The Quest for the Perfect ExerGame

Right at the start of the first live radio interview that I did, the journalist put it to me that “It wasn’t a bad job playing video games all day”. Well I had to put her right and say that it is not the only thing that I do. There are the not so small matters of teaching and administration. Anyway, enough of that, today was all about playing video games. Unfortunately, I had grossly under-estimated the degree of traffic congestion in Los Angeles, so I didn’t arrive at my destination on schedule. I was traveling from Santa Monica to Redlands, home of XRtainment Zone. After a scenic train journey I arrived at San Bernardino station in the searing heat and I began to feel that the visit was becoming more like a pilgrimage.

XRtainment Zone is a commercial facility that offers a wide range of “ExerGames” in a health club type format. For a good overview, visit their website. My arrival coincided with that of a preview copy of the Wii Fit balance board. I was able to help Ernie Medina (ExerGaming Evangelist) set it up and give him a quick demo. I wasn’t at my best and could go down in history as the first (ExerGaming) winter-sports ski-jumper to be affected by heat exhaustion!

Anyway, it was great to see round the facility, try out some of the games I hadn’t seen before, and get a real feel for the place. Being Friday afternoon, it wasn’t too busy, but there was certainly plenty going on. I got a real sense that the kids present were involved in some form of spontaneous play, kind of like a 21st century adventure playground. They could pick and choose ExerGames as they wished. Some were right into a game controlled by cycling and appeared to be really exerting themselves. In such a setting, I found it hard to define it as simply exercise. The sheer sponteneity and playfulness of it all suggested something more like “Active Game Play”.