Serious Gaming
Immersive Virtual Training
Over the last decade video games have developed into much more than just entertainment. Companies and institutions have realized that digital interactive content can motivate people at all ages to learn, train and generally be motivated to do tasks which otherwise can seem monotonous and boring.
The creation of games which have another ulterior objective than just entertainment is called Serious Gaming.
Within Serious Games the area of exergaming has developed rapidly over the last years. Exergaming is an activity which leverages the easy-to-use, engaging and interactive nature of video games to support consumer health and fitness.
In recent years three phenomena have accelerated the exergaming trend: The growth in popularity of video games, the increasing issue of obesity and the aging population. Recent research efforts show that people actually can “exergame” their way to a healthy outcome – whether that be managing diabetes, recovering from cancer, improving eating habits or losing weight.
Exergaming is the most rapidly growing segment of the overall video game market. iConecto (in their ‘The Health eGames Market’ report released in October 2008) estimates that the exergaming market will reach approximately $6.4 billion over the next 12 month. Softkinetic is at the center of this massive trend as the 3D gesture technology, with one single 3D camera, enables highly accurate tracking of the gentlest of movements to the most extreme physical activity without the risk of getting hurt on any physical objects. Embedding the Softkinetic technology fitness equipment manufacturers and active gaming specialists can create innovative fitness and rehabilitation solutions making people of all ages exercise in immersive, fun and intuitive ways.
The Dutch company Silverfit has teamed up with several leading physiotherapists in the Netherlands and created a game machine that bring hours of fun and crucial physical re-habilitation to elderly patients in care centres. The games are specifically developed for the target group. By using Softkinetic’s 3D gesture technology to control the games, Silverfit has found the ideal way to provide a gentle yet efficient training to this fragile group.
Joris Wiersinga, CEO of Silverfit elaborates: “Most fitness videogames are developed for the younger generation, typically on video game consoles like the Wii, but for seniors these games are too busy or too aggressive. In our games the player can pick virtual pieces of a puzzle at their own pace simply by standing up from their chair or leaning to the sides. By using Softkinetic’s 3D gesture technology players do not need to hold anything or know anything about computers. They simply play the games by moving in front of the camera. We chose Softkinetic as a partner because they are the leading provider of software for gesture recognition. Their Software Development Kit offers a rich set of tools that our developers can utilize to create natural interfaces and the software platform supports all the 3D cameras on the market.
See CEO Joris Wiersinga talks about the partnership:
Or read more here.
And see a video of the Silverfit system here:
