Obeez City and the XBOX

New DVD game battles childhood obesity

JIM ELLIS Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla. - Obesity may be a global epidemic, but it's Obeez City that is spreading out of control in a new DVD game to be released nationwide Tuesday.

The game teaches youngsters how to avoid the ravages of being overweight, and may the healthy force be with you.

Gamers join a team of super heroes called Body Mechanics and war against the Evil Coalition of Harm and Disease, battling villains with names like Col Estorol and Betes II. The fighting takes place inside the body of Jack Decayd and if Obeez City is not contained, "Jack will die soon," says Neuro, the Yoda-like wise one who narrates the game's story line.

"I remember how it started. A few snacks here, a soft drink there," Neuro speaking in an ominous tone says during the opening. "And before we knew it, the Evil Coalition of Harm and Disease was threatening us all."

Neuro then makes his plea: "You must join the team of heroic Body Mechanics. They need your help in order to gain the knowledge necessary to save Jack's life. Only you can change how this story ends."

The Body Mechanics DVD game is the latest in a string of products in the video gaming industry to buck long-held notions and stress exercise and healthy living. The game is packaged with an animated movie and sold as a two-disc set. Body Mechanics will be in limited release Tuesday in retail outlets such as Target, Borders, Walgreens and CVS/pharmacy.

Viewed as sedentary pastimes, video games, and its cousins, the television and the personal computer, are typically the object of parental finger waving.

And children are becoming gamers younger than ever - 2 years old, according to a survey conducted by NPD Group, a market research firm. With sales in the U.S. totaling $12.5 billion in 2006, the gaming industry's foothold is firmly planted in American culture - and so is childhood obesity.

About 16 percent of children ages 6 to 19 are overweight in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There is an 80 percent chance that overweight children will become obese adults and will be at risk for high blood pressure, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes.

But with the highly popular active video game, Dance Dance Revolution, and gaming console's such as Nintendo's Wii and now Body Mechanics, the negative hype that video games enable teens to lay around and gain weight may meet some resistance.

Imagine Harry Potter, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings all mixed up inside the body and that's Body Mechanics, said Tony Findlay, the game's creator, who is based in Australia.

Findlay, 40, said the idea for the game and movie came while on tour to promote his book, "DIETS SUCK."

"Parents approached me and asked how they can teach their kids to eat better and exercise more," said Findlay, who said his own father was obese and died of a heart attack at 56.

Butch Rosser, one of Body Mechanic's contributors, was once a morbidly obese medical student whose weight topped 450 pounds. He admits that he used video games - dating back to Pong in the 1970s - to escape the stresses of all-night study sessions.

Now a surgeon in New York City, father of five and yes, still a gamer, he weighs in 160 pounds lighter these days due to gastric bypass surgery six years ago. Rosser lends his acting ability in the movie as Dr. Bludd, the good doctor who stresses the importance of saving not only Jack Decayd's life but "all of humanity."

His prescription for the young and overweight today is the very thing he says enabled his weight gain early in life - video games.

"We have a new genre of video games today," Rosser said. "You can lose pounds while having fun and that's a beautiful combination."

Jake Schweizer, an 8-year-old gamer who lives in Orlando, plays his XBox about an hour every day. He is within the 5- to 11- year-old age range Body Mechanics aims to reach.

Players choose one of three main missions and then follow along on an animated adventure, answering 10 questions along the way. Answer too many questions incorrectly and Jack Decayd dies.

"I like the questions. They're fun to answer," said Jake, who only missed one the first time he played Body Mechanics during a recent video game convention in Orlando.

Video games like Body Mechanics have a difficult task, said Dr. Karen Cullen, associate professor of pediatrics/nutrition at the Children's Nutrition Research Center in Houston.

"You can give someone an hour's worth of facts and you'll bore them to death," she said. "The games have to be entertaining to compete in the marketplace."

Cullen was one of the researchers at Baylor College of Medicine who developed a computer game that improved eating habits in children. Fourth graders from 26 elementary schools participated in the study.

Children played a medieval-themed game called Squire's Quest. Players advanced from squire to knight. But along with achieving knighthood, gamers were encouraged to eat more fruits and vegetables.

The new video games and consoles that require more than thumbs pounding a handheld controller is a positive development, Cullen said.

Rosser, who performs weight-loss surgeries, said he hopes reaching children at a young age with the message of eating healthy will prevent problems with weight later in life.

"I don't want people to have to undergo a surgical procedure to save their life," Rosser said. "I want to put my knife out of business."

Source: brandenton.com (brandenton herald)