7-1-10: Only 15 days till the first-ever national Wii Games Tournament kicks off! Too bad there wasn't a location nearer to us, tho the Finals will be held in Los Angeles, which I'll have to go check out. See the website to see if there's a location near you!
http://www.wiigames2010.com/wii-event-locations.aspx#stateca
Now if we can just get a more inclusive World Exergame Tournament going on, like the National Spelling Bee, that would be awesome! Kids could be training all over the place--at home, in rec centers, at Y's, in after-school programs--training for their local competition in hopes of making it to sectionals, regionals, and then the finals. (Exergame Fitness has hundreds of locations they have set up. Imagine training of teams going on at all of these facilities!)
Imagine teams of kids, adults, seniors, challenged athletes...all traveling to the "World Cup of Exergaming" in some country? Wouldn't that be a sight?
It's been done already--a test competition between a school in California and England (thanks to Richard of Gamercize), so we know the technology is there.
It would make for great TV viewing as well. Maybe there could even be a TV show like the American Gladiators, featuring the latest exergaming athletes!
Having something like this would be a huge motivation to a lot of kids who might not otherwise want to do a whole lot of physical activity. How many kids will make it to the World Little League tournament, or the Junior Olympics in swimming, track and field, etc.? Not many. But if we had something like this for the "video game generation", they would have something to train for.
Those of us who are involved with exergaming sites know that even with video games, the newness can wear off so unless you keep adding new games to your inventory, kids can get bored. Having something like a national or world tournament system (and a chance to be on ESPN or American Exergaming Gladitor on TV) would give kids something to train for and look forward to, thus increasing long-term compliance with their weekly exergaming workout.
Hopefully we'll see that soon and I'll do all I can to make that happen. Anyone interested in joining me & MedPlay Technologies to make this happen???
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2 comments:
Good stuff Ernie. What if as part of such a tournament, each child was outfitted with a device to measure their PA over the duration of the tournament(e.g. accelerometer) both while playing games and when not playing. At the conclusion of the tournament, awards could be given to the children who demonstrated the highest amounts of PA. So even if eliminated early from competitiion, there's still incentive to be active and a chance to win. Just a thought. Dan Bornstein
Competition drives and motivates some - and it's usually those with the hope of winning. So the 20% most active and most skilled get the benefit from tournaments. I think the dream of engaging the most is the social, connection and "team" opportunity that exergames can deliver. On site face to face or via online capability - using exergame play toward a team or shared "greater goal" might generate more participation and physical activity over time than a competitive tournament.
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