Hello Ebi and all on HOOPS SA.
My name is Chris, and I am related to the company. So naturally I highly appreciate the work they did with this product. Therefore, I'll try keeping aside my personal view (difficult, I know), and share with you only objective information and references to third party reviews.
The IntelliGym" was first presented in 2005 and tested with 16 Division-1 teams. There were men teams and women teams, top ranked and medium range. On average, the teams improved their winning ratio by more than 10%, with statistics of the individual players significantly improving, mainly in the decision making related elements such as assists / turn-overs, field goal percentage (shot selection), rebounds, and field goal percentage of the opponents (went down). After such a success, the company felt comfortable enough releasing the Personal Edition, which is used by teenager basketball players, with no need for the company involvement (which was the case with the D-1 teams). The company was so confident with the product that they offer a full Money Back Guarantee for 12 months. This policy, by the way, still holds, and made it easy for thousands of American teenagers (and some Aussies) to give it a try. The market response from these first thousands of users and their coaches is amazing, and the company keeps its Money Back Guarantee policy.
The point that Doddobird brings up about the Asteroids is very interesting. The design of the product indeed reminds some retro games (a few screen shots may be seen at http://www.intelligym.com/index.php?pid=50). However, this was done for cognitive reasons (to learn some more about the academic background of this technology, called Cognitive Simulation, see http://www.intelligym.com/index.php?pid=10). Working out the cognitive skills needed for basketball players is very similar to training your muscles. The coach chooses what skills/muscles are needed for basketball, and designs the right program for you. The IntelliGym, just like that, was designed to train the exact same skills needed for basketball players (such as movement anticipation, decision making under pressure, positioning, reading plays, concentration, etc.). The Asteroids, and other video games, though fun to play with are not designed this way. They are like the same gym you visit for your fitness workout, but with the wrong program given to you by the coach. In the better case the program will cause you no harm but will not promote you. In the worse case following it may cause you injuries (a detailed research may be found at the link above).
I gathered a few third party objective reviews and national TV coverage I found about the IntelliGym. These are only sites that are NOT related to the company and do not offer the product. Naturally, many other sites offer the product for sale. the ESPN coverage mentioned above covering the success of the Memphis Tigers (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKVbxu-CY0s), the Canadian network 'THE LAB' program (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yZExoA63fo), The FOX network program covering the success of the Kentucky Wildcats (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG4r7nv_LxA&feature=related), ConsumerGuide Products review (http://products.howstuffworks.com/ace-basketball-intelligym-review.htm), The Charlotte Observer product review (http://langstonwertz.blogspot.com/2007/03/get-better-at-basketball-by-playing-pc.html), the printed editions of the basketball magazines Rise Magazine and Slam Magazine (http://www.intelligym.com/index.php?pid=18), the personal column of Coach Ed Schilling from on the Indystar (http://blogs.indystar.com/schilling/2007/02/game_gun_can_help_give_players.html), a product review by coach Bron Schuler then a professional player and now with the New Jersey Nets (http://humanhighlight.tripod.com/dunking/id38.html).
Regarding other questions some guys brought up, the company runs a toll free number in the States (1-800-575-4223) where technical staff and coaches are available for questions during EST working hours.
Hope it helped, and good luck with your Hoops games.
(Mod: Is this the first International little ball awarded?)
