Exergaming Australia Pty Ltd (EGA) is the southern incarnation of Exergaming Oy Finland (EXG).  EGA was incorporated in August 2009 and EXG in May 2008. Both companies are in startup phase seeking funding and in the final stages of defining their business models. EGA begins trading in 2010.

EXERGAMING AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

The founder of Exergaming Oy Finland, Brett W M Young, returned to Australia to define then establish the structure for EGA in 2008. The rapid, global development in Exergaming, required a ‘rethink’ of how best to deliver this genre’s solutions in Australia.

An Australasian Development Plan was required in order to define regional requirements and a strategy to move forward in this sector. Conan Young joined the venture late in 2008 and was instrumental in producing the ADP. EGA became incorporated in August 2009 with Conan as Managing Director.

Key to the success of the ADP was the delivery of a spearhead solution to best represent Exergaming in Australia. With that imperative in mind, we began looking through the vast reservoir of research and accumulated knowledge to seek an appropriate solution. The answer made itself clear with a company that we’d already begun discussions with in early 2008. The company, Positive Gaming Ab (Sweden) is headed by Ole Petter Hoie. PG is a creative, innovative group of individuals that share a likeminded ethos and a passion to inspire, energize and reintroduce individuals into exercise by ethical, non-violent, highly social and ‘fun’ interactions. Our spearhead solution, the iDANCE was thus secured in September 2009. We are very excited and proud to be the exclusive distributor for iDANCE in Australasia.

The merits of Exergaming, Serious Games and Games for Health are gaining comprehensive qualitative and quantitative support by the day. The benefits Exergaming offers in energy expenditure is well understood. Research is ongoing with studies being released frequently extolling the virtues of dance/rhythm methods such as iDANCE. EGA is active in disseminating arising research and ‘connecting the dots’ in seeking practical applications for research that shows decisive benefits. These ‘practical applications’ manifest themselves in adaptions that interface software to real fitness or sports equipment, what EGA calls RiialityWare.

We take collaboration very seriously and believe the best way forward is by constructive cooperation and global advocacy. In that regard, EGA is an instrumental contributor in global online conferencing in virtual health and fitness networks. We work with many G4H and Exergaming groups to define and deliver criterion for this genre’s acceptance both locally and internationally. These collaborations are realised online through most web 2 and social media mechanisms (from google groups, wikis, social media sites, twitter groups, enterprise sites etc). This collection of online resources allows us to reach researchers, clinicians, enterprise and talented individuals in a unprecedented format. In recent times, we helped create The Exergame Network (TEN) to form a single coherent representation of these online groups and resources. EGA is again proud to be a leading participant in delivering TEN’s advocacy to a wider global community.

For 2010, EGA will  be positioned to supply best practices solutions for schools and aquatic centres throughout Australia and New Zealand. Our ADP and our close collaboration with Postive Gaming Ab will see EGA enter the health and fitness industry with confidence and enthusiasm. We see 2010 as a pivotal year for the growth of Games for Health and Exergaming both locally and internationally and believe Australia has an important role in continued research and implementation.

EGA is excited about the future ahead and determined to see Exergaming grow in key health and fitness sectors. Our determination and enthusiasm could best be summarised with our own company tag: Serious Fun.