Research on the Gateway Effect of Exergames and Active Games

Members of TEN! Hear this interesting request for evidence of the reason for exergaming's existence! I'm talking about the gateway effect! Sadly this request is just for published research and I know we all have a ton of evidence outside of the laboratory from our own experience and the experiences of others, but maybe there is a diamond in the rough you can share with Debra? Take a look and see if you can help! Cheers! Richard


I am looking for research on the Gateway Effect of exergames and active games.  Please post to the list any studies you know of (include the bibliographic reference if you have it) and the names of researchers who are doing this research.  Thanks!

Some of us have seen individual cases where a person who was sedentary, never interested in physical activity, began to play Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) or a Wii or Kinect or other physically demanding game and then began exercising in other ways, for example by:

(1) playing more exergames
(2) working out and tracking their workouts with mobile fitness games and apps
(3) working out or being active (walking, swimming, gardening, etc.) in non-video-game physical activities
(4) participating in casual (pick-up games) or formal (joining a team or league) team sports

Is there research investigating the Gateway Effect to determine whether it does occur as a result of first playing an exergame or active game and, even better, investigating the processes by which it occurs?  For example, exergames and active games may influence the following factors, which may lead the player to engage in more physical activity elsewhere too:

(1) increase the player's physical capabilities, strength, muscle tone, endurance, etc.
(2) improve self-confidence and self-efficacy for exercise
(3) help the player experience and realize that physical activity can be enjoyable to do
(4) enhance physical well-being, improve ease of movement, reduce pain and soreness, etc.
(5) reduce stress, improve mental outlook
(6) lead to much-needed weight loss
(7) connect the player with others socially
(8) lead to more praise and approval from others, and social acceptance, for being active with exergames and active games

Also, is there any research evidence that exergames and active games may have the opposite of a Gateway Effect?  Do they reduce physical activity elsewhere?  For example, exergames and active games may:

(1) displace more vigorous physical activity with moderate physical activity and so people who substitute exergames and active games for their usual workout activities may reduce their physical fitness
(2) cause sore muscles and joints and increase injury through repetitive movements
(3) cause over-exertion, which may make physical activity less enjoyable than it used to be
(4) socially isolate people who no longer play team sports and instead play DDR at home
(5) do the opposite of any of the 8 factors listed above that I suggested may lead to more physical activity, and instead they may lead to less physical activity...and/or the opposite of the processes in the 8 factors may occur (such as increasing stress instead of reducing it)

Thanks in advance for sharing bibliographic references of published studies and the names of researchers who are doing this research.

Debra

------------
Debra Lieberman, Ph.D., Director
Health Games Research
University of California, Santa Barbara

Going to Games for Health? USA or Europe?

 

9th Annual

Games for Health Conference

Back Bay Events Center, Boston MA

June 26-28, 2013!

Register Today! http://www.regonline.com/gfh2013



Sponsorship
and exhibit opportunities also remain.

Contact bbryant@dmill.com for more information.



Latest schedule up at Sched.org!

Three Days to
Explore...The Role of Videogames in Health & Healthcare

The 9th Annual Games for Health Conference is
coming soon. Register today before prices rise and hotel room availability
dwindles. Join hundreds of developers, health professionals, researchers,
funders, and more at the largest event devoted to games in health &
healthcare.

GAMES FOR HEALTH EUROPE!

On November 4-5 join
us in Utrecht, The Netherlands for the 3rd Annual Games for Health Europe
Conference.



For
complete details on Games for Health Europe visit:



http://www.gamesforhealtheurope.org

ABOUT GAMES FOR HEALTH

Founded
in 2004, the Games for Health Project supports community, knowledge, and
business development efforts to use cutting-edge games and game technologies to
improve health and health care. The Pioneer Portfolio of the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation is the lead conference sponsor and a major supporter of the
Games for Health Project. To date, the project has brought together
researchers, medical professionals, and game developers to share information
about the impact games and game technologies can have on health, health care,
and policy.



A
major effort of the Games for Health Project is the annual Games for Health
Conference. Over three days, more than 400 attendees will participate in over
60 sessions provided by an international array of 80+ speakers, cutting across
a wide range of activities in health and health care. Topics include
exergaming, physical therapy, disease management, health behavior change,
biofeedback, rehab, epidemiology, training, cognitive health, nutrition, and
health education.

(via http://gamercize.blogspot.com/2013/06/going-to-games-for-health-usa-or-europe.html)

Exergaming: Preaching to the Converted

Reaching the "Hard to Reach" through Social Media

Photo by ExergameLab http://exergamelab.org

The concepts of obesity, physical activity and health are globally recognized and linked. Ideas and questions are shared within social media without international boundaries and eagerly expanded or answers suggested. Video gaming is also a global concept, with worldwide release dates for premium games and global communities of online players. Stories around these topics tend to cause a social media "buzz".

Exergaming is an innovative bridge from video gaming to health, that has been demonstrated in almost every country, but exergaming is not intrinsically a social media buzz-category. Why is that? It could be the approach exergaming stories should be shared needs to be different to take into account the relative infancy of the proven exergaming concept.Over recent months I have seen the success and acceptance of exergaming in social media though what was once called "cross-posting".

Cross-posting is a term that was used in bulletin boards and news groups of the old Web 1.0 and involves repeating information in different areas. Given the amount of social media available to be consumed via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other sources, this practice is useful today in order to reach the intended audience. In fact I intend to "cross-post" this blog post! When a story is posted there is the opportunity for readers to interact for example by "liking" or "retweeting" - a comparative measure for cross posts..

Judging the reaction by the number of "likes and comments" on exergaming cross-posts this year it is apparent that only "preaching to the converted" is working! There are very few reactions to exergaming stories in PE and physical activity forums, but plenty in exergaming circles. The most effective social circle for reaching audience is clearly The Exergame Network. The only other notable forum for exergaming is Games for Health. Both The Exergame Network (TEN) and the Games for Health organization, with its US and European factions and related Games for Health Journal, are global organizations.

There are two conclusions that can be drawn from my recent observations. Firstly, there are simply not enough knowledgeable or passionate individuals in the field of exergaming (at the moment) to sustain a buzz in anything less than a global forum. National and regional scope simply does not reach the tipping point to build momentum. I have seen individuals go it alone, and the only outcome being they fall out of the flock of exergamers!

Lastly I am concluding that approaching exergaming like it has the social kudos of gaming or fitness is the wrong approach. For exergaming "Preaching to the Converted" is all that really works. How should the approach change then? Increase those that are converted! Invite PE and physical activity advocates into The Exergame Network and Games for Health spaces, so they can consume exergaming stories, ask questions and make suggestions is a positive collaboration instead of a skeptical minority.

First posted by Richard Coshott at http://gamercize.blogspot.com/2012/08/exergaming-preaching-to-converted.html

Jump into Exergaming

The Exergame Network (TEN) is a not for profit advocacy group promoting exergaming and wishes to give students new opportunities to research this exciting new field.

The Exergame Network Chairman of the Board, Richard Coshott, will undertake a sponsored skydive in August this year to raise awareness and money for TEN towards funding students study designs into research reality. TEN will be inviting students to submit study designs for consideration by the board of directors towards an award.

Awards will be made in October and not limited to funding but include donation or free borrowing of exergame equipment and, most valuable, expertise from TEN exergaming researchers in to form of help, advice and study quality assurance.

"I am raising money by way of a sponsored skydive in August 2012 to provide TEN with funds to support aspirations towards quality research in exergaming, by engaging the new generation of researchers. The skydive is a solo jump, which represents the leap of faith and commitment of purpose we would expect to see in candidate submissions into the field of exergaming research from the students." said TEN Chairman Richard Coshott.

The Exergame Network already freely provides a rich source of exergame information at it's wiki http://exergaming.pbworks.com and is supported by the sectors leading, independent experts. The awards for the Future of Exergaming Research will be made by TEN following an international invitation for study designs open to all universities across the globe.

Please support the inititive by showing your support at https://www.fundraise.com/the-exergame-network/active-gamer. All donations will be attributed directly to award winners, full details of the contest will be available via TEN.

Games for Health Journal - Insider

	ARTICLES PLAYERS JOURNAL ADVERTISE MOBILE VERSION FORWARD
	The Internet has been abuzz this week due to the surprising results from Tom Baranowski’s team at Baylor, which found that children, left to their own devices, get no more health benefit from exergames than from other videogames. The paper, Impact of an Active Video Game on Healthy Children’s Physical Activity, was published in the Feb. 27 issue of Pediatrics. According to Reuters who had the initial report on the study, some public health researchers have hoped that active videogames might be an alternative to outdoor play and sports for at least some of the physical activity kids need -- especially for those who live in unsafe neighborhoods where playing outside isn’t always an option. To test this idea, researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, gave Nintendo Wii consoles to children who didn’t already have one. Half of the participants were given their choice of an active game -- such as Wii Sports or DanceDance Revolution-Hottest Party 3 -- and the other half their choice of an inactive game, such as Disney Sing-It Pop Hits or Super Mario Galaxy. Halfway through the study, the 78 participating children, all nine to 12 years old and above average weight and BMI, were given their choice of a second game from the same category as their first. The research team tracked the youngsters for 13 weeks, testing their physical activity levels with a motion-measuring device called an accelerometer. Results showed that throughout the study period, participants with the active games got no more exercise than those given inactive video games. If one simply refers to this statement of findings, it is a short step toward believing that exergames have no health value. In fact, the actual conclusion of the study was “results provide no reason to believe that simply acquiring an active videogame under naturalistic circumstances provides a public health benefit to children.” In other words, like having a bowling ball, simply owning a potentially beneficial asset doesn’t ensure success. It requires coaching for goals, motivation, technique, discipline, and so on. Many bloggers and the more sensational publications failed to read the fine print of the story which resulted in headlines such as “Wii Motion Gaming Won't Guarantee Better Fitness”, “Just because it's Wii, doesn't mean it's exercise,” and “Study rubbishes Nintendo health benefits”. The take away from the Baylor study remains powerful. The health benefits and expectations for videogames lie not within the game itself but how one chooses to employ the resource. Medicine sitting on the shelf and untaken; un-followed post-surgery exercise regimens; ignored recommendations for smoking cessation; and exergames without assistance don’t achieve the expected outcomes -- not at the fault of the medication, prescription, advice, or game. So the question becomes, given the resources, how are exergames best supported to achieve the desired results? My sense is that we have not heard the last on this study and, hopefully, other researchers will build on the results of the Baylor study to better understand exergame potentials. Meanwhile, we have received excellent feedback from our first issue of the Games for Health Journal. If you haven’t gotten your copy yet, please visit the website to see the Games for Health Table of Contents and to subscribe. Warm Regards, Bill Ferguson, PhD Editor-in-Chief Games for Health Journal: Research, Development, and Clinical Applications

Games for Health Journal - Online!

Check out the brand new Games for Health Journal online. As is customary with the seventy journals published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., the online version is posted about a week before the print issues are shipped. We do this to make sure our authors get as early of a publication date as possible for their work as well as use the speed and convenience of the Internet versus traditional distribution of our content.

The table of contents for this, our inaugural issue, is quite remarkable. My editorial provides a bit of a backdrop for the Journal and expresses my sincere thanks to the many people who made it possible. News from the Field shares some of the diverse health game activities that have taken place recently. Next are two interviews with the virtual founders of Games for Health research and conferences - Paul Tarini of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Pioneer Portfolio and Ben Sawyer, co-founder of DigitalMill and Games for Health conference organizer and host.

The Participants in the Roundtable Discussion read like the Who's Who of health game research and development - Tom Baranowski, Peter Bingham, Debra Lieberman, Ernie Medina, Jesse Schell, and Sam Yohannan.

Next we present seven excellent Original Articles; Peer Reviewed papers on a broad range of topics. I think you will find these reports of effective health game deployment to be robust and fascinating. The two Clinical Reports are excellent perspectives and opinions developed by experts in their respective fields. As such, they enable experts to report on trends, developments, and key perspectives at the leading edge of the health game field. We conclude this issue with a review of Jane McGonigal's excellent book, Reality is Broken.

Whether online or in print, we feel confident you will find great value in the Games for Health Journal. I am pleased to be the facilitator for sharing your remarkable work and I encourage you to contact me with your research, comments, feedback, and suggestions.

For the Games for Health Journal: Research, Development, and Clinical Applications - see http://online.liebertpub.com/G4H

The Exergame Network in 2012

The Exergame Network (TEN) is taking new focus into 2012 to explore the various aspects of how exergaming affects peoples lives. The achievements of TEN in 2011 have been without parallel in the exergaming sector. As a non-profit, non-affiliated, international group that has no funding or strict organisational structure TEN operates only through the passion of individuals and on the generosity of these expert's time. If you do not know what TEN has achieved, take a look at the slides below;

The Exergame Network - Report on our Progress

View more PowerPoint from Exergame Network

Exergaming has much to do with change and progression, TEN is changing and progressing with a new format for 2012. The first collaborative Skype call of the year outlined those changes;

• TEN is moving towards delivery focused collaboration in Workshop Skype Calls
• TEN will still maintain it's social support collaboration, with open general discussion calls
• Responsibility for running the TEN social channels (Twitter, Facebook etc) will be expanded
• Projects will be focused to interest groups and collaboration will be largely online in real-time
• TEN will branch out the representation of Exergaming into pure gaming and pure health channels
• TEN will maintain links with games for health channels
• TEN's International focus will take account of regional expert bases, adapting to fit
• TEN will remain a free unbiased collaboration, with an executive steering group based on participation

TEN brings the commercial, academic and public passions for exergaming under one roof, the democratically decided motto of the network is as it does - "Promoting Healthy Exergaming Worldwide"

When Good Exergaming Research Goes Bad

Another Exergaming related study deriving inconclusive results based on an incorrect premise: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21353635


The Abstract of the study points out 4 activities, 2 of which require significant aerobic capacity. The conventional aerobic activity was 'running' (verb) on a 'treadmill' (equipment/noun), the other was referred to as an Exergame? What Exergame and what physical activity or activities were required by the Exergame?!

Exergaming is a genre, a methology. Exergames vary as much as any other physical activity. This is akin to saying "I did sport the other day", the immediate response to that is "What sport did you do?". So what was the Exergame, was it chosen completely randomly, was it meant to also replicate running, was it a highly cognitive exergame such as DDR or iDANCE etc etc.

The complete study may well point out the exact nature of the Exergame used, but it is obvious to the researchers that this fact is of little importance in summing up their findings. This is extremely irksome, as they DO stipulate the nature of the conventional aerobic activity! (they also leave out the nature and platform required of the seated videogame).

This is simply inequitable and unfortunately, all to annoying common. Quite obviously the researchers misunderstand 'what is an Exergame'. This is misinformed at best and incompetent at worst. This is further exemplified in their conclusion and significance, "....exergames..may not exert the same benefits..", again which Exergame was used? From this, the conclusion would change to "....XXX Exergame ..may not exert.....". Extrapolating the results of 'one' Exergame does NOT predict an outcome for ALL Exergames!

All Exergames are NOT equal, of course not, why on earth would they be! In the same way as not all sports, video games, fitness equipment etc are 'the same' or 'produce or require the same responses'. This is a gross and insipid generalisation.

The massive cross section of Exergames available today all 'require' different and sometimes unique physical, cognitive, social, emotional, logical, musical etc abilities. Exergames can engage specific, local or compound muscle groups; lower limb movement, limb extremeties, upper limbs only, combinations of both, full body along with running, jumping, twisting, stepping, punching, dancing, and so on......

Please researchers, we encourage you to pour your expertise into this rapidly developing genre. The research potential here is massive, but get your facts straight on Exergaming. For a lesson in Exergaming 101: http://exergaming.pbworks.com/

The Exergame Network (TEN) is a not for profit advocacy resource that is dedicated to getting the best out of exergaming.  Resources relevant to this post are TEN's Rating System (TRS) and the Researcher's Resource. Details of both projects can be found on our wiki.

The Researcher's Resource project in particular highlights studies that exhibit either very good or very poor design and/or exergaming understanding from the researcher. The product of this resource will be the Top 10 exergaming studies, to show researchers "What good looks like" and to bring out the best of exergaming implemention to the public eye.

Commerical Exergame Buyer's Guide

The Exergame Network is now collecting submissions from manufacturers to enter their exergames in the Commercial Exergame Buyer's Guide.

Submissions are welcome from manufacturers (or distributors with permission on the manfacturers behalf).

The submission form can be found at http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/628832/Exergame-Factsheet

The Exergame Network's Google+ Hangout Test

The Exergame Network (TEN) is a non-profit, non-affiliated exergaming advocacy that's very forward thinking. Not only are we on the cutting edge of exergaming technology, research and implementation, we're on the cutting edge of open and free collaboration.

On the regular TEN Skype call this week I wanted to push these boundaries again. Some things we try don't work so well and some things we try work so well they are adopted by the group going forwards. The technology I wanted to try out is the Google+ Hangout. Many people have seen Google+ as a Facebook competitor, but the more astute see it as a competition for Skype.

Think about how Google allows free and open collaboration, with email, Google docs, Google Calendar, Google Voice and not to forget YouTube itself. It makes sense that these technologies are offered in one place, and that place is Google+.

The Hangout feature is multi-way video calling, with the added aspects of YouTube sharing and text chat. TEN tried out all of these capabilities with members as far apart as Australia, UK, Hong Kong and the United States. We started the conference call on Skype, as usual, but broke out to Google in the last half hour. The mechanics of getting onto a Google+ Hangout were a little challenging, as most people had never seen this technology before. I had the advantage of using this earlier with great help from Stephen Yang. Here's what you need to do:

1. Get a Google account (goto www.google.com and signup!)

2. Be invited to Google+ (ask us on info@exergamingnetwork.org and we'll add you, or ask me directly if you have my email address for a quicker response!!)

3. Add TEN's Google+ profile to your circles; Don't forget to log into G+ first ;) http://bit.ly/TENplus1

4. Check out the profile stream and you'll see (when a call is on) a big green button to "Join this hangout".

5. Equally you can be invited personally, in which case the option to join will come over the notifications stream.

6. The first time you use Hangout you'll need to download and install the Google voice /video / chat add-in. This works for any OS and browser. (We had PC and Mac users with Mozilla, Chrome and Safari all communicating together.

That's about it! So how did the call go? Here's what we found; It all works! The video streaming was sometimes a little jumpy but the product is still only in beta. On the whole the quality was excellent, and I've noticed an improvement from earlier one to one tests with Stephen.

The chat option was, as one would expect, functional and useful, although there did not seem to be an option to save the transcript as you can refer back in Skype. Equally you couldn't add people into the conversation "to catch up later". You have to be on it to be in it.

The YouTube sharing option was very cool, with an option to watch the video playing. This function I could easily see would make a great platform for presenting, although we has videos of dancing kittens to get us started (Thank for sharing Floyd!!). Thanks also to Robin for some great views over Hong Kong harbor, Scott for being our ab-inito guinea pig, and Brett (for getting dressed!!)

Where do we go from here then? The first thing to do is get a good time and day for the call. To help decide this we've put a couple of polls up on Facebook. First choose the DAY you prefer by voting in the poll, next vote for the best TIME for you.

We didn't just play with new technological toys, on the Google+ and Skype call's we had an excellent update on the Australian Games For Health scene, which sets the arena for the next GFH event; Games for Health Europe. We also discussed the benefits TEN can have for GFH conferences in providing an ongoing collaboration to support exergaming and the conferences themselves. More on this later!

The call was a great success, I think, and once again a testament to the passion and dedication of the people that make The Exergame Network what it is.

VR tech symposium on DM and Obesity published!

3-4-11: Last summer, a group of games for health and exergaming colleagues presented at this NIH-sponsored symposium looking at virtual reality technology in research and education on diabetes and obesity.

Just rec'd the link that the March 2011 issue of the Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology just came out so if you'd like to see all the various presentations in articles, check out this link:

J Diabetes Science and Technology, Vol. 5, #2, March 2011

Thx to Skip Rizzo for inviting us to present and co-organizing this event. Games for health and exergaming had a lot of presence here at this symposium, and we were able to network and get better acquainted with quite a few NIH folks.

BTW, my presentation was part of an article by Barb Ruppert (along with Ben Sawyer's presentation), which you can read here in this abstract below. For the rest of the abstracts and articles from all our other games for health colleagues, check them out at the link above!

"New Directions in Virtual Environments and Gaming to Address Obesity and Diabetes: Industry Perspective"
by Barb Ruppert, M.A.Ed.

Author Affiliations: Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, Frederick, Maryland

Keywords: exercise games, exergames, gaming for health, medical virtual environments, virtual reality

Corresponding Author: Barb Ruppert, M.A.Ed., 271 Crum Rd., Fairfield, PA 17320; email address ruppertwritingworks@earthlink.net
Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology
Volume 5, Issue 2, March 2011 © Diabetes Technology Society

Abstract
Virtual reality is increasingly used for education and treatment in the fields of health and medicine. What is the health potential of virtual reality technology from the software development industry perspective? This article presents interviews with Ben Sawyer of Games for Health, Dr. Walter Greenleaf of InWorld Solutions, and Dr. Ernie Medina of MedPlay Technologies. Games for Health brings together researchers, medical professionals,
and game developers to share information on the impact that game technologies can have on health, health care, and policy. InWorld is an Internet-based virtual environment designed specifically for behavioral health care. MedPlay Technologies develops wellness training programs that include exergaming technology. The interviewees share their views on software development and other issues that must be addressed to advance the field of virtual reality for health applications.

J Diabetes Sci Technol 2011;5(2):277-282

6th Games for Health conference, history!

5-29-10: The 6th Annual Games for Health Conf. is now history! It was the best one yet, as they seem to keep getting better each year.

Check out the pictures from my FB page here:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31313159&l=a2fac16f76&id=1012620518

You'll see quite a few pictures of the first ever, Exergame Challenge at a G4H conference! While we didn't reach the 1 million step goal (the non-profit still received their cheque), it really increased testing of the exergame equipment brought out by Ed, Tommy, Parker, and staff from Motion Fitness. This was a great trial run for a bigger conf. in November, the American Public Health Association annual meeting in Denver, where over 14,000 public health folks from all over the world will be there. Talk about exposing exergaming to a world-wide audience!

So it was a great conference, and you can see from the pictures we had a great time. Having said that, it seems that we are now reaching a point where this conf. is poised to take the next step...CEU's? Bigger? Post-Conf. evaluations? Live streaming of sessions? These are just some of the questions discussed.

Ben Sawyer and Beth Bryant did an AWESOME job as always, and deserve a nice break after this.

If you weren't here, you need to make sure you can make it next year!

The Exergame Network marches on the Games for Health 2010

In Boston this week, the annual Games for Health conference takes place. If you are a member of The Exergame Network's Skype calls, Wiki, LinkedIn or Facebook collaboration groups then here's a chance to meet outside the virtual world!

Talking of Virtual Worlds, the 25th (traditionally known as pre-conference day) has both "Virtual Worlds & Social and Games For Health" and "Games Accessibility" days. This year sees the addition of the Mobile Serious Games Conference too. I found pre-conference day last year was the highlight of the year for me, very social and serious, serious fun!

Two vocal and well respected exergame advocates Stephen Yang and Dr Alasdair Thin (both very active in The Exergame Network) presented last year in the pre-conference event, that this year follows on from the Serious Games Conference on the 24th. (Alasdair, I think we need a new post on your site - ed)

The Games for Health conference itself on the last two of the four days in Boston feature some of the finest minds (and friendliest people!) in the research world. Highlights will undoubtedly come from the Exergaming Expo, where TEN supporters Tommy Seilheimer and Exergame Fitness will be showing how video games such as iDANCE and Gamercize make exercise fun.

The lineup for the two days conference, split into tracks so there are no clashes for your presentation enjoyment, is heavily represented by The Exergame Network. The best have been left to the last day, with expert researcher Dr Lisa Witherspoon Hansen kick starting the day with a presentation on brand new ways to integrate active gaming into the classroom. We've seen successful PE implementation from Lisa before, so don't miss this, it's cutting edge stuff!

We have fellow TEN expert Dr Liz Lyons, looking at the how exergames affect players effort and exertion, so expect to see some great insights from the games savvy Liz, in her second year of presenting at GFH. A slight change of track will let you attend TEN advocate Dr Sheryl Flynn, where rehab is the subject and Sheryl with her efforts in this area is well worth hearing out.

To round off the day we have once again Alasdair, Lisa and Stephen, with the former duo getting into some serious theorizing for exergaming and play. Who to round off the day better than Stephen, who is bringing us more results from his famous Exergame Lab! There is also a rumor going around that TEN tee-shirts will be available, but for the original and best Chief of all Exergaming Evangelists, and TEN supporter, go find Dr Ernie Medina in the Exergaming Tent. Here he is, giving his take on 08!

The four day event is being held at the Hyatt Harborside Hotel, Boston, MA. If you haven't been to this conference before, now in it's 6th year, you should Register Here. I hear that there is also a promo code, I'm not sure if I am allowed to share this, so jump on quick before it's changed for a 10% discount using BOS10 - that's the letters BOS and number TEN.