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.

Prototype dominates UK sales charts

Prototype was the top selling game in the United Kingdom, according to ELSPA’s Chart Track for the week ending June 20, 2009 - up from the number two spot the week prior. The Sims 3 was knocked out of the top spot by Activision’s super hero action game, while Red Faction: Guerilla was pushed out of the number three spot by Wii Fit and the debut of the new Ghostbusters game, falling all the way to number six.

Meanwhile, UFC 2009 Undisputed fell two spots to number seven, while Call of Duty World at War rose from number seven to number five. EA Sports Active was down two spots to number eight, while Virtua Tennis 2009 cracked the top ten at number nine and Grand Slam Tennis managed to land at number ten.

The rest of the top twenty can be found below:

UK Retail Sales - June 20, 2009

1 PROTOTYPE
2 THE SIMS 3
3 WII FIT
4 GHOSTBUSTERS: THE VIDEO GAME
5 CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR
6 RED FACTION: GUERRILLA
7 UFC 2009: UNDISPUTED
8 EA SPORTS ACTIVE
9 VIRTUA TENNIS 2009
10 GRAND SLAM TENNIS
11 PROFESSOR LAYTON AND THE CURIOUS VILLAGE
12 FIFA 09
13 INDIANA JONES AND THE STAFF OF KINGS
14 MARIO KART WII
15 CALL OF DUTY 4: MODERN WARFARE
16 POKEMON PLATINUM
17 GUITAR HERO: METALLICA
18 INFAMOUS
19 ARMA II
20 RESIDENT EVIL 5

Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track

The Sims 3 rules UK retail charts

The Sims 3 and Red Faction Guerrilla have managed usurp the top two spots on the UK charts from UFC 2009: Undisputed and Pokémon Platinum, pushing Nintendo’s popular Pokémon title to number 7 on the charts, and THQ’s fighting game to number 3. This is according to retail sales data from UK based research firm Elsa’s Chart Track.

EA Sports Active fell on spot top number 4, while Wii Fit moved up one spot to number 5 and InFamous fell by one spot as well. Rounding out this week’s top ten were the aforementioned Pokémon Platinum at number 7, followed by Guitar Hero: Metallica, Virtua Tennis 2009 (being released in North America this week) and Terminator Salvation. Top twenty for the week ending June 6, 2009 can be found below:

All Formats - Week Ending June 6, 2009

1 THE SIMS 3 - EA GAMES (new)
2 RED FACTION: GUERRILLA - THQ (new)
3 UFC 2009: UNDISPUTED THQ (last week #1)
4 EA SPORTS ACTIVE - EA SPORTS (last week #3)
5 WII FIT - NINTENDO (last week #6)
6 INFAMOUS - SONY COMPUTER ENT. (last week #5)
7 POKEMON PLATINUM - NINTENDO (last week #2)
8 GUITAR HERO: METALLICA - REDOCTANE (last week #4)
9 VIRTUA TENNIS 2009 - SEGA (last week #8)
10 TERMINATOR SALVATION - EVOLVED GAMES (last week #11)
11 FIFA 09 - EA SPORTS (last week #7)
12 FUEL - CODEMASTERS - (new)
13 CALL OF DUTY 4: MODERN WARFARE - ACTIVISION (last week #13)
14 MARIO KART WII - NINTENDO (last week #12)
15 SACRED 2: FALLEN ANGEL - DEEP SILVER (new)
16 CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR - ACTIVISION (last week #15)
17 MY FITNESS COACH - GAMES FOR EVERYONE (last week #16)
18 STAR OCEAN: THE LAST HOPE - SQUARE ENIX (new)
19 WII PLAY - NINTENDO (last week #10)
20 MYSTERY STORIES - GSP/AVANQUEST (new)

EA Sports Active getting an expansion this fall

EA Sports announced that it is working on an expansion pack to its fitness game, EA SPORTS Active. EA SPORTS says that EA SPORTS Active has sold 600,000 units worldwide at retail in less than two weeks on the market. EA SPORTS Active, which hit stores on May 19th in North America and by May 22nd worldwide, is a virtual fitness product developed exclusively for the Wii and offers the benefit of a virtual personal trainer in a box with customizable workouts that can be done from the comfort of home.

EA SPORTS will expand the genre this holiday season with a new expansion pack for EA SPORTS Active, designed to take your workout to the next level by adding more challenge and variety. Users will keep their heart pumping through interactive circuit workouts featuring 30 brand new activities and exercises that target the upper and lower body, as well as cardio. The expansion will also put an emphasis on core exercises including curl ups, crunch & punches, and a warm up/cool down feature.

Sports activities will include step aerobics, an obstacle course, squash and water skiing, and a further emphasis on combinations that will work the upper and lower body. An all-new presentation will feature the tropics and a new Six-Week Challenge - another step in the journey towards better health and fitness with new daily workouts that ramp up in intensity each week. This personalized full body challenge will give users a new customizable weekly schedule and a weekly check-in with the virtual trainer to track calorie, weight and workout goals.

EA Sports also announced that EA SPORTS Active will ship to retailers in Japan on August 6th. Look for the expansion this fall.

Games for Health Conference keynote speakers revealed

The Games for Health Conference 2009 is on track to take place at the Hyatt Harborside in Boston, MA June 11-12, according to a reminder sent out by its organizers today. In addition, pre-conference workshops on games accessibility and virtual worlds for health will be held June 10. The three day event will attempt to explore the intersections between health, healthcare, and videogames with 300+ game developers, health professionals, and researchers. Demos, case studies, lectures, and more will be an integral part of the event. Registration starts at $379.00 but prices rise as of June 2, 2009.

Keynoting this year’s Games for Health Conference will be Shyang Kong of EA SPORTS, with a speech entitled “Driving the Virtual Fitness Revolution: The Development and Launch of EA SPORTS Active.” Other speakers include Steve Brown is CEO of 3Banana talking about mobile platforms and Nina Fefferman, Ph.D., Rutgers University, giving a speech entitled “Hakkar’s Corrupted Blood Plague: How an Outbreak in World of Warcraft is Helping Epidemiologists Create Better Disease Models.”

To register for the event, visit www.regonline.com/gfh2009.

EA Sports Active Released

EA SPORTS has released EA SPORTS Active to North American retail stores and will be available worldwide by May 22. Developed for the Wii by EA Canada, EA SPORTS Active is a virtual fitness product i’d imagine EA hopes will take away some market share from the Wii Fit crowd. This product (which I am loathe to call a game) offers a personalized, customizable workout that can be done from the comfort of home. The workouts were created in collaboration with fitness expert Bob Greene, exercise physiologist, author and Oprah’s personal trainer.

EA SPORTS Active interactive uses circuit workouts from more than 25 different activities and exercises that target the upper and lower body, as well as cardio. The program provides guidance through visual and audio cues, while also delivering information on the number of calories burned in real time. Circuits can also be customized based on interests and fitness level promising flexibility and an adjustable intensity level.

EA SPORTS Active include the software, a specially-designed leg strap that holds the Wii’s Nunchuk controller to track lower body movements, as well as a resistance band to increase the intensity to upper body exercises. The program can support two players at one time, and the EA SPORTS Active Accessory Pack containing one leg strap and one resistance band is available for an MSRP of $19.99 in North America. The product is also compatible with the Wii Balance Board, which will add components to the sports drills.

EA says that this product will be the first in a new line of EA SPORTS virtual fitness products - which I am sure we will hear about next month at E3.

EA SPORTS Active Announced

In an attempt to (in my opinion) cash in on the popularity of Wii Fit, EA has begun development on a new game called EA SPORTS Active. EA SPORTS Active is customizable and personalized fitness product, according to Peter Moore, being developed with the help of Bob Greene - “renowned exercise physiologist, author and Oprah’s personal trainer.” You had me at Oprah’s personal trainer, EA Sports.

EA SPORTS Active promises a variety of interactive activities combined into a circuit that target both the upper and lower body as well as cardio, and supports two players to allow family or friends to get fit together. While getting into your work-out the game provides on-screen, real-time feedback such as calories burned, etc. The title will ship with two leg straps that hold the Wii’s Nunchuk controller to track lower body movements, as well as a resistance band to support a number of upper body strength training exercises.

EA SPORTS Active also offers a”30 Day Challenge,” a fitness road map for players to reach their fitness goals with the guidance of a virtual trainer. The Challenge provides a new, 20-minute workout every time a player exercises, including clear instruction, feedback on technique and positive encouragement throughout the workout. Users can also create their own custom workouts that vary in activity, duration and intensity, and use the Wii Balance Board to add functionality to many exercises.

EA SPORTS Active is scheduled for a Spring 2009 release. Don’t worry, this game won’t call little girls fat.