KONAMI RAISES AWARENESS OF CHILDHOOD OBESITY EPIDEMIC WITH INAUGURAL SUMMIT & SECOND ANNUAL DANCEDANCEREVOLUTION TOURNAMENT

Statewide Events Facilitate Dialogue about the Importance of Exercise and Healthy Lifestyles for Youths in West Virginia and Nationwide

Health professionals and policy makers from around the country, along with students, parents and teachers from across West Virginia will head to Charleston later this month to help lead the charge against childhood obesity. In response to the disturbing progression of this preventable disease, KONAMI today announced theinaugural Childhood Obesity Summit in conjunction with the second annual DanceDanceRevolution West Virginia State Championship Tournament to help bring the epidemic to the forefront and inspire kids to seek more active lifestyles.

With the proportion of overweight children in the United States tripling over the past three decades, the West Virginia University Extension Service, West Virginia Public Employees Insurance Agency (PEIA), and KONAMI have teamed up to organize the summit to promote collaboration and develop a referral base for coordinated prevention and treatment of childhood obesity statewide.

While regional winners from all over West Virginia are competing for scholarships and other prizes at the DanceDanceRevolution public school championship tournament, the Childhood Obesity Summit will simultaneously showcase:

"The West Virginia Childhood Obesity Summit, complemented by the DanceDanceRevolution tournaments, hosted by KONAMI aligns precisely with the goals of the Let's Move campaign," said Joanne Grossi, Regional Director for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. "I'm personally passionate about the subject of wellness and obesity prevention. Health and Human Services has a wide range of programs to help highlight the benefits of healthy, active lifestyles, and the dialogue at the summit suggests now is the time to do even more to help our children be more active."

"The popularity of DanceDanceRevolution in West Virginia is reshaping our youths' mindset regarding what constitutes physical activity," said Earl Ray Tomblin, Governor of West Virginia. "As more and more children are exposed to the healthy revolution, this fun and easy activity is dancing its way into their lives. I am proud of the positive impact DanceDanceRevolution is having on family time with children and adults across the state."

KONAMI President Shinji Hirano is excited for the future of the campaign. "This is the third tournament we've brought to a public school system in the U.S. and DanceDanceRevolution is being integrated into P.E. programs across the country as a result of our work. We plan to continue our push to help encourage today's youth to lead more active and healthier lifestyles in a way that works best for them."

The 2011 DanceDanceRevolution West Virginia State Championship Tournament and Childhood Obesity Summit details are as follows:

State Championship Tournament:

Childhood Obesity Summit:

Additional Program Support

"The President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition has long been an advocate of empowering Americans of all ages and abilities to live more active and healthy lifestyles. It's a great honor to be on the ground in West Virginia and to be able to see the results of innovative programs and campaigns in an effort to combat childhood obesity."

- Shellie Pfohl, Executive Director, President's Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition

"It's great to see kids passionate about fitness and health. The popular TV show, "The Biggest Loser" may deal with adults, but it's so important to instill the values of health and wellness early on. I feel very fortunate to help KONAMI spread this message to kids. Prevention is the best medicine."

-Dr. Michael Dansinger, MD (Nutrition doctor from NBC's The Biggest Loser)

"Everyone has a role to play in the treatment and prevention of childhood obesity; however, many times efforts are not coordinated effectively. The purpose of this Childhood Obesity Summit, in conjunction with the DDR tournament, is to unite healthcare, community organizations, education and policy to develop coordinated prevention and treatment strategies at the local, state and national level."

-Dr. Emily Murphy, Obesity Prevention Specialist, WVU Extension Service

"We are very pleased that WVCHIP is once again a sponsor of the Konami DanceDanceRevolution state tournament. Our primary focus at WVCHIP is the well-being of our state's children and this tournament provides a great opportunity for kids to start ongoing involvement in healthy activity. It is gratifying to see once again such good participation from our students from all over the state."

-Sharon Carte, Executive Director at WV CHIP

About DanceDanceRevolution in Schools

As the original pioneer in the music game genre and a continued leader in using video games as an entertaining way to promote fitness, KONAMI first introduced the DanceDanceRevolution video game series into public schools' curriculum in 2006 through its groundbreaking partnership with the State of West Virginia's Public Employees Insurance Agency (PEIA) and West Virginia University's (WVU) Motor Development Center. Both entities were inspired to enter into a partnership with KONAMI after West Virginia's Games for Health research project demonstrated that DanceDanceRevolution was an effective tool for increasing children's activity levels and overall health while having fun! As part of the initiative, the state developed a school-based DanceDanceRevolution curriculum and collected data in order to analyze and report on the health and academic benefits of using the game in schools. With its proven success throughout West Virginia, the program expanded to Hawaii in 2007, with an inaugural Hawaii state tournament taking place earlier this year. Once again, the partnership has encouraged kids to get healthy, happy and grooving to the new beat of an active lifestyle.

About DanceDanceRevolution

Since it was first introduced to North American video game consoles in 2001, DanceDanceRevolution has received a tremendous amount of exposure for its health benefits. A major part of the new trend in gaming that takes players off of the couch and away from the joystick, DanceDanceRevolution has recently been introduced as part of the physical fitness curriculum in multiple school districts in the United States. Additionally, it has been a part of numerous research studies on childhood obesity.

For more information, please visit: http://www.konami.com/ddr.