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healthy gaming

Another Tale Of Wii Therapy Goodness

The Wii continues to prove itself as a proficient tool for physical rehabilitation in a story out of St. Paul Minnesota involving a therapist at Gillette Children's Specialty Heathcare named Anna Forsberg, who has introduced Nintendo's console to her patients after receiving one as a wedding gift back in August. The freshly opened system was immediately put to use, aiding in the recovery of a 15 year-old girl who had recently awoken from a three-week long coma.

Unlike traditional video games that use a joy stick or finger controls, the Wii requires users to replicated the action of the sport they are playing. "You can't play tennis with your hand in your lap," Forsberg tells her patient. "You have to move your whole arm."

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9:20 AM on Fri Dec 28 2007
By Mike Fahey
1,861 views, 28 comments

Latest by GOLD5: @Timsobuff74: Yeah totally, there goes her lobe, didn't that other article say that the Wii only gives 30% more of a workout than just playing, as well? She's gonna get sued! more »

education

Learning With Pokemon

For years Pokemon has been leaching away effectiveness from the learning process for school children around the country, so it's about time they gave something back. The National Institute of Aerospace and Nortel LearniT have teamed up with Nintendo to offer free, Pokemon-themed lesson plans to aid elementary and middle school teachers in capturing all of their students' attention. There are a wide variety of subjects available, from space travel to universal expansion, all featuring that distinctive Pokemon flavor.
"We're honored to have our characters take what sometimes may seem like dry topics and help make them come alive for students," says George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. "The collaboration provides an opportunity for children to learn 21st century science using 21st century tools with characters they're familiar with."

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8:20 AM on Wed Nov 7 2007
By Mike Fahey
2,275 views, 61 comments

Latest by n/a: In no particular order You wrote "It cannot really be called science if it begins from an unwavering bias" and you are quite correct Science is the study of natural phenomena and scientists study these phenomena through using the scientific method 1. Observation of more »

gaming goodness

Virtual Crack House Aids Drug Rehab

As a gamer, I've been through many virtual-reality crack houses in my time, usually with guns blazing. Duke University professor Zach Rosenthal, however, has an entirely different way of dealing with crackheads in virtual reality - curing them.

"What we're trying to do is take people into a virtual crack-related neighborhood or crack-related setting and have them experience cravings, just like they would in the real world," Rosenthal said.
Therapists then wait for the cravings to subside and associate it with a trigger such as a specific sound, conditioning the addicts to associate said sound with the cessation of cravings. The idea is that when the addict encounters real-world sensations they can call a phone number to hear the tone, and the cravings go away.

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9:20 AM on Tue Nov 6 2007
By Mike Fahey
2,275 views, 33 comments

Latest by n/a: how great would this game be if you played it high on crack? this concept reminds me of the time i kicked my PCP addiction by actually becoming a player in TRON and decisively (and barely) succeeding.no...upon further reflection, i was more »

folding@livearcade

Xbox 360 Folding Project Possible

"My console has better graphics!" "My console has better games!" "My consoles has contributed more computing cycles towards helping understand and solve health problems than yours!" More »

12:20 PM on Wed May 9 2007
By Mike Fahey
1,882 views, 105 comments

science

Those Eagle-Eyed Action Gamers

University of Rochester researches have determined that playing action-packed video games can have a positive effect on your eyesight. Professor of brain and cognitive sciences Daphne Bavelier and graduate student Shawn Green somehow managed to round up college students who didn't regularly play video games. First they administered an eye test, and then they administered an hour a day of Unreal Tournament, while a control group got stuck with Tetris instead. At the end of the month, the UT players showed a marked improvement when given the same vision test as before, while the Tetris players were all asleep.
"When people play action games, they're changing the brain's pathway responsible for visual processing," says Bavelier. "These games push the human visual system to the limits and the brain adapts to it. That learning carries over into other activities and possibly everyday life."

The research can now be assimilated by specialists who could theoretically use action game stimuli to help people with visual defects. Another check mark in the 'gaming is good for you' column. Michael Fahey More »

1:20 PM on Tue Feb 6 2007
By Mike Fahey
62 views, 9 comments

Latest by Acute Gamer: Given how pron is supposed to make you go blind,(LOL) I guess I'm breaking even! more »

women

Women's Health Suggests Couple's Gaming

If you're a guy and have a girlfriend who you're trying to get into gaming, I'd highly recommend picking up a copy of the January/February Women's Health magazine. Inside you'll find an article entitled "Grab the Joystick: Toy with your man in the virtual world", which you can leave sitting around somewhere (not the bathroom, that's our place) where she'll find it. The message couldn't be any clearer.
"Playing video games allows you to bond and learn how to problem-solve as a team," says Susan K. Perry, Ph.D., a Los Angeles-based social psychologist.

Women love psychologists, so this could just work. It might help if you are belligerent to her a week or so in advance, making the article seem like a solution to relationship problems. It helps if your girlfriend, like mine, doesn't read Kotaku. More »

2:40 PM on Wed Jan 10 2007
By Mike Fahey
344 views, 53 comments

Latest by Laura B Prickett: My fiancee and I (when we first dated) played bust -a-move together for hours. I kicked his ass. Then again I'd been playing random games for years at that point... I remember when he and his old roommate taught more »

child's play

Child's Play Raises Over $1 Million

Penny Arcade's Child's Play Charity drive exploded this year, surpassing all expectations completely. Gamers and game companies opened up their hearts and their wallets to collect over a million dollars in toys and monetary donations to children's hospitals around the world. From the update posted today on the Child's Play website:
You guys did it. You broke a million dollars in just over two months. Child's Play started as a way to show how good our community can be, but it's turned into something greater than we could have ever imagined. We're making an impact on lives. See you next year.

Donations rose 40% this year, up for $605,000, with web comics, gaming sites, and even Sony sponsoring contests, donating profits, or simply raising awareness of the premier gaming charity organization. More »

3:42 PM on Fri Jan 5 2007
By Mike Fahey
80 views, 9 comments

Latest by Joonas: Good to see the charity spread to outside of the US this year. Made me pitch in, being European. more »

pc games

Zipland Game Helps Kids Cope with Divorce

Zipland Interactive has released an interactive adventure game for the PC that helps children cope with the psychological issues that arise from having their parents divorce. It's a noble effort, and I am sure it will be quite effective under the right conditions. Unfortunately a posting on a gaming blog known for its humorous commentators isn't the right condition. Be gentle. More »

1:40 PM on Wed Dec 27 2006
By Mike Fahey
319 views, 33 comments

game development

High School Kids Make Meaningful Games

Students at South Shore High School in New York have been passing up normal after school activities for video games...though not to play them. For the past year they've been meeting after school in order to develop meaningful video games with messages attached. It's all part of a program that melds game development with social awareness, and with the help of Global Kids and local developer Gamelab their first game has just been released online. Called "Ayiti: The Cost of Life," it puts the player in control of a family of five poor Haitians in what can best be described as a family management sim. More »

2:40 PM on Tue Nov 28 2006
By Mike Fahey
1,145 views, 14 comments

Latest by Bary: thanks for the attention. to read more about the project, please go to http://olp.globalkid we are in New York City, not North Carolina. :-) Barru more »