Buy Walking VideosFisher Price Joins Exergaming Ranks
It has taken three years, but the scales of exergaming just tipped. Fisher Price is working on a product called Smart Cycle that fuses exercise with video games. Even though it’s not available yet, Amazon.com has a listing for it on its website. You can find out more about it here:
This product is completely useless for adults, but the idea of exercising while playing video games has become so ubiquitous that the toy producer behemoth, Fisher Price, has joined the exergaming ranks.
If you’re an adult and you want to play PS2 or Xbox games with your exercise bike, try the Qmotions Fun Fitness. It connects to your exercise bike or regular bike on a trainer and lets you play racing games. The faster you pedal, the faster your car/bike/etc. goes. It actually works really well and there have been more than one time that I have gotten off my bike wobbly-legged because I played too long.
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May 15th, 2007 at 10:24 am
Oh lord, must everything be commodotized?
(Sorry, I already had a long rant about every aspect of our lives getting commodotized going in my head today and seeing this probably expensive toy for kids to exercise on ! just triggered it again.)
May 15th, 2007 at 10:41 am
That is so cool 🙂
May 15th, 2007 at 11:07 am
Interesting idea, although I’m not sure I will be rushing to the store to buy it. I think I would rather my kids ran outside & played. Plus, they have very little time that they are allowed to watch t.v. (maybe a couple of hours a week), so I don’t want to encourage video games. But it’s a personal choice for every parent to make as to whether it’s a good idea for their family.
May 16th, 2007 at 11:53 am
In bigger cittes there are fewer places to play so it might be perfect for them.
May 17th, 2007 at 10:42 am
Laura,
Saw your post on the Rudd Center blog and wanted to come say hi. After I posted this piece, news about the treadmill desk from Professor Levine at the Mayo Clinic hit the news. I agreee with both Megan and iportion, this is truly a mixed bag. Do we want kids exercising outside so badly that we will turn away from an indoor exercise opportunity that they will really use, or are we supporting outdoor exercise opportunities so poorly that we substitute these products for real change? With the treadmill desk at work, many of us are stuck working in office jobs, so the opportunity to work out while typing away might be just what we need to increase population-wide fitness. As for the Qmotion, I’ve seen a few gyms with exergames. I would love it if my gym picked up the idea.