Get off the couch and move: Video game developers and players are interested in the adrenaline-pumping action taking place offscreen. All Wii Fit images © Nintendo.

The American Heart Association reports that about two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese, including more than nine million children.

In December 2007, the Center for Consumer Freedom released a report contending that lifestyle shifts over the past several decades have contributed to obesity in America, including the fact that children tend to play video and computer games, rather than going outside to play.

“In a society where obesity has become a serious health issue, watching television has rightly been blamed as a major culprit,” says Erik Hoftun, co-editor of the Book of Games, Volume 2. “Video gaming also gets its share of blame, but the fact is that new video games and hardware actually can be great tools in fighting obesity, so much so that video games are finding their way into physical education programs in schools both in the U.S. and Europe.”

Games for Health
The Serious Games Initiative is focused on constructive uses for games in the public sector, including helping to forge productive links between the electronic game industry and projects involving the use of games in education, training, health, and public policy.

Professionals in the health care and video game industries are meeting in Baltimore at the 2008 Games for Health conference May 8-9, 2008 to discuss such topics. “We’re planning close to 40 sessions including sessions on epidemiology in World of Warcraft, game addiction, nurse training, rehabitainment and a special session with some of the biggest companies in healthcare,” notes Ben Sawyer, president, Digitalmill, Inc. and co-director of Games for Health, in his website conference blog.

Erik Hoftun, co-editor of the Book of Games, Volume 2, finds that video gaming can be a great tool in fighting obesity.

One of the Games for Health sessions, entitled “Go for the Burn: Designing Body-Movement Controlled Video Games to Maximize Energy Expenditure,” will be presented by Scottish researcher Alasdair Thin of Heriot-Watt University.

“Active video games, or ‘exergames’ are now widely available due to recent advances in game technology including the development of low cost body-movement sensitive controllers,” Thin writes in his session synopsis. “However, it is not clear which factors are important in determining the exercise intensity a player needs to produce to effectively play a particular game. In order to maximize the potential health benefits of exergaming, there is a clear need to understand what makes a ‘good’ exergame.”

Thin and his laboratory conducted a series of experiments over several years into a number of different body-movement controlled video games from a variety of different genres, including martial arts, dance, fitness/aerobic, boxing and fitness/combat. Primary measures included heart rate and oxygen consumption and were intended to assess the level of physical exertion required to play the games.

“The results indicated that the exertional demands of the different games varied from moderate through to vigorous exercise and provide experimental support for active video games having a role in helping to promote and maintain a physically active lifestyle,” Thin notes.

Everybody Wii Now
Nintendo's Wii, which made its debut in November 2006, is perhaps best known for its Wii Remote, a wireless controller that can be used as a handheld pointing device and can detect acceleration in three dimensions. In addition to actively engaging players, it has also proved a good business strategy for reaching non-traditional players. Nintendo reports brisk sales of its 2008 video games, especially Wii products. Super Smash Bros. Brawl for Wii sold more than 1.4 million units in the U.S, including over 874,000 games on its March 9 release date.