino area.

(L-R) Steve and Sheila Hodgkin (XRTZ Advisory Board Chair & Chief Development Officer), Keyshia Cole, Wintley Phipps, Cynne Simpson (gala co-emcee), Judy & Joel Peterson (XRTX COO/Co-founder)

The XRTZ team!

XRTZ in Senior Centers

5-23-08 Check out the article in the Press Enterprise today on how XRTZ is working with the Dept. of Aging to get exergaming in 35 seniors centers!

On the lecture circuit...

5-18-08: May has been a busy month! I've been flying to various conferences, talking about the clinical work we've been doing at the XRTZ. In May alone, I've spoken at 5 different conferences! The last two was in Kansas City (sports med conf. for DO physicians) and the 4th annual Games for Health conf., in Baltimore. You can read more about it on my exergaming evangelist blog!

Have one more to present at, the Amer. College of Sports Medicine conf., in Indy, where I'll be presenting with our main exergaming researcher from CSUSB, Dr. Bryan Haddock. Stay tuned for a report from there!

Kansas City, Osteopathic Sports Med conf. Dr. Tedd Mitchell (far left), spoke on the medical perspective of pediatric obesity while I spoke on the clinical applications of exergaming. Dr. Tedd is the medical director at the Cooper Aerobic Center in Dallas, TX, and is a columnist in the USA Weekend.
4th Annual Games for Health Conf., Baltimore, MD, sponsored by Humana and the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation. Over 300+ people there this year!!! Awesome!!!

We get a Wii Fit!

5-16-08: There was this big white box in my office at the clinic for the last few days, and I finally took a closer look at it, and it was addressed to the "Wii Research Headquarters". I opened it quickly and it was a Wii Fit!!! These are due to come out May 19, so we were lucky to get one before then. Thanks to Rob Wheat and Golin Harris for making this possible. ;-)



I took it over to the Zone where, yup, it's him again, Dr. Thin!, helped us set it up since it had come out in Europe a few weeks ago.

Here is Alasdair getting us all set on our Wii Fit:

Getting ready for the downhill ski long jump...

Showing some of our Zone members how to head the soccer ball.
Nice Warrior pose there, Dr. Thin!


BTW, after G4H, Alasdair has been on tour of the US, visiting exergaming hotspots. From Baltimore, he visited Lisa's XRKade lab in Tampa, then went on over to visit Biray in Phoenix, then came to CA to visit us and also Belinda and Sheryl at USC, before heading up to speak at a conf. in Banff, Canada. He'll have a lot to report on when he heads back to Scotland!

Newsflash! Alasdair just posted a review on his blog about his visit! Check it out at!

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.

Staffer Alicia ties the knot!

11-3-07: XRtZ staffer Alicia tied the knot with Jon Saturday afternoon. They're now on their honeymoon so we wish them well!

Some young family members at the wedding.


The "Boss man Joel" and the rest of the Peterson family with the happy couple.

Ernie & Keri pose with the newlyweds while the mariachi band playing in the background.

They rode in style to the reception.

Interrupting their meal for another picture opp...their cheeks were sore by the end of the evening...which we heard went till 11 PM! (The wedding started at 12:30 PM).
Kim made their cake, and people were very impressed with the sheet-like frosting on it, especially the guy in the suit. He a cousin of Alicia's and is attending a culinary school in Pomona, and has a special interest in baking!
Kim and Keri pose with her creation. Check out that icing job!

DSHN plays!

9-14-07 Members of the DSHN (Desert Sierra Health Network) and nutritionists from the Riverside and SB County Public Health Depts. had a field trip to the Zone last Friday. This was over a year ago when they first visited the Zone...and it was still under construction! Most had not visited us since, so this was quite a change for them. And they actually got to PLAY!

So after a quick tour and talk on the programs and services we offer here (like our IEHP-supported Family Fit Zone program), I let them out to play. Check out the photos and if you're part of DSHN and missed this field trip, I'm sure we can schedule another one in the future! ;-)

Thanks to Pam and Melani (and whoever else helped!) for organizing this field trip!

Have you ever seen your colleagues act like little kids at a playground? Well now's your chance! Here they are, scampering all over the bouldering wall, trying to finish the green (easiest) route on it. As far as I know, only a couple of people were able to do that. Something about "long nails" prevented a lot of others from finishing it!

You knew Erin was a serious Wii bowler when she put on her headband to play (she's on a Wii bowling team. Seriously!).

Pam plays soccer on the Trazer. Here she has to go from side-to-side to block a score, and then lunge forward in order to "kick" the ball into the opposite net.

She's played this before, and wanted to race her jet ski on the Gamebike again!

She's tall, but she can kick high! I wouldn't mess with her in a dark alley!

DSHN member thinking: "Wow, she can kick my head off if she wanted to...."

The Makoto machine didn't have a chance when attacked by 3 DSHN members!

These DSHN members have got the beat!Some homeschoolers check out these ladies trying to play DDR.

Famous women's boxer Laila Ali better watch out for this DSHN member!

Run, Jackie (Chan, that is), run! For those who played the Xavix J-mat, you know why we use this game as one of our fitness assessment tools pre and post in our Famly Fit Zone class.

In the Eye Toy Zone, they see themselves in the game!

Once Pam figurd out you were supposed to crash into the cars for more points, she earned a silver medal!

Monica's fellow DSHNers cheer her on as she tries to make it through the most difficult section on the bouldering wall.Alas, it was not meant to be...at least today.

Here's one of the 2 DSHN members who did make it past that hard spot on the wall, and is finishing up the 2nd hardest part of the wall, at the very end. The DSHN crowd goes wild when she completed the green course without touching the floor!