Yep, arcades can promote physical wellness too

Shaggy August 6, 2009 4

While most of the exergaming attention has gone to the Nintendo Wii, arcades occasionally get the nod for promoting physical activity via gaming, as we read in this article on the Rocky Mount Telegram website. DDR gets most the attention in this article which is fine, but do remember that there are some other non-DDR alternatives to coin-op exergaming out there (see here and here for a little more on coin-op exergaming). One thing I just realized though is that these kind of articles never give much attention to games like air hockey either which can give you a small workout if you get into it.

I do think that if we saw more exergames in arcades it would be a good thing, if not just for the exercise it would be great to since we could expect these kind of games to include controls that are difficult to reproduce at home (or that provide more exercise than simply flicking your wrist). I have heard rumors since last year that some arcade developers were looking into the possiblities of exergaming in light of the Wii craze but we still haven’t heard anything about such projects yet but with AMOA next month and IAAPA in November maybe we will get a surprise.

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4 Comments »

  1. nestlekwik August 6, 2009 at 7:54 pm - Reply

    Heh. I did one of these articles years ago. Does anyone even remember Martial Beat?

    • arcads4ever August 6, 2009 at 7:59 pm - Reply

      wasn’t that made by konami and used a cabinet simular to the dancing stage series released about 2000-1. man I would’ve love to play that game if thats the one you mean.

  2. arcads4ever August 6, 2009 at 7:56 pm - Reply

    final fulong is also one of them too, man it tiers me out quick. I’ve come up with a few excergames myself ages ago. thats also an advantage the arcade have because you need the space and money to buy good strong equipment like you would buy for setting up a gym.

    wonder if hopping road ever comes out to the west as thats a very good excersizing game and taitos opopo where you have to twist your body to make a tail move.

    sega actually made a running game that uses the tredmill although from the looks of it it looks quite gimicky but I would have to play to find out what it actually does that a normal tedmill doesn’t do.
    here is the link I found on youtube

    http://www.youtube.com/watchv=5gCYF3MmFyM&feature=related

  3. arcads4ever August 6, 2009 at 7:56 pm - Reply

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