Thesis: Design and Evaluation of Physically Interactive Games

Ms Johanna Höysniemi Doctoral Thesis (July 2006) is very interesting for those into exergames and physical games or physical interfaces in digital games. The thesis is titled: Design and Evaluation of Physically Interactive Games and the goal was to provide an understanding of how physically interactive games should be designed and evaluated in collaboration with the users. Johanna focused on spatial games utilising computer vision and hearing technologies. In her thesis she has analysed physically interactive games -- QuiQui Giant Bounce and Kick Ass Kung-Fu -- which she has developed by herself (part of a development team) .

Fitness friendly entertainment

Sony "fitness" Walkman NW-S200:
"Players can detect a user's run/walk rhythm and adjust the music accordingly, count steps and calories burned and measure distance covered. "

It is somewhat similar to Nike + iPod Sport Kit.
Nike shoes feature a built-in pocket under the insole specially engineered for the Nike + iPod sensor. The sensor uses a sensitive accelerometer to measure activity, and wirelessly transfers data to the receiver on the iPod nano.

Besides linking sport with entertainment (music as motivation) there are also other types of fitness innovations. According to Mika Yamamoto (Cnet news.com executive editor) physical fitness could be a powerful niche in the Web 2.0 world! This is truly interesting as that statement links two current ICT trends nicely: social media and physical, mobile (fitness) interfaces.

According to Cnet: Web 2.0-oriented sites such as Gimme20, Traineo and PEERtrainer are trying to capitalize on the fitness trend. Sites that are even more finely defined, such as SugarStats.com, target specific health issues (in this case diabetes). The web sites can also be rather rough and ready with their notions, such as RunFatBoy. The service certainly does not allure the users but perhaps "facing the facts" type of approach suits for some.

Exergame live at Nordic Game 06

Sonja Kangas will give a talk about Exergames at Nordic Game 06 conference, Malmö Sweden on 19th September.

She will talk about the changes in the games business and highlighting some findings from our consumer survey (N=1489) about the possibilities of exergames as well as ways to 'understand the user'. What type of physical interfaces will be introduced, what is interface realism, who are the gamers and who will be playing games in the future, are games blurring with other industries... what possibilities does that offer to developers?

Come to find out! It will be an excellent event!

MoFun - physical game installation

MoFun alias Marjuska Kaukomies, Sami Laakso, Petri Ruikka & co have developed an exciting physical game installation. Tuned video camera follows movements of a group of users and reflects the activity to the screen (in a form of a pair of clowns holding a trampoline). Clowns try to catch every falling item / animal / thing. The cool thing about MoFun circus game is that a) it calls for co-operation (if you want to master the game, you have to co-operate). B) It is suitable for "all". The youngest players have been 4-5 year olds! Also 3) it is physical; a group of players really have to run around the floor to catch anything that falls... and oh boy, it is soooo much fun! I quess you could name circus game to be one sort of a stealth exercise. The installation is set up at Heureka (Vantaa, Finland)