exercise
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Science community tackles Wii weight loss claims
Studies into how effective the Wii is for shedding pounds are not new. Earlier this year, one gamer committed himself to a six-week regime of playing Wii Sports for thirty minutes a day, and came out nine pounds lighter. Not only that, but you should spend a day here at the Wii Fanboy offices -- it's all well-oiled, rippling biceps, bulging pectorals, and washboard stomachs. Sort of.Anyway, the scientific community has finally followed suit, with two UK-based researchers testing exactly how much of a workout Wii users are getting, compared to Xbox 360 gamers. Using teenagers as their subjects, the pair discovered that playing on the Wii burnt off an extra 60 calories per hour than gaming on the Xbox 360. Their conclusion? That while the Wii certainly helps with weight loss, it probably isn't an ideal substitute for regular exercise, cruelly scuppering our plans to work off post-holiday season pounds with some lengthy Wii Tennis sessions. Their findings were published in the British Medical Journal, no less. Admittedly, these results tell us little that we didn't already know, thanks to the experiment we mentioned in the first paragraph. But now that the same process has been carried out by the white coats, rather than Some Dude on the internet, some may claim it has an extra layer of credibility.[Via BBC]
Wii Sports no substitute for actual exercise
Although we've seen some interesting uses of the Wii for rehab and exercise -- and even seen some positive results -- a new study says that so-called "active" gaming is really no more active than simply sitting around. The research -- funded by Nintendo's UK marketing division, ironically enough -- compared the calories burned by five gamers playing Wii Sports Boxing, Tennis, and Bowling to the calories burned by the same group simply sitting around playing Project Gotham 3 on the 360. Although Wii Sports definitely burned more calories, it wasn't very significant: an increase of "less than two percent," according to the report. Of course, that doesn't mean that other active games like DDR or even a vigorous Rock Band drumming sesh won't burn more calories -- so don't give up your gaming-fitness dreams just yet.[Via Ars Technica; Image courtesy of Nick Cueva]
Fit for public display
1UP got their hands (feet?) on a copy of Wii Fit and immediately set to playing with it making some informative videos to help us understand the game. More than the fitness aspect of the game, we like the idea of a unique interface for some arcade-style challenges (unique interfaces being one of the reasons we're, you know, Wii Fanboys). The first three videos (including the one at the top of the post) show off some of the minigames that can be found inside the package, and we think the marble-rolling game looks awesome. Basically, in this game, your whole body becomes a joystick, tilting the platforms around with your awkward wobbles.The fourth video is a discussion about the game by the 1UP staffers who got up on the Bumble Board and played with it. The consensus seems to be that the minigames are both more enjoyable and more physically taxing than the pure exercise stuff, which is fine with us. Given the choice, we'd rather be playing the fun parts.
Wearable MoCap suits to put animators out of a job
Well, not really. One always goes for the sensational headline. This New Scientist Tech article describes a new method of capturing motion that doesn't require a huge room, a team of software engineers, and a marked ability to refrain from feeling silly about wearing the little balls all over oneself. Instead, this system is vastly more portable, captures a wider range of motion, and doesn't make the wearer feel like too much of a feeb (presumably). There's even a video to see.Okay, that's great and all, but why is this story on Massively? Because someday I envision this suit, or a modified version of it, being worn by a Second Life resident to more accurately portray her avatar's movement in-world. Or maybe a shirt-only version that allows an elaborate system of hand and arm gestures to simulate the casting of spells in Fury. The possibilities are astounding, and probably inevitable. And honestly, from the look of many of us, I'd say that anything requiring us to exercise our bodies while playing is a welcome invention.[Via Slashdot]
Doko Demo Pilates follows you everywhere
Konami's Doko Demo Pilates is shaping up nicely -- oh man did you see what we did there -- providing nice graphical demonstrations of exercise moves along with textual explanations, and just generally being pleasant, like you would expect of an exercise program. We don't really know how to gauge exercise programs, since our personal experience starts and ends with NES Dance Aerobics. It seems to us that the controllable interface, which allows you to move through text and video, and the game's emphasis on highlighting the specific areas worked by each exercise, allows the game to include more information, accessible in a more convenient way, than most other media could. You know what to do, why you're doing it, and you can rewind and watch the move as many times as you need.Konami is taking the "doko demo" ("anywhere") in the game's title to heart, as evidenced by this screenshot of an exercise move done in a bathtub. You are never safe from Pilates with this cartridge around! Pilates can find you wherever you go.
Wiimote inspires 'virtual exercise' contraption
When students in Queensland, Australia recently attempted to make exercise bikes interesting to use (surely an impossible feat if you ask us, but good luck to them), they turned to the Wii's unique controller for a helping hand. Their idea was straightforward enough: place a giant screen in front of the user which shows them merrily zipping through the countryside and other virtual vistas as they cycle.But for this to work effectively, two Wiimotes were required -- one strapped to the cyclist's helmet (so that turning the head would allow users to take in scenery around them), and one to the leg of the cyclist (meaning the device could detect what speed users were travelling at, and adjust the on-screen image accordingly).They're calling it "virtual exercise," and say the next step is to take the image from the screen and have it projected into a pair of goggles, before selling the idea to gyms. Presumably they'll have found an alternative to the Wiimote by then, but if this does show up in your local sweatshop in the future, know where the inspiration came from, eh?[Thanks, Maddles!]
DS gymnastics game looks too dangerous to try at home
We know that the Wii has the potential to be a fat-burning machine, but what about the DS? First there was yoga, then walking, and now ... gymnastics? That's right, folks. Japan will be seeing a game starring exercise celebrity Hiromichi Sato, aptly titled Hiromichi Oniichan no Oyako Taisou Navi. The game "encourages" kids and their parents to be active by showing them how to do different exercises.We're pretty skeptical about exercise via DS being effective at all, but we suppose it's all a matter of motivation. Still, will children really be tricked into performing these exercises by thinking it's a game? Wouldn't kids prefer to join the baseball team or something?[Via Kotaku]
Wii Warm Up: Let's get physical
We know that the Wii has the potential to help people shed pounds, but we wonder how often it actually has. We suppose it's a question of dedication, but still, we're curious -- how many of you have benefited physically from the Wii? We're pretty much as lazy as we ever were, but we want to know about you. Do you use Wii Sports regularly as a means of exercise? Or are you perhaps waiting for Wii Fit to get your glutes into shape? Let us know whether or not the Wii has inspired you to get physical.
Japanese Wii Fit trailers show snowboarding, jogging, more
GameTrailers has uncovered a whole buttload of Japanese videos for Wii Fit that show off some previously unknown game modes. A snowboarding game, shown above, has the player turn the board perpendicular to the screen and lean left and right to navigate a simple slalom course. For those less inclined to "X-TREME" sports, the jogging mini-game simulates the, er, thrilling world of jogging, complete with fellow joggers to keep pace with. Interestingly, the beginning of the jogging video shows a Wii remote being placed in a pocket, possibly to detect vertical movement (and setting up a surprising answer to the old query, "Is that a Wii remote in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?")An extended Japanese trailer for the game shows more scenes from the above game modes, as well as some short snippets of a previously unknown tightrope-walking game and some sort of boxing trainer. Check it out after the break..
Nintendo of Canada lames up gaming with Get Up and Play site
Aside from the occasional oddity, it's not commonplace for video games to actually involve, well, getting up off the couch. With Wii Fit and Wii Sports in Nintendo's entourage, however, the company seems determined to develop games that involve physical activity.Nintendo of Canada decided to go a step farther with this approach by creating a website called "Get Up and Play." Not only is the site designed to inspire movement, but also a thing you may have heard of called family togetherness.The site boasts weekly challenges on the weekends, with printable "Victory Certificates" (um, yay?). Things at stake include taking out the garbage, or setting the table for the week. Oh, and don't forget to "eat healthy snacks like dried fruit and granola bars" while you play.We're completely in support of healthy lifestyles, but we don't need "Family Challenge Badges" and other crappy things for inspiration. That kind of stuff is just scary. In fact, we're very, very afraid. Please hold us.
Steelcase's Walkstation marries desk and treadmill
Anyone who reads the fine site Book of Joe knows that the man behind the blogging empire is religiously devoted to working out while writing, and prides himself on having integrated a treadmill into his workspace. Well manufacturer Steelcase thinks that this trend has grown beyond one individual multitasking in his underwear, and is poised to introduce a nicely-designed product called the Walkstation which seems more at home in a CEO's office than your messy living room. Not many details are available on this converged piece of furniture co-designed by the Mayo Clinic's Dr. James Levine (who's been working in this specialized field for at least two years, apparently), but supposedly there's an all day demo going down on October 25th at 4 Columbus Circle if you happen to be in the New York area. And if you do go, try to show up in a cab just to be ironic.Update: We've learned -- unsurprisingly, from the Joe mentioned above -- that this rig will retail for a cool $6,500, thereby making it the Rolls Royce of integrated workstations. Thanks, Joe, and keep, um, running for the stars!Update 2: Whoops, guess there's no demo going on after all. You can still show up to that address, we guess, but you certainly won't have the good time you would have had working and exercising simultaneously.
Talking digital hand-grip exerciser keeps track of squeezes
We're still not entirely sold on exercise gear that yaps back at you, but if you'd rather your machinery do the counting, the Talking Digital Hand-Grip Exerciser is right down your alley. The title pretty much tells all, but this hand exerciser boasts an integrated LCD and a built-in drone (or its vocal box, at least) that proudly announces how many squeezes you've completed and the current, total, or maximum grip force. Throw down $12.99 for this and couple it with your Konami push-up counter for a workout that's sure to be unbelievably invigorating.[Via UberReview]
Konami's push-up counter keeps you motivated
Trust us, we know how tough it is to count to 999 in our head while closing in on a cool thousand push-ups, so we could not be more excited to see Konami's push-up counter. Okay, our entire team couldn't hit 1,000 collectively in one sitting (okay, maybe so on a good day), but for those macho, macho men out there, this thing will certainly keep you motivated as you look to max one out and hop over to another. Feel free to start the chin-to-big red button-action as soon as you muster up ¥1,764 ($15) required to claim one of your own.[Via TechDigest]
Be the ball in Doko Demo Pilates
We're not exactly the best people to ask about Pilates, especially in regards to how it differs from yoga. All we know is that they're both activities that require you to carry a mat around and hurt yourself stretching. That's why, even though we're not exactly the target audience for Konami's Doko Demo Pilates, we're the ideal audience for it. We're fairly doughy and out-of-shape, and we need exercise training in a form we can understand (i.e. on a game cartridge).And now, looking over these screenshots, we see that Pilates training gives you super powers. Advanced practitioners can manifest enormous scissors, crazy energy waves, and even a gigantic, phantom soccer ball, all through nothing more than positioning one's own body. We cannot even begin to name all the situations in which we wished we could do that. We are in, Konami.
Re-Mission devs HopeLab cause serious Ruckus
DDR and the Wii have done a good job getting kids (and adults) off the couch and moving. Now HopeLab, a prominent contributer to the growing 'serious games' movement and developer of the surprisingly fun third-person cancer awareness shooter Re-Mission, has announced Ruckus Nation, a new online competition looking to award more than $300,000 for game-related product ideas designed to increase physical activity in children and young adults, with one one grand prize brainstorm netting the submitter a cool $75,000. HopeLab will develop and test one or more of these ideas, turning successful prototypes into broadly distributed serious gaming products. Individuals and teams of up to six people can register at the Ruckus Nation website until October 15, with registration limited to 1,000 teams who then have until November 20 to submit their ideas online. Semifinalists will be announced in February, with winners being called out the following month in March. Maybe we've finally found an outlet to pitch our idea for a For Your Eyes Only cross country ski trainer/FPS using the Wii Zapper and balance board.
Wii Warm Up: Competition for Wii Fit
Wii Fit may encourage you to exercise, but this bad boy requires that you do it -- for real, none of this leaning crap -- in order to play your game of choice. Gamercize hooks into both the controller and a piece of real exercise equipment and unless you're actively working it, your controller won't function. That's one way to increase the difficulty on something. Metroid Prime 3 too easy? Throw in a little cycling while you're at it and see how many times you miss those jumps. We're not sure just how much the Wii Gamercize system will cost you, however; though they promise to start marketing their setup for the next-gen consoles this month, the site doesn't yet seem to be updated. Apparently Gamercize has been around for a while, but we missed hearing about it. Now that we have, we're honestly not sure if we should just laugh or actually be interested. It could be a neat idea, but there's something about it that inspires giggles. Whatcha think?
The new Family Trainer is a faithful recreation
We know you're all on the edge of your seats waiting for more details about the Family Trainer and the new version of Athletic World. We understand-- we know how long you've been waiting for a sequel to this NES classic, and we know that everyone is desperately awaiting some kind of Wii exercise game.Famitsu sought to feed our frothing demand for Athletic World with a new, close-up picture of the Family Trainer, which reveals it to have exactly the same button layout as the Famicom/NES pad, with a picture in the corner indicating that it can be turned over for the other familiar Power Pad button layout.Except for the colors and the icon designs, this is exactly the same as the original Power Pad. It's even got the grid pattern on the back. There are also a few more photos of actors pretending to enjoy Athletic World, with tiny inset screenshots of the games. The official website is open, as well, but features nothing but the same photos at the moment.We admit that we're kind of leaning (get it) toward this game now instead of Wii Fit, both as an act of retrogamer defiance and because we'd be amused by a new version of Dance Aerobics.
USB pedometer logs your steps on the cheap
If you've somehow managed to avoid buying a gizmo with some sort of pedometer built in, the simply-titled USB Pedometer could be the device that finally gets you jazzed about walking. The target-styled unit can be rocked proudly (or not) on one's belt, displays steps taken to 999,999, keeps a log of up to three days of step data, and allows you to upload your information to your Windows-based PC in order to chart your progress. Best of all, this motivator will only set you back $16.99.[Via EverythingUSB]
Sportline's Solo 960 watch packs heart rate monitor, pedometer
Although there's plenty of options out there when scouting a relatively ugly, GPS-enabled timepiece, Sportline is claiming that its Solo 960 is the "world's only heart rate watch and accelerometer combination." This fairly decent looking wristwatch includes a pedometer (which utilizes the motion-sensing accelerometer), the firm's own "3Beat Sensor and One-Touch technologies for ECG accurate heart-rate measurement," an EL backlight, five alarms, dual time zone display, and oh yeah, it actually tells the current time of day, too. Not too shabby for $99.99, we think.
Networked exercise bikes motivate bored riders
If the Wii has taught us anything, it's that competitive games don't have to be played from the comfort of a couch. Germany's Daum Electronics, a company that makes an exercise bike with a difference -- the Ergo Bike Premium 8i -- has certainly realized this. Its Ergo Bike is kitted up with a screen, camera, speakers and microphones, and the array of usual sensors: its most important asset, however, is an internet connection. This enables riders from different countries and continents to race (and sweat) with each other, or team up together to beat a simulated race. It's kind of an expensive hobby though, riding in at $3,500 a unit. Another firm called Expresso Fitness has a bike with an entirely unique 3D environment (pictured), and an entirely higher price tag no doubt.
