It's week two in the Healthy Gaming project and this week Sean takes two year old EA Sports Active 2 for a workout. He looks at how this program stacks up to last week's Nike+ Kinect Training as well as a candid look at the types of workouts it provides.
"As a long time gamer, I’m overjoyed to see games moving into other areas of life through the process of gamification (check out this video to learn all about it). However, I’m left with a sense of un-fulfillment. I’m not here to question its effectiveness based on whether it passes or fails, but rather if it is always the best method."
no one plays these games anymore, the only ones really using the wii anymore are the core gamers playing the 3 great games that just released (last story, xenoblade and pandora's tower) the wii fad died and it seems nintendo predicted the time to drop support of the console and launch the wii-u with odd timing.
good ridence motion gaming, well ofcourse unless its done right like some of the wii's best games, but we all know most games didnt use it right
Fitness games are the best hope for the Kinect but until people start doing them right it makes it hard to enjoy them. A fitness game has to be thought of from an entertainment standpoint to keep the players attention and want to exercise as well as a fitness standpoint. They exercises are important but integration with online, a personal stat tracker that the user can wear outside the game and sync later, the ability to easily load what they ate via voice and online database of common foods, etc. There are so many things missing. Granted Kinect needs to improve accuracy to help the exercises but for the most part they could have a good future.
GamerFitNation's John writes about 4 ways to improve Exergaming. "When Nintendo launched the Wii in 2006, it took the world by storm. Bundled together with Wii Sports, it didn’t take long to realize that you could get your heart rate going in a heated game of Tennis, or give your arms a good workout while Boxing. Casual and hardcore gamers soon found out it was quite possible to get a decent workout from this console. Motion controls pioneered by the Wii started a trend called “Exergaming”
Nothing can improve exercise games. They will always be lame and uneffective. If you want to lose weight, run on a tredmill like a normal person.
Kat Cole discusses the pro's and cons of the gaming lifestyle and just how your favorite hobby could be affecting your health, amongst other things.
From the article:
"...the incessant health warnings in relation to the medium are unlikely to curb your habit any time soon. Nevertheless, the wisest decisions are informed decisions and so here is a break down of the various pros and cons of being a great big gaming nerd that have been previously discussed by health practitioners and the media alike."
How is this a debate? The truth is that ANYONE with a sedentary lifestyle will incur health problems. It has nothing to do with video gaming itself. The pros listed are also not exclusive to gaming. If ANYONE does ANYTHING similar to the pros mentioned, they have the possibility of the same outcome.
