May
05
2009
From Joystiq:
Why doesn’t Wii Fit include an estimate of the calories you burn during exercises? That would be really useful. Nintendo seems to agree, at least — it has created a Flash application that does just that.
The Wii Fit Calorie Meter couldn’t be easier to use, unless it were in English! Push the big green button in the middle to start, then enter your weight (in kilograms). You can then click on each exercise you’ve done (or plan to do) and tell the calculator the number of sets you’ve done of each. The app will add up your calories as you go!
May
05
2009
From TechDigest:
With the Wii Fit proving to be bigger than Jesus right now, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise to see more Nintendo controller accessories thrust into the market, but somehow it is, especially when we’re talking dumbbells, a step and a skateboard.
You can fit the WiiMote straight into the 1.7lb WiDums and use them to tone your triceps in WiiFit, Jillian Michaels, Golds Gym Cardio, EA Sports Active and Fitness Ultimatum 2005. What fun they all sound like. In three months time, they also double as very handy paperweights.
…
The unfortunately named WiSkab attaches directly to the Balance Board and allows you to tilt and pump in all kinds of directions as if you were gliding on wheels or snow. It’s the size of a full size skate deck and will work with Skate it, Shaun White Snowboarding and We Ski and Snowboard.
May
05
2009
From Tuscaloosa News:
This scene isn’t out of a science fiction novel — it happened Saturday afternoon at the YMCA of Tuscaloosa County, where Jones and a host of other children got their first look at “Lightspace,” a game in the center’s new Kids Zone.
After taking the stairs directly ahead of the front desk, the room of red, yellow and blue-painted walls opens up and is filled with video games that kids play with their bodies, not hand-held controllers.
Byron Langdon, YMCA sports director, said the YMCA needed a place that kids between the ages of 6 and 14 could hang out, since they are too big for day care and too young to use the facility’s fitness center.
Langdon said the idea for the new area came from a Chicago YMCA that recently added the same program to their facility with the help of Motion Fitness, a company that sells and installs the games.
After touring the Chicago YMCA, Langdon said he knew it would be the perfect addition to the new Kids Zone. With the help of the YMCA Men’s Club, the idea became a reality.
“Motion Fitness came in the first part of April and installed the games and we played with them for a few weeks to make sure everything was working,” he said.
Apr
29
2009
From guardian.co.uk:
The government is to launch an anti-obesity TV campaign that aims to promote the virtue of children playing videogames such as those for Nintendo’s Wii that require physical activity.
This marks a rapid U-turn by the government, weeks after it angered the games industry with a press campaign which implied that sitting inside playing games could lead to an early death.
The Department of Health’s new TV campaign, the latest stage of the government’s £75m anti-obesity advertising strategy, aims to push the message that not enough children are doing the recommended 60 minutes a day of some form of physical activity.
In the TV ad, which breaks tonight, the animated Change4Life family find ways to give kids 60 minutes of activity a day.
Solutions include playing videogames that require physical exertion - typified by products such as Nintendo’s popular Wii Sports and Wii Fit games franchises - as well as walking to school and playing in the park.
Apr
29
2009
From Pocket-lint:
"Active is a platform not a game", Moore told us in a one to one interview after flying over from America to see us.
Rather than merely offering downloadable content, Moore outlined to Pocket-lint that fans of the game would likely see expansion packs based around specific areas like football, baseball or tennis, as well as specific fitness packs that would allow you to get fit.
One such suggestion is for an "abs pack", to help people hone certain areas of their body.
According to EA, the game, which has seen a strong marketing push with stars such as Davina McCall involved, has already garnered plenty of pre-orders ahead of its launch.
Apr
29
2009
From McGill Reporter:
For the past four years, a small team of Masters students led by Prof. Gordon Bloom, Director of the McGill Sport Psychology Research Laboratory, has been quietly conducting bio/neurofeedback training with dozens of elite athletes, including skiers, skaters and hockey players. The goal of the program, funded through Sport Canada and the Centre nationale multisport in Montreal: help Canada’s Olympians achieve peak performance at the Vancouver games next winter.
Neurofeedback training, designed to enable people to alter their brain activity, has been used widely in the treatment of conditions such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. But relatively little rigorous work has been done on adapting the technique to help give top athletes a mental edge.
Bloom’s student-trainers conduct individual sessions in the McGill Seagram Sport Science Centre or at a satellite lab in Olympic Stadium. The athlete, seated in front of a computer, has sensors placed on the scalp and ears to monitor brainwaves. The athletes can see their brain activity on the computer screen – and learn gradually, through exercises such as video-game simulations, to produce patterns closer to the desired form.