You all had an opportunity to take home a mobile device (the Nintendo DS) to play exergames. Tell us about the game you played. What were the strengths of playing this game on the DS? What were the draw backs to playing this game on the DS?
Jay The biggest looser DS This game guides you on a personal workout schedule to be used and followed everyday. It has cardiovascular activities along with weight training exercises.
The strengths of playing this game on the DS is it's portability. You can take the device anywhere using the built in battery. You could take this game to the gym and use the mats and weights that you may not have at home.
The weaknesses are the small screen and tiny command buttons. You don't always want to pull out the stylus to navigate the many options in the middle of your workout.
I played Pokemon HeartGold version. In this game, you adopt a Pokemon and travel through your town and speak with various characters. Honestly, I was very bored with this game. I'm much more of an arcade game type gamer, and not much of an adventure one. There was a lot of reading to do. An advantage of playing this game on the DS is that there is a component where you carry around your Pokemon to track your steps, and the number of steps unlock different levels in the game. A draw back to playing this on the DS is that with my vision - I'm farsighted and wear bifocals - the small screen is difficult for me to see and uncomfortable after a short period of time - I had to keep getting closer or farther away and squinting. The button labels are also difficult for me to see. I think if you put the eatmovelearn pedometer exercise on the DS it would be very educational and would provide a supplemental platform for the site.
I took home the Jillian Michaels DS game. Hooray. The only modes I found were Single Exercises and Circuit Training. Granted, there were some weight loss tools, but these are easy to find online for free. Both modes were really just watching a 3D model of a woman doing various exercises while barking orders with a timer.
The biggest benefit I can see to having this game is the mobility. It would seem very easy for a traveling person to keep this with them instead of toting around a workout DVD in hopes of finding a player.
The draw back would probably have to be the size of the DS. Unless you have the exercises and their order memorized, I can imagine a small struggle in utilizing this regularly.
I had the opportunity to play the Pokemon Heartgold Version. Since I had never played a Pokemon game before I found it a bit frustrating. Once I got the hang of it and explored the Joho region I felt a bit more comfortable. I moved up levels and I also obtained a Pokemon. I also used the Pokewalker and I could not connect the pedometer to connect with the DS. I'm sure that if I get to play a bit more or become more knowledgeable of the game it would become easier for me.
I was also asked to talk about the Pokemon games because I already owned them. I'm a huge fan of the introduction of the Pokewalker. Even after putting in hours into the game itself, I tend to drop it and move on to newer games. With that said, I still keep my walker with me every day because the benefits of using it are incentive enough.
The player collects watts by moving, 20 steps to a watt. The main goal is to collect 100,000 watts in the game itself, but persuade you to use them in two games built into the walker. One is to catch actual pokemon (some of which may be exclusive to the walker), and the other is to search for items. The player can't cheat because it was designed only to count motions similar to walking. Best of all, the use of infrared technology eliminates the need for a connecting cable. The player just needs to point the walker at the cartridge at the right time to transfer everything over.
As childish as it seems, the game and the pokewalker provide enough reward to keep playing even after so many releases.
Jay
ReplyDeleteThe biggest looser DS
This game guides you on a personal workout schedule to be used and followed everyday. It has cardiovascular activities along with weight training exercises.
The strengths of playing this game on the DS is it's portability. You can take the device anywhere using the built in battery. You could take this game to the gym and use the mats and weights that you may not have at home.
The weaknesses are the small screen and tiny command buttons. You don't always want to pull out the stylus to navigate the many options in the middle of your workout.
Susan
ReplyDeleteI played Pokemon HeartGold version. In this game, you adopt a Pokemon and travel through your town and speak with various characters. Honestly, I was very bored with this game. I'm much more of an arcade game type gamer, and not much of an adventure one. There was a lot of reading to do. An advantage of playing this game on the DS is that there is a component where you carry around your Pokemon to track your steps, and the number of steps unlock different levels in the game. A draw back to playing this on the DS is that with my vision - I'm farsighted and wear bifocals - the small screen is difficult for me to see and uncomfortable after a short period of time - I had to keep getting closer or farther away and squinting. The button labels are also difficult for me to see. I think if you put the eatmovelearn pedometer exercise on the DS it would be very educational and would provide a supplemental platform for the site.
Jessie
ReplyDeleteI took home the Jillian Michaels DS game. Hooray. The only modes I found were Single Exercises and Circuit Training. Granted, there were some weight loss tools, but these are easy to find online for free. Both modes were really just watching a 3D model of a woman doing various exercises while barking orders with a timer.
The biggest benefit I can see to having this game is the mobility. It would seem very easy for a traveling person to keep this with them instead of toting around a workout DVD in hopes of finding a player.
The draw back would probably have to be the size of the DS. Unless you have the exercises and their order memorized, I can imagine a small struggle in utilizing this regularly.
I had the opportunity to play the Pokemon Heartgold Version. Since I had never played a Pokemon game before I found it a bit frustrating. Once I got the hang of it and explored the Joho region I felt a bit more comfortable. I moved up levels and I also obtained a Pokemon. I also used the Pokewalker and I could not connect the pedometer to connect with the DS. I'm sure that if I get to play a bit more or become more knowledgeable of the game it would become easier for me.
ReplyDeleteJessie (again)
ReplyDeleteI was also asked to talk about the Pokemon games because I already owned them. I'm a huge fan of the introduction of the Pokewalker. Even after putting in hours into the game itself, I tend to drop it and move on to newer games. With that said, I still keep my walker with me every day because the benefits of using it are incentive enough.
The player collects watts by moving, 20 steps to a watt. The main goal is to collect 100,000 watts in the game itself, but persuade you to use them in two games built into the walker. One is to catch actual pokemon (some of which may be exclusive to the walker), and the other is to search for items. The player can't cheat because it was designed only to count motions similar to walking. Best of all, the use of infrared technology eliminates the need for a connecting cable. The player just needs to point the walker at the cartridge at the right time to transfer everything over.
As childish as it seems, the game and the pokewalker provide enough reward to keep playing even after so many releases.