It Can Be Good for You and Fun - All at the same time!

According to Michael Rawlinson, director-general of the Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers’ Association: “In the past, video games have had a bad press ... but today games are not only a mainstream pastime, they can even play their part in a well-balanced and healthy lifestyle. Today’s games can bring friends and families together, get people active and even connect gamers from the four corners of the world to play together.”
Take a look at this compelling slide show at CNN.  Each slide explains a way that video game play can be good for your health.  At FootGaming we take each of those benefits one step further by adding balance and physical activity to every game.  Got a computer? Get a FootPOWR controller and start getting wellness benefits woven into your video game fun.

Footgaming + School = $$ Millions???

This economic climate, the enormous budgetary challenges K-12 schools are facing and the worrisome state of PE and youth fitness may actually be the perfect storm for some cool solutions. There are a series of articles on examiner.com that lead to this week's story on "What School Wants to be a Millionaire."


Our hope is that you send in questions, comments and stories that might align with our creation of this ExerLearning Lab. Our goal: to share momentum and maybe even funds with you and your favorite school.
More here:

Health and PE: Kids Can Lead
With Kids, All Work Won't Work

As we develop our various FootGaming communities, the one that is very exciting is the age 65-85+ group.  One of our Footgamers, age 82, was already featured at MSNBC (she is the 6th from the left on the top row).  We have heard a lot about the value of movement, exercise that includes gravity like walking and balance practice.

At the University of Florida researchers hope to learn even more about video games, movement and pain relief in a new study. They are offering women between the ages of 50 and 70 who have osteoarthritis of the knee the opportunity to try "exergaming" -- physical activity combined with interactive video games -- to see what effect it will have on their level of pain. We love to hear about this and hope that if any of our readers knows lead investigator Bridgett Rahim-Williams of UF's College of Public Health and Health Professions we would love to have a conversation with her.

Like Rahim-Williams, we have noticed that people will stay with an exergame longer if the game itself is fun and compelling.  We use select casual games for a number of reasons:

• Millions of people already play this type of game for upwards of 6 hours a week - and for some elderly gamers the daily hour total exceeds 4 hours
• Great casual games like Peggle, Bejeweled. Bejeweled Twist, Mahjong and card games are especially motivating
• Adding physical activity to computer game time is easy with the FootPOWR controller

Study participants must be African-American or Caucasian, between the ages of 50 and 70, and have a diagnosis of knee osteoarthritis. For more information, call 352-273-6091.

High tech Kids Can Lead Health-Learning

Healthy eating meets the gaming world. The British Columbia Dairy Foundation (BCDF) along with Registered Dietitians have launched a new video game to teach students in grades six to eight about Canada’s Food Guide and how to make healthy meal choices.
Titanium Chef is an interactive, web-based role playing game that teaches students how to classify foods into the four foods groups and determine appropriate serving sizes. What's cool is that it works seamlessly with the FootPOWR - a computer peripheral that adds activity to "mouse" input.
“The idea for Titanium Chef came from research and our own observations that show students today respond positively to interactive learning,” said Kenton Delisle, a lead nutrition educator with BCDF, in a release.
Another free online site that provides a whole quiver of fun and educational "healthy food choices" games is Playnormous. The entire family will enjoy the great game play - and everyone is sure to discover something new. Send your students home with these links to extend the healthy learning into leisure time.
Our digital kids can help create health and fitness resources on their own - and add valuable resources to your curriculum. You don't need to understand how to use the technology first. Let your students lead and mentor you. And yes - all these tools are online and FREE!

• Scratch - an easy to learn programming language for ages 8 and up. Programming is simply one of the best learning experiences for students. It builds logic, higher order thinking skills, and really, it's just plain fun! When the games have a health or fitness theme everyone wins.

• Prezi - tired of boring old one-slide-at-a-time slideshows? Try zooming instead. If some of your students have "done PowerPoint" - let them try Prezi. It might make you dizzy, but the kids should pick it up pretty quickly!

• Zamar - easy online file conversion. Not only does Zamzar convert document and graphic file formats, but also movie formats. It even can save YouTube and other online movies to files for use at a later date.

Let us see what your students create. Send us the link or share your story in the comments section

I sent in a summary of “not your average gamer” to MSN and they posted it as a selection today. YES! It is our 82 year old champion FootGamer enjoying Bejeweled Twist by PopCap. The pictures rotate but she was 6th from the left top row the last time I checked. Look for the trim woman in the pretty blue print STANDING and smiling while using the FootPOWR.

She's hoping you'll vote for her - and read how she gets lots of balance practice while playing her favorite games.

For more ways to get Fit2Play check out http://www.footgaming.com/Arcade

Video games Make You "Fit2Play"

For many, the connection between video games and "real" health benefits must be based in solid research. Recently, Marina Papastergiou from the University of Thessaly in Greece published this literature review of recent scientific articles in the journal Computers & Education. She focused on those relating to computer games and their utility in physical education and health education.
You can find her abstract online but a summary can be made as below:
Gaming can be of potential benefit to students in the realms of health and physical education There is reason to increase study of exergaming as a genre because its potential is real. With Footgaming we work hard to connect the physical activity and fitness opportunity gained when using the FootPOWR peripheral with the best games. The bonus - FootPOWR plays hundreds, even thousands, of already-popular games and virtual world activities. The connection of active exergaming with games people of all ages already love, know and play for 6-11+ hours a week is key to long term inclusion of activity with computer video game play. Take it from Ernest Adams, author of Fundamentals of Game Design: the most common fatal mistake that befalls game designers is to put the message before the game.
Citation:

Papastergiou, M. (2009). Exploring the potential of computer and video games for health and physical education: A literature review. Computers & Education, 53(3), 603-622.

Solitaire As an Energy-Booster

About 20 percent of the 47 million gamers who played computer "card games" Solitaire came back to the game at least once during the first seven months of 2009. Cost is not really a factor, as Nielsen found the same return rate amongst people who used the free version of Solitaire or the Great Escapes Solitaire paid game.
Solitaire was not the only game of interest, though. Users also reported that they sat at their computer for 6-11+ hours weekly, on average, playing Bejeweled, Chessmaster Challenge, Chuzzle, Scrabble Champion Edition, Text Twist, and countless others. Card games were most popular, played by 88 percent of casual gamers, followed by puzzle games at 9.5 percent.
How much energy could we generate if this collective 47 million casual gamers chose to spend even 1/3 of of the average of 31 minutes they spend per game as Footgamers? If ten minutes of game time per each half hour of game play was FootGaming - that's 2-4 hours of added exergaming active fun per gamer per week. How many liters of brain-enhancing oxygen, energizing endorphins and just plain FUN would that generate?
"Casual games are very popular, especially in this economic environment, and they enjoy a broader audience than typical, hardcore PC games," Brad Raczka, marketing analyst for Nielsen's games division, said in a statement. "Not only does casual gaming draw in traditional 'gamers' such as teens and young adults, but also prime advertising targets such as stay-at-home moms, retired people and younger kids." For anyone who's emerged foggy-headed and lethargic after several hours at a computer - give FootGaming a try. There are hundreds of your favorite casual games that are excellent as FootGaming play.