Health Games Research gets $1.85 million grant for 9 projects

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has given a $1.85 million grant to the Health Games Research to research game-based health intervention solutions. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is an organization dedicated to improvinge the health and health care by helping Americans lead healthier lives and getting the care they need. Health Games Research is a national program that funds research to advance the effectiveness of digital games and game technologies intended to improve health. It does this by doing research, creating technology and teaming with developers from around the country. It is headquartered at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The grant will help fund research on 9 different projects, with each receiving $100,000 - $300,000 USD; enough for a one to two year study per project. The 9 research projects were chosen from 185 different proposals. Among them are projects to help Parkinson’s patients reduce the risk of falling using Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution game, a mobile phone game with breath interference to help smokers quit or reduce their tobacco use, facial recognition games for use with helping autism patients identify emotions, and a game project to reduce obesity rates in high school students using EA Sports Active game on Wii. All of these projects will focus on what the program describes as “diverse population groups.”

Personally, I applaud these kinds of efforts. On a related note, check out Steve Steinberg’s most recent Health Meter column, where he puts a spotlight on AbleGamers.

Your Shape Featuring Jenny McCarthy coming to PC this week

Ubisoft announced will be shipping a PC version of its upcoming fitness game Your Shape featuring Jenny McCarthy in North America. Your Shape featuring Jenny McCarthy comes packaged with a camera peripheral that features Ubisoft’s proprietary motion tracking technology, which promises a completely personalized and interactive work-out by scanning players’ bodies, assessing their current fitness level and then projecting their images onto the TV.

As an added bonus, the camera that comes bundled with the Windows PC version of the game is a fully functioning webcam.

For more information on Your Shape Featuring Jenny McCarthy check out www.yourshapegame.com. The game is also available for the Wii.

Be The Biggest Loser

THQ has released The Biggest Loser fitness video game for Wii and Nintendo DSi/Nintendo DS. The game will also be made available in the UK and Australia over the coming months. The fitness game based on the popular NBC weight loss reality show featuring rotund people losing their girth offers more than 90 exercises and the expertise of trainer Bob Harper, as well as Jillian Michaels, from the television show. You can’t lose with this game. Wait, maybe you can lose a little.

The Biggest Loser video game is rated E for everyone and is available for the suggested retail prices of $39.99 on Wii and $29.99 on Nintendo DSi/DS.

Madden, Batman surprise in August software sales

In what can be considered a bit of a non-shocker, Madden NFL 10 managed to move 1.75 million units in August, followed by Wii Sports Resort and Batman Arkham Asylum. The Xbox 360 version of Madden raked in 928K in unit sales, while the PS3 version managed to sell through about 665K units, followed by the PS2 version which moved about 120K units.

Batman: Arkham Asylum did pretty well on the PS3 and Xbox 360; 303K units of the Xbox 360 version were sold in August followed very closely by 290K units on the PS3. No doubt hardware price cuts that kicked off in August probably helped Batman: Arkham Asylum than Madden did. Full list below:

August 2009 Software Sales:

Madden NFL 10 for Xbox 360, EA - 928,000 units

Wii Sports Resort for Wii, Nintendo - 754,000 units

Madden NFL 10 for PS3, EA - 665,000 units

Batman: Arkham Asylum for Xbox 360, Square Enix - 303,000 units

Batman: Arkham Asylum for PS3, Square Enix - 290,000 units

Madden NFL 10 for PS2, EA - 160,000 units

Dissidia Final Fantasy for PSP, Square Enix - 130,000 units

Wii Fit for Wii, Nintendo - 128,000 units

Mario Kart Wii for Wii, Nintendo - 120,000 units

Fossil Fighters for DS, Nintendo - 92,000 units

Jenny McCarthy does fitness for Ubisoft’s Your Shape

Ubisoft today announced that it has partnered with actress, comedienne, host, best-selling author, celebrity chef, lingerie model, animal activist, champion dog groomer, Donkey Kong Jr. record holder, desperate housewife and all around perfect human being Jenny McCarthy for a new fitness game. The game, Your Shape featuring Jenny McCarthy, is a fitness title that uses a new camera for the Wii for a hands free workout. Using the camera, the game apparently scans your body assesses your current fitness level and then projects your image onto the TV. This sounds suspiciously like something you might be able to do on the PlayStation 3 with the Eye. Hmmm.

Anyway, this fitness title is set to get you in shape this holiday shopping season, so feel free to bulk up on carbs, candy and fat during Thanksgiving, Christmas, or whatever your favorite holiday is in the fourth quarter. More details at www.yourshapegame.com.

Active Life: Extreme Challenge now available

Namco Bandai Games America has shipped Active Life: Extreme Challenge has shipped to retail stores throughout North America for Wii. Namco Bandai’s entry in the fitness genre popularized bt Wii Fit and EA Sports Active promises an exercise regimen that combines the motion-sensing Wii Remote with an original mat controller that lets players use their whole body to participate in 15 “extreme sports activities.”

The game comes with the Active Life mat, a durable eight button peripheral that lets players control the on-screen action with their hands and feet when used in conjunction with a Wii Remote. Created with families in mind, the game encourages activities such as running and jumping, wakeboarding, rock climbing and base jumping, among many other mini-games that seek to make you sweat.

Active Life: Extreme Challenge for Wii is available as a bundle containing the game and one Active Life mat controller for a suggested retail price of $59.99.

Ubisoft’s Q2 release schedule

Buried amongst its fiscal first quarter 2009 - 2010 results, Ubisoft today revealed it second quarter release schedule (July - September 2009). The list consists mainly of tween games like Imagine, casual board games like Scrabble, and a handful of licensed games like Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Full list below.

ACADEMY OF CHAMPIONS (UK, NORDICS COUNTRIES, AUSTRALIA) Wii

AMAZING ADVENTURES THE FORGOTTEN RUINS (EMEA*) Nintendo DS

BFF TV (EMEA) Nintendo DS

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS Nintendo DS, Wii, Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3, PSP, PC

BATTLE OF GIANTS: DRAGONS Nintendo DS

FAMILY FEUD 2010 EDITION (US) Nintendo DS, Wii, PC

HEROES OVER EUROPE PLAYSTATION 3, Xbox 360, PC

IMAGINE SALON STYLIST (US) Nintendo DS

IMAGINE DETECTIVE Nintendo DS

IMAGINE PARTY PLANNER (EMEA) Nintendo DS

IMAGINE SOCCER CAPTAIN (US) Nintendo DS

IMAGINE TEACHER: CLASS TRIP Nintendo DS

NEW U FITNESS FIRST PERSONAL TRAINER (EMEA) Wii

THE PRICE IS RIGHT 2010 EDITION (US) Nintendo DS, Wii, PC

SCRABBLE (EMEA) Wii, PC

SOUL CALIBUR BROKEN DESTINY (EMEA) PSP

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: SMASH-UP Wii, PlayStation 2

WHERE’S WALDO: THE FANTASTIC JOURNEY (US) Nintendo DS, Wii, PC

* means Europe, the Middle East and Africa.