If you are embarking on any new physical activity, remember to warm-up and cool-down and don’t over do it as unaccostomed exercise can cause muscle soreness.

At the start of 2009 my “Quest for the Perfect ExerGame” continues. I am definitely much further forward than I was at the beginning of last year, however there are still many more levels to progress through. May I wish you a Happy New Year 2009 and thank you for your continued interest.

The first area I will be watching is “Networked ExerGames”. Networking ExerGames will further increase their appeal. If a critical mass of players is generated (and that will be crucial)  then you will be able to break free from the constraints of physical location and engage in meaningful challenges and competitions with players of similar ability, no matter where they are. Also, there is the possibility of a social channel wrapper around one or more networked games, team competitions and challenges.

The second area to watch is “Mobile ExerGames”. Already there are some exciting developments in this area including both location-based games and also “Mixed-reality ExerGames” which combine real and virtual worlds (e.g. pedometer step count linked to online game play time).

The third and final area I will be keeping an eye out for is “Home-brew ExerGames”. By this I mean enthusiasts with a soldering iron, a few electronic components and some programing skills constructing their own ExerGames. There are already quite a few interesting ideas with alternative takes on balance boards and the like. Given the low-cost of wireless micro-controllers and sensors, I expect more innovative and exciting developments in 2009.

It was then back to work for a few weeks, despite having only recently finished off one academic year, the next would be starting two weeks earlier due to changes in the teaching schedule. As I was turning my attention to my presentation for the EU Platform, I received a further request to speak at the “Major Moves 2008” conference which forms part of the major UK Leisure Industry Week Trade show.

I couldn’t not take in the Edinburgh Interactive Festival on my doorstep. It provided a wide range of interesting experiences and a window on the wider video games industry in the UK. A holiday in the Black Forest for a family wedding in August was my last chance to pause for breath before a busy Autumn schedule.

Speaking at the EU Platform was a real honour and certainly an experience to remember. Needless to say I made a good few contacts and had several fruitful conversations. I will be watching future developments at the platform with interest. You can view my presentation and read a transcript to see how I tried to sum up ExerGaming and present a vision for the future of a virtual exercise environment  which I have termed a “Personal Activity Platform” which supports and complements physical infrastructure and services.

The “Major Moves” conference was really exciting and engaging. There was a wide variety of health promotion professionals from across the country there to hear about innovative ways to use technology to promote health. I definitely think that the conference was the start of something new in UK health promotion and the impact will be felt for years to come. The conference was a great chance to touch base with Biray Alsac whom I had met physically and Richard Coshott whom I had only met virtually up to that point. I also made a good few contacts and was actually quite surprised as to the range of ExerGame type products and activities already going on in the UK and indeed in Europe. Most likely because a large proportion of the leisure provision is based in the public sector, ExerGaming type activities don’t have such a high profile.

The year drew to a close with several interviews for various magazine articles and my thoughts started to turn towards my plans for the next. At this stage it is a bit of an unknown, but there are some interesting results on psychological aspects of ExerGaming play, an interdisciplinary research proposal on a next generation ExerGame and some commercial engagements.

In summary: I have moved up several levels on my “Quest for the Perfect ExerGame”, but there a still plenty more to go.

At the start of January 2008, the only definite date on the calendar was an ExerGaming Symposium and the International Society for Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity’s (ISBNPA) annual conference in Banff, Alberta towards the end of May. As I began to make travel arrangements, the call came out for the Games for Health conference in Baltimore, Maryland at the beginning of May. Perhaps I could combine the two? But what would I do for the 12 days between, apart from travel west? If I wanted to sit on a beach I would have to head south! So the idea of a putting together a series of research visits began to take shape and I set about applying for funding.

February seemed to pass by fairly quickly, helped along by my training for a half-marathon. At the same time a project concerning rehabilitation exercises using the Wii Tennis game was coming to the end. Also, if I was going to be away for most of May, then I had to get to work on adjusting my teaching schedule. Towards the end of February, I heard about the possibility of a preview copy of the forthcoming Wii Balance Board.

March came round and the conference sessions and funding for May were all confirmed. Now I had the small matter of sorting all the bookings and travel arrangements, finishing the term’s teaching, planning the next and running a half-marathon (new pb a shade under 99 minutes!). A good feature in the Animation World magazine detailing my research and previewing the forthcoming Games for Health Conference was a boost.

Time for a few days off at the beginning of April. Travel arrangements were in hand, but no sign of the Balance Board. Nothing for it but to reserve a couple at a local out of town toy store. My final module with our graduating students was one on health promotion and physical activity. I couldn’t let them leave without experiencing a practical session in the form of an “ExerGaming Arcade”! I “practiced” my conference presentations on the students and pitched their last practical class as a once in a lifetime opportunity. The arcade was all set up the day before, minus the Balance Boards. The day of the European launch dawned and as the store opened at 9 am I collected two broads and headed into work. At 10:40 am we started the “ExerGaming Arcade Experiment” and began collecting data!

The beginning of May kind of crept up on me with a few last details to sort out before I left for the States. It was kind of warm even at 9 pm when I arrived in Baltimore. Indeed, I spent the next few weeks taking a case load of warm clothes across America which I never wore! I even made to the beach in Ventura and a swim in the Pacific. The Games for Health conference was a great experience and my research was well received. I made some great contacts and was able to share a good few ideas.

Then it was off via a bustling Washington to Tampa, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Redlands. Along the way I met a great bunch of interesting and varied people, all with their own particular angle on ExerGaming. I couldn’t begin to describe it all in this post, so you will have to read all about it here. What I can say is that the people whom I met all “got it”. But as we talked, it quickly became apparent that current ExerGames were barely scraping the surface of what was possible when you dared to dream about new ways of doing things.

It was an early start for the flight from Los Angeles to Calgary and I had a warm jumper in my carry-on just in case. We were barely in the air when the pilot told us that it was 6 degrees in Calgary. Chatting later on, a steward informed me that they had only stopped skiing in the Banff area the week before! I arrived at the conference hotel to be greeted by a dramatic vista and fresh snow on the mountains! I soon met up with my fellow symposium presenters and we finalized the details of our session. It was well received although there was some healthy skepticism about what was so special about ExerGaming other than a “novelty factor”? Clearly we have our work cut out. But perhaps there is a bigger issue in the way technology is shaping and changing human behavior?

I had a few days to “chill out” (literally!) in Banff before heading back to Scotland. It was back to my desk with a jolt! Most of June was spent marking exams and attending exam boards. I also had to start thinking about my classes for the fall as my institution was going to be changing the term dates and teaching periods. It was therefore welcome relief when somebody phoned me from the European Commission…to be continued…

In summary: Care to Imagine and Dare to Try what might be possible with “ExerGames”.

I had previously written a post “When Worlds Collide” and it suddenly jumped out at me when reading an article in Wired Magazine - “The New Reality”. Simply put, the virtual worlds of the web and video games have become mainstream in a variety of many interesting and exciting ways (e.g. iPhone, Wii and Guitar Hero). Virtual reality is no longer the holy grail. These tactile technology mashups between virtual and physical worlds have brought immersive experiences to the masses.