UCSD to Study Impact of Video Games on Teenage Health

Research Effort Part Of Nationwide Program

By HEATHER CHAMBERS

San Diego Business Journal Staff

Gregory Norman

Ready. Set. Launch Nintendo.

Video game researchers eager to discover what holds the interest of gamers young and old have donned their (virtual) thinking caps and equipped themselves with all the equipment of an avid gamer as part of a nationwide study involving 11 universities and the Maine Medical Center.

More than $2 million in grants provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will allow researchers to explore everything from how cyber-cycling games encourage physical and neurological activity in seniors to how virtual role-playing games work to prevent relapse in alcoholics.

UC San Diego researchers in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine will use $198,000 to discover how interactive digital games can be designed to improve health in teenagers.

They will study so-called “exergames,” popularized by musical video game Dance Dance Revolution and Nintendo Wii’s baseball, boxing, bowling, golf and tennis games, which encourage players to mimic dance moves and other physical activities while monitoring a screen and using game controllers. Studies have shown that Dance Dance Revolution can raise a player’s heart rate to the level of an aerobic workout.

‘Exciting Next Step’

“I think it’s a very exciting next step in our understanding of what motivates people to get physical activity and how technology and games can play a role,” said Debra Lieberman, a leading expert in the research and design of interactive media for learning and health behavior change at UC Santa Barbara.

Health Games Research, an $8.25 million Robert Wood Johnson Foundation national program designed to support innovative research in video games, is headquartered at the university.

Lieberman directs the Health Games Research Program and helped select grant recipients.

“Our aim was between 10 and 15 (recipients) that would add up to about $2 million that would really help us understand some aspect of health games,” she said. “(UC San Diego) happened to be a good proposal and addressed an important question.”

Researchers will ask what motivates play among social settings and whether the level of physical activity leads to increased health benefits, according to Dr. Gregory Norman, who is leading a team of four researchers to study adolescent behavior.

The information could prove valuable to the computer and video game industry, which took in about $9.5 billion last year.

Japanese technology company SSD/XaviX, which has a branch in San Diego, will provide researchers with game equipment.

Wii Fit poised to become America’s best-selling game ever

Mark your calendars, folks. On May 19, gaming will change forever in this country.

That’s the scheduled North American release date for “Wii Fit,” the exergaming title now moving out of game stores in Japan like crushed ice at a frozen-drink bar. The game employs the Nintendo Wii console’s signature motion-sensing technology and a wireless balance board to engage gamers in fitness-related challenges.

Upon debut in Japan four months ago, “Wii Fit” sold more than 1 million copies in its first week, and that’s in a nation with only about 5 million Wiis in use.

Market estimates just announced put projected sales in this country around 4 million — in “Halo 3″ territory. But more than 9 million Wiis are scattered around the United States, and demand for the devices continues to outstrip supply.

The number of Wiis alone in this country suggest “Wii Fit” will sell much better here than in Japan — that and the dearth of good games using Wii technology. (”Wii Sports” and “Wii Play,” two games customized for Wii and released with the console’s debut in late 2006, are still the best selling games in this category.)

Critics may scoff at the notion of “Wii Fit” outdoing the current sales king, the Xbox-only “Halo 3,” in part because there are almost three times more Xbox 360s in use than Wiis.

But Nintendo says it plans a $40 million marketing campaign in this country, the company’s biggest ever for a single U.S. title. The “Halo 3″ campaign orchestrated by Xbox 360 maker Microsoft topped out around $10 million.

Furthermore, games customized for Wii seem to have a broader audience than just gamers. “Wii Sports” and “Wii Play” appeal to almost all ages — anyone who can wave the Wii’s wand controller — and even have shown up in medical and rehabilitation facilities as tools to help clients redevelop mobility and hand-eye coordination.

The great demand for the first-person shooter “Halo 3,” which sold almost 5 million units last year alone, came in part due to great marketing, but mainly from loyal fans of “Halo” who had followed the franchise since its debut in 2001.

“Wii Fit,” on the other hand, is said to incorporate more than 40 different activities, including yoga poses, step aerobics and dancing. It monitors body mass and weight, and can be customized for individual fitness levels and needs.

And in our weight-conscious society that’s always searching for new ways to lose pounds and have fun at the same time, “Wii Fit” is bound to attract a much broader audience — so to speak — than a game that works thumbs more than thighs.

So, if you manage to get in line and secure a copy of “Wii Fit” soon after its release, consider yourself blessed. Game Guy predicts that tens of thousands of Americans will throw a fit after May 19 if they don’t obtain “Wii Fit” right away.

Tags: Halo 3, Nintendo, Wii, Wii Fit, Wii Play, Wii Sports