Showcase surprise!

I got a surprise yesterday and was told that Playnormous is going to be a part of the Houston Technology Showcase this Friday.  Only a few days to prepare, but it will be worth it.  Showcases are always fun to attend.  I get to talk to interesting people about interesting things, make some new contacts, see some familiar faces, note the latest in business attire, and meet my quota of good people watching for the week.

The details.

Want to see the Playnormous team up close and personal (along with 49 other amazing Houston tech companies)?  Want to test drive some of our new games for health?  Then come by our booth on Friday, October 3, 2008 at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Houston from 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM.  For additional information about the showcase, visit the Houston Technology Center website.  Hope to see you there!

Trick or treat?

I realize that it’s not October yet, but it was actually nice enough to eat lunch outside today.  That’s a sign that Fall has officially fallen upon Houston!  In honor of today’s autumn-like activity, I decided to go ahead and post a Halloween myth.  Today’s health myth: Poisoned candy from strangers is a threat at Halloween.

According to a Newsweek interview with Dr. Aaron Carroll, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Regenstrief Institute in Indianapolis, each year Halloween brings a ton of stories about poisoned candy. Some hospitals will even go as far as to set up X-ray stations…just in case.

The truth.

The truth is that there has never been a documented case of a stranger poisoning Halloween candy. There have been, however, a few instances of relatives using candy to poison children.  How sad.  Consuming too much candy on a regular basis can be deadly though, from an obesity and type 2 diabetes perspective.  Play this little Halloween Candy game by KidsHealth to find out how quickly those tasty candy calories can add up.  There are ways to avoid that sugar coma.  Check out this article by Forbes: info every parent should know about the good, the bad, and the fatty when it comes to Halloween candy.

Strangers with deadly candy…busted!

Mark your calendars.

Our own Playnormous Vice President, Richard Buday, will be speaking at the Health 2.0 Conference as part of an afternoon breakout demo panel on October 23, 2008.  Richard will be talking about Gaming in Health Care and showing off some of our Playnormous games.  Other Games for Health celebs on the panel include Doug Goldstein with Gaming4Health, Paul Puopolo with Humana, Richard Take of HopeLab, Michael Cole of Fit Brains, and Brian Button of Expresso Fitness.

What is Health 2.0?

I’m sure your first question is “What’s Health 2.0?”  We were introduced to this idea by our friend Doug Goldstein at Gaming4Health (see this post for details on Gaming4Health).  There are several definitions for Health 2.0, but basically this conference focuses on the user-generated aspects of Web 2.0 within health care that does not directly interact with the mainstream health care system. This includes a) search, b) communities, and c) tools for individual and group consumer use.  CareFlash, HealthVault, and of course, Playnormous, are excellent examples of Health 2.0. I say we fit into categories b and c the best.  Still confused?  Visit the Health 2.0 conference site for more.

Interested in attending?  The Health 2.0 Conference will take place at the San Francisco Marriott on October 22 and 23.  Click here to register today!

We’re baaack.

We were a bit worried there for a minute, but we are finally back online and back in the office.  Hurricane Ike was a much bigger adventure for our office than planned, but after almost two weeks out, we are back on track.  I am so excited to be back in the office (and not just for the great espresso).

New games released…soon.

As you can imagine, we’re a bit off schedule.  I’m going through a lot of emails today and figuring out where we stand.  Brain Gain and Lunch Crunch are ready to go, minus the sound.  Expect these games to be released sometime next week.  More details soon.

Until then, a little reading for you.  Check out this interesting article from our friends at the Serious Games Source about how teachers can use popular video game titles like Guitar Hero and Nintendogs to educate kids.

It’s raining brains!

Ok, that’s a little gross, but our first quiz game is getting close to being complete!  It feels like we have so many games that are almost done….so close, yet so far.  The final tweaks seem to take forever, and our fifth game,  Brain Gain, is no exception.

Brain Gain is a quiz game, but it’s not your average online quiz game.  We’ll be testing your knowledge of food selection, portion size, meal balance, and fruit/vegetable choice in a fun retro watercolor world.  This game is going to give your entire brain a workout by sharpening your reaction time, vocabulary level, math skills, and problem-solving strategies.  Multiple choice and true/false questions for Brain Gain were written by yours truly!  Yup, being the “public health expert” of sorts, I got to help with the content in this game.

Smartest monster on the block.

We are introducing a new monster in Brain Gain, Professor Mad Monster.  He’s the moderator for this game and gets very excited when you get an answer correct…and gets very mad when you get it incorrect.  This monster was designed by our Playnormous Designer, Iva, who used intelligent animals as inspiration for his look.  Pigs and elephants are both very smart you know. She just added glasses and a bow tie yesterday, to give him that little something extra.  Professor Mad Monster knows he’s the smartest cookie on the block, and he’ll remind you by spraying you with water!