4/04/2005
Arcade Dance Machines Are Hot!
Video games build muscle when gym meets arcade
Personal digital trainer, joystick workout score points for fitness
By Brian D. Crecente, Scripps Howard News ServiceMarch 7, 2005
Weight loss was always a game to Tanya Jennsen -- really.
Jennsen, now 22, became a devotee of the dancing arcade game "Dance Dance Revolution" in 1999.
She spent hours a day hanging out in arcades twisting, spinning, dancing to the pulsing music of the video game, following glowing arrows on the floor and screen as she scored points and advanced to new levels.
Then she noticed her clothes didn't fit anymore and discovered she had lost 30 pounds.
Five years later and 100 pounds lighter, Jennsen is a video evangelist, preaching the fat-melting, muscle-building power of video games to generations who have grown up holding joysticks.
Jennsen is one of thousands who have found weight-loss salvation at the hands -- or the feet or even in the angry digital visage -- of a video game.
Giant steel joysticks, dance pads and virtual personal trainers seek to balance the payoff of exercise with the fun of gaming, giving a country of the unhealthy, disinterested and plain lazy a second chance at washboard abs and perfect pecs.
It's 6:30 Sunday morning and I already hate Maya.
"Hey there, did you know that morning workouts are a great way to jump-start your metabolism?" she asks in a perky voice.
I really shouldn't hate my personal trainer; she's nice, motivates without being too pushy and is a figment of my Xbox's imagination.
The digital trainer in the Xbox, PC and PlayStation 2 "game" "Yourself!Fitness" is a master of aerobics, step, yoga, Pilates and strength-training.
She has the voice of celebrity trainer Yumi Lee -- a personal instructor to stars like Brad Pitt and Demi Moore -- and the nonthreatening, nondescript looks of someone you can trust.
"Maya is totally made up based on consumer focus groups," said Phineas Barnes, co-founder of responDESIGN, creators of "Yourself!Fitness."
The first time you turn Maya on, she asks for your name, your weight, has you do some quick exercises and then asks for your pulse. After that you decide what your goals are and she designs a workout schedule around them.
Barnes said the idea of blending exercise with gaming came while he was on a break from training for a triathlon.
"I thought, games are addictive -- if only there were a way to make fitness addictive too."
Not all exercise gaming is as interactive, and annoyingly chipper, as Maya.
The Kilowatt is a 4-foot-tall bar of steel that uses jet fighter technology to sense the amount of muscle power you put into pushing it around. It then translates that information into the movements of a joystick.
You plug the device into your console or computer and start working out as you run the streets of "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," blast aliens in "Halo 2" or tear around corners in "Burnout 3." The device works with any game on the market.
"Most flying and driving games and any first-person shooter are awesome workouts with the Kilowatt," said Greg Merril, CEO of Powergrid Fitness, which created the device. "On 20, which is the highest level, if you are a professional linebacker you will have a hard time moving the character on the screen."
Powergrid worked with the American College of Sports Training to design the equipment.
The device doesn't just provide a good workout, it makes games more immersive. When you are playing "Grand Theft Auto," you tire out just as quickly as the character does, since making him move means continually pushing the bar forward.
Merril showed the device at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, where it garnered an innovation award, and he ended up selling quite a few despite the $800 to $1,200 price tag.
The Kilowatt has been so successful that the company has sold out. "We are getting several thousand more at the end of March," he said.
The Kilowatt isn't the only exercise gaming device that may soon show up in health clubs and gyms. While Konami's "Dance Dance Revolution" was first designed as an arcade game, the health benefits of the machine were never lost on the company.
The game was designed with the help of Konami's sports division.
"It was a physically interactive game that broke the mold from a traditional game where you are sitting down holding a controller in your hands," said Jason Enos, product manager for Konami Digital Entertainment America.
The game is played by watching for cues, flashing arrows that match with arrows on a large pad on the ground, and stepping in time to music.
When the home version was created, Konami decided to add a workout feature that tracked calories burned.
But Konami has always been careful not to tout the game as exercise equipment.
"I never wanted to take a game like 'Dance Dance Revolution' and pitch it out into the marketplace as the fun way to lose weight," he said. "The weight loss is sort of an added bonus, something they never expected from the product."
One of the first things a serious DDR fan buys after bringing home the game is a new dance pad that feels more like the arcade version and can withstand the constant abuse. Red Octane has developed a following among DDR diehards for manufacturing high-performance dance pads.
"Our goal is to show that this is a great way to have fun, but at the same time get a great workout," said Dean Ku, vice president of marketing for Red Octane.
Personal digital trainer, joystick workout score points for fitness
By Brian D. Crecente, Scripps Howard News ServiceMarch 7, 2005
Weight loss was always a game to Tanya Jennsen -- really.
Jennsen, now 22, became a devotee of the dancing arcade game "Dance Dance Revolution" in 1999.
She spent hours a day hanging out in arcades twisting, spinning, dancing to the pulsing music of the video game, following glowing arrows on the floor and screen as she scored points and advanced to new levels.
Then she noticed her clothes didn't fit anymore and discovered she had lost 30 pounds.
Five years later and 100 pounds lighter, Jennsen is a video evangelist, preaching the fat-melting, muscle-building power of video games to generations who have grown up holding joysticks.
Jennsen is one of thousands who have found weight-loss salvation at the hands -- or the feet or even in the angry digital visage -- of a video game.
Giant steel joysticks, dance pads and virtual personal trainers seek to balance the payoff of exercise with the fun of gaming, giving a country of the unhealthy, disinterested and plain lazy a second chance at washboard abs and perfect pecs.
It's 6:30 Sunday morning and I already hate Maya.
"Hey there, did you know that morning workouts are a great way to jump-start your metabolism?" she asks in a perky voice.
I really shouldn't hate my personal trainer; she's nice, motivates without being too pushy and is a figment of my Xbox's imagination.
The digital trainer in the Xbox, PC and PlayStation 2 "game" "Yourself!Fitness" is a master of aerobics, step, yoga, Pilates and strength-training.
She has the voice of celebrity trainer Yumi Lee -- a personal instructor to stars like Brad Pitt and Demi Moore -- and the nonthreatening, nondescript looks of someone you can trust.
"Maya is totally made up based on consumer focus groups," said Phineas Barnes, co-founder of responDESIGN, creators of "Yourself!Fitness."
The first time you turn Maya on, she asks for your name, your weight, has you do some quick exercises and then asks for your pulse. After that you decide what your goals are and she designs a workout schedule around them.
Barnes said the idea of blending exercise with gaming came while he was on a break from training for a triathlon.
"I thought, games are addictive -- if only there were a way to make fitness addictive too."
Not all exercise gaming is as interactive, and annoyingly chipper, as Maya.
The Kilowatt is a 4-foot-tall bar of steel that uses jet fighter technology to sense the amount of muscle power you put into pushing it around. It then translates that information into the movements of a joystick.
You plug the device into your console or computer and start working out as you run the streets of "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," blast aliens in "Halo 2" or tear around corners in "Burnout 3." The device works with any game on the market.
"Most flying and driving games and any first-person shooter are awesome workouts with the Kilowatt," said Greg Merril, CEO of Powergrid Fitness, which created the device. "On 20, which is the highest level, if you are a professional linebacker you will have a hard time moving the character on the screen."
Powergrid worked with the American College of Sports Training to design the equipment.
The device doesn't just provide a good workout, it makes games more immersive. When you are playing "Grand Theft Auto," you tire out just as quickly as the character does, since making him move means continually pushing the bar forward.
Merril showed the device at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, where it garnered an innovation award, and he ended up selling quite a few despite the $800 to $1,200 price tag.
The Kilowatt has been so successful that the company has sold out. "We are getting several thousand more at the end of March," he said.
The Kilowatt isn't the only exercise gaming device that may soon show up in health clubs and gyms. While Konami's "Dance Dance Revolution" was first designed as an arcade game, the health benefits of the machine were never lost on the company.
The game was designed with the help of Konami's sports division.
"It was a physically interactive game that broke the mold from a traditional game where you are sitting down holding a controller in your hands," said Jason Enos, product manager for Konami Digital Entertainment America.
The game is played by watching for cues, flashing arrows that match with arrows on a large pad on the ground, and stepping in time to music.
When the home version was created, Konami decided to add a workout feature that tracked calories burned.
But Konami has always been careful not to tout the game as exercise equipment.
"I never wanted to take a game like 'Dance Dance Revolution' and pitch it out into the marketplace as the fun way to lose weight," he said. "The weight loss is sort of an added bonus, something they never expected from the product."
One of the first things a serious DDR fan buys after bringing home the game is a new dance pad that feels more like the arcade version and can withstand the constant abuse. Red Octane has developed a following among DDR diehards for manufacturing high-performance dance pads.
"Our goal is to show that this is a great way to have fun, but at the same time get a great workout," said Dean Ku, vice president of marketing for Red Octane.
By the way we at The Game Gallery have sold tons of these to schools, colleges, fitness clubs, YMCA's, social clubs, even for the Ultimate Toy in peoples homes. Call 1-800-966-9873 to order yours today.
