Reflecting public health interest in the potential of exergames to encourage PA , many review s of this literature have appeared.18 - 20 Some review s have been sympathetic,21,22 whereas others have been critical.23,24 A reasonably balanced assessment revealed that , in research laboratories , exergames could provide an intense workout that included moderate-to-vigorous PA  , but under less-supervised circumstances , children tended not to get much activity18 and their interest in the activity waned over 1 week or less .
Video games , the most commonly enjoyed medium by this generation of children , generates more money than Hollywood productions .
Forty percent of these studies influenced obesity or obesogenic behavior in the desired directions.12 A roundtable discussion of investigators of G4H and obesity indicated substantial potential for video games to reduce child obesity , but emphasized the need for games to be fun , not just health promoting.13 Some of the obesity-related studies used games specially design ed to target diet and /or PA change outside the games.14 - 17 " Squire 's Quest ! , "
Squire's Quest! Dietary outcome evaluation of a multimedia game.
BACKGROUND Fruit , juice , and vegetable  ( FJV ) consumption among children is low . Innovative programs are needed to enable children to increase FJV intake . Psychoeducational multimedia permits the delivery of interventions as design ed and capitalizes on known behavior change principles . DESIGN Elementary school was the unit of recruitment , assignment , and analysis . Twenty-six elementary schools were pair matched on size and percentage of free or reduced-price lunch , and r and omly assigned to treatment or control groups . Data were collected just before and just after the program . SETTING / PARTICIPANTS All fourth- grade students in participating elementary schools were invited to participate . Data were collected on 1578 students . MAIN OUTCOME Servings of fruit , 100 % juice , and vegetables consumed . INTERVENTION Squire 's Quest ! is a ten-session , psychoeducational , multimedia game delivered over 5 weeks , with each session lasting about 25 minutes . Based on social cognitive theory , educational activities attempted to increase preferences for FJV through multiple exposures and associating fun with their consumption , increase asking behaviors for FJV at home and while eating out , and increase skills in FJV preparation through making virtual recipes . MEASURES Four days of dietary intake were assessed before and after the intervention . Assessment was made by the Food Intake Recording Software System ( FIRSSt ) , which conducts a multiple pass , 24-hour dietary intake interview directly with the children . RESULTS Children participating in Squire 's Quest ! increased their FJV consumption by 1.0 servings more than the children not receiving the program . CONCLUSIONS Psychoeducational multimedia games have the potential to substantially change dietary behavior . More research is warranted
Reflecting public health interest in the potential of exergames to encourage PA , many review s of this literature have appeared.18 - 20 Some review s have been sympathetic,21,22 whereas others have been critical.23,24 A reasonably balanced assessment revealed that , in research laboratories , exergames could provide an intense workout that included moderate-to-vigorous PA  , but under less-supervised circumstances , children tended not to get much activity18 and their interest in the activity waned over 1 week or less .
Video games , the most commonly enjoyed medium by this generation of children , generates more money than Hollywood productions .
Forty percent of these studies influenced obesity or obesogenic behavior in the desired directions.12 A roundtable discussion of investigators of G4H and obesity indicated substantial potential for video games to reduce child obesity , but emphasized the need for games to be fun , not just health promoting.13 Some of the obesity-related studies used games specially design ed to target diet and /or PA change outside the games.14 - 17 " Squire 's Quest ! , "