DENVER (AP) — An orthopedic surgeon with a penchant for inventing has found a way to help video-game junkies get exercise while playing their favorite games.
With about $12 worth of materials from Radio Shack, Dr. Ted Parks created his first GAMEbike model, which lets people play video games while riding stationary bikes.
Instead of sitting in front of a screen moving only two thumbs and two fingers, players can pedal furiously through a game. The faster the player pedals, the faster the game plays. Players steer with the handlebars and shoot using four buttons near the hand grips.
Many health clubs have computer games built into stationary bikes. But GAMEbike allows users to ride their own bikes and hook up to any game on the market.
Parks, 39, also developed a way to link several bikes for competition, either in the same building by a local network or over distances by the Internet. "Health clubs like ... could hook up clubs around the world and race each other," he said. "Or chubby kids could compete anonymously from their homes. They could practice enough until they gained some confidence."
Parks has been marketing his bike at trade shows.