Dogan's cafe, Fitness through active video games

The usual video or computer games confines the gamer to his seat for hours and calories are not burned. Not good for health, right? Well, one can still have the fun of playing video games and burn calories at the same time.

Enter... Active video games with the likes of video games played through XBOX Kinect technology. And there is actually a "gym" in Cebu which uses the XBOX Kinect instead of gym equipment. Instead of aerobics and zumba sessions, this fitness studio holds Dance Central, Dragonball Kinect and Fruit Ninja Kinect sessions with an instructor/videogame coach.

Dogan's cafe (Photo courtesy of Mr. John Alindogan)

The fitness studio I'm talking about is Dogan Cafe Videogame Fitness Studio located at the Persimmon Plus in Mabolo, Cebu City. It is open Mondays to Saturdays from 1 pm to 9 pm and reservations can be made by calling this number 09153047476.


Below are the regular rates:

• All access per day - P250
• All access per week - P500
• All access per month - P2000

It is Dogan Cafe's vision to produce active cyberathletes competing against other active gamers from anywhere in the globe. And so aside from catering to kids, friends and families who are using the Kinect for fun, Dogan's cafe is also encouraging customers to be serious cyberathletes improving their skills and scores each time they visit.

Dogan's cafe holds Dance Central mini-tournaments every Saturday, as well as the Dance Central Party held at the Persimmon outdoor activity grounds every Saturday and Sunday night, 7 pm to 11 pm. The Dance Central Party is open to everyone.

Lapu-Lapu Youth volunteers join Online Newsroom Workshop

Lapu-Lapu City is one of the cities in Cebu which is in the forefront of social media and internet use. To recall, the Lapu-Lapu mayor had her State of the City address livestreamed for netizens. The city has also been tapping social media for tourism. And now this idea of having youth volunteers come aboard in "inculcating a culture of tourism and excellence in the digital age" through online means.

Over 100 youth volunteers composed of campus journalists from different schools in the said city as well as members of the Sanguniang Kabataan (SK) joined the first Online Newsroom Workshop held at the Lapu-Lapu City Sports Complex last October 7. The workshop was given by blogger-journalist Max Limpag, co-founder of Innopub and ably supported by SK Federation president Nicole Balao, the office of the city mayor (as organizer) and the local Department of Education (DepEd).

Lapu-Lapu City mayor Paz Radaza bared that she is partnering with the youth to spread the good news about the city of Lapu-Lapu to the world. In her speech during the activity, Radaza said, ""your innate ability to use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram can catapult our city to heights never imagined before". According to the mayor, the activity was history in the making since the city

is "the only LGU that has harnessed the youth on two very strategic front - tourism and the world wide web".

Excellent idea Lapu-Lapu City!

Since the youth volunteers are really into social media, perhaps the next activity the office of the city mayor should organize is a talk on Responsible Use of Social Media which I am willing to give  since it is my advocacy.