Water Cooler Games

by Ian Bogost June 8, 2009

Humana's Games for Health Contest

Health & Medicine Games

Humana's games for health division has announced a new contest, Insert Coin for game concepts that meet the broad goal of to "get people to be more physically active, or motivate them to make healthy decisions." Entries are open from June 11 through September 9, 2009, and prizes total $10,000. ...

by Ian Bogost May 31, 2009

Distraction, Comfort, Sedation

Health & Medicine Games

I've known for some time that hospitals have used videogames for some time as experimental tools to help children relax before surgery. But PediSedate has developed an entire product around this idea. Here's how they describe it: PediSedate is a medical device consisting of a colorful, toy-like headset that connects ...

by Ian Bogost May 15, 2009

Guru Meditation for Atari and iPhone

Health & Medicine Games

Long in development, I've finally completed and released Guru Meditation, my re-imagining of a game from Amiga lore. I've released the game simultaneously on Atari VCS and iPhone. The Atari version is a numbered, limited edition of 10 that comes with console, Joyboard controller, custom yoga mat, and instructions. The ...

by Ian Bogost May 8, 2009

Two Notes on Games and Obesity

Health & Medicine Games

First, a new study argues that overeating, not underexercise, is the primary factor in America's obesity epidemic. If it's the case (or even if it's not), the implications for so-called exergames are clear. A game can mount a procedural rhetoric about the social standards of portion size and how such ...

by Ian Bogost May 1, 2009

Killer Flu, the Game

Health & Medicine Games, Newsgames

How timely! Some months ago, my studio Persuasive Games created a game about seasonal and pandemic flu. The game, called Killer Flu, was commissioned by the UK Clinical Virology Network and produced in association with Scotland's Traffic Games. Reading the current headlines about the so-called swine flu, you'd think that ...

by Ian Bogost April 8, 2009

Games for Health Conference Discount

Health & Medicine Games

I'm way behind catching up after GDC. I have dozens of things queued up to write about, which I'll slowly extrude from my conceptual Plah-Doh machine as time becomes less scarce. In the meantime, you should consider taking advantage of a 15% discount on Games for Health conference registrations. The ...

by Ian Bogost January 9, 2009

Hula Wii

Educational Games, Health & Medicine Games

As usual, things are cooler in Japan. If the hula-hoop minigame in Wii Fit isn't enough for you, why not have a go at Hula Wii, a hula dance trainer "for health and beauty." It features twenty different tunes and supports play with the Wii Balance Board. You can even ...

by Ian Bogost December 7, 2008

Nintendo DS Spa

Health & Medicine Games, Women and Games

Here's a different take on games for health: the Nintendo DS Spa, which I spotted recently at Lenox Mall in Atlanta's Buckhead neighborhood. The service offers complimentary massages, during which time massagees are invited to play DS games. If in-mall massage-demos weren't enough evidence of Nintendo's commitment to advertising their ...

by Ian Bogost December 4, 2008

jOGging In Place

Health & Medicine Games

Kotaku disdainfully points out New Concept Gaming's jOG controller, a motion-sensing belt-clip that promises to translate physical movement (e.g. jogging) into character motion on-screen in any game. A video appears after the jump. ...

by Ian Bogost September 2, 2008

Grinding on the Treadmill

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

Last week, Destructoid ran coverage of a couple of guys who fashioned homebrew treadmills and wired them up to World of Warcraft. They then filmed a dorky costumed performance of an obviously exhausting run across Azeroth: Is this exercise? Sure, but it's mostly geekery. I can't imagine the pair will ...

by Ian Bogost August 25, 2008

Gimmickry, or How Exergaming Went Mainstream

Casual Games, Console & PC Games, Educational Games, Health & Medicine Games

I've been thinking about exercise games lately, primarily due to an onslaught of new games, devices, and initiatives. For example, we've got Footgaming, a sort of promotional blog for a student fitness program called Generation Fit. The group hopes to support casual and educational play with a peripheral called FootPOWR. ...

by Ian Bogost July 11, 2008

Undersea Irony

Health & Medicine Games

The Spongebob Pedometer is, well, a Spongebob-shaped pedometer. It promises that its users can "keep In shape by counting steps." But the best part is this marketing tagline: "Get your lazy computer, video game kids back into exercise. The Spongebob Squarepants pedometer will keep track of their daily activity." Not, ...

by Ian Bogost July 10, 2008

Wii Fit: Exercise or Simulation

Health & Medicine Games

Over on Game Critics, part of their ongoing series on Wii Fit suggests the question, is this exercise through a game, or just a simulation of exercise. The counterpoint might be: how does it really differ from any other pop-exercise regime, in book or video form, for example. ...

by Ian Bogost June 23, 2008

Simulating disease is nothing to sneeze at

Casual Games, Health & Medicine Games, Social Games

Liz Losh mentions and critiques a new Facebook app called Patient Zero, from VisualDXHealth. It takes the concept of viral spread literally rather than figuratively, allowing users to create a new virus, "power it up," and spread it to friends. Seems like a decent idea at first blush. The problem, ...

by Ian Bogost June 2, 2008

Pedometer Pets

Casual Games, Health & Medicine Games

Here's an interesting example of a mobile exergame. Arukotch is a tamagotchi-like virtual pet embedded in a pedometer. The "pet" is a "shy girl waiting for a proposal from a cute boy." The more steps you take, the more "healthy and beautiful" she becomes. Items like cell phones and gifts ...

by Ian Bogost May 29, 2008

Ubisoft to Publish Smoking Cessation Game for DS

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

According to our friends at Kotaku, Ubisoft is bringing a videogame version of Allen Carr's popular Easy Way to Stop Smoking book/method to Nintendo DS this fall. The press release says very little about the game, and really very little in general, but clearly they are borrowing a page from ...

by Ian Bogost May 20, 2008

Making Room for Wii Fit

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

At the end of the chapter on exercise in Persuasive Games, I briefly discussed the problems exercise games pose to home use. A student and a colleague did a study and wrote an ACM article about how people negotiate space and play with big controllers like those used for DDR ...

by Ian Bogost March 13, 2008

Register for Games for Health 2008

Health & Medicine Games

It seems like just last year the idea of games for health was still a marginal one. There were DDR rigs in schools, sure, and some therapeutic uses, but it was an uphill battle. Now we have Wii Fit and the Wii Balance Board forthcoming in the West and even ...

by Ian Bogost February 20, 2008

GDC 2008: Wii Fit, Creating a Brand New Interface for the Home Console

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

(Takao Sawano on Wii Fit) Wii Fit was released in Japan Dec 1, 2007. This title was first shown at last year's E3 and you may already be familiar with it. Just to make sure, here are some commercials currently being aired on Japanese television. The ads included a demonstration ...

by Ian Bogost January 24, 2008

Wii Fit Sits Still

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

Recently I wrote an article about meditation and games, suggesting that most existing attempts to relax through gameplay are broken. Among alternatives, I pointed to Guru Meditation, an Atari VCS game I had made to be used with the Amiga Joyboard. To play, the player sits still on the device. ...

by Ian Bogost January 14, 2008

Fat Monday

Health & Medicine Games, Political Games

As mentioned last week, today Fatworld lives. Trailer below. Press release here. ...

by Ian Bogost January 11, 2008

Prepare to Fatten

Health & Medicine Games, Political Games

The same week McDonald's is blaming videogames for obesity, we're preparing to release a videogame about that topic. On Monday January 14, Fatworld will be released. It's a game about the politics of nutrition created at my studio, Persuasive Games, published by ITVS Interactive, and funded by the Corporation for ...

by Ian Bogost December 24, 2007

Spoof Research: Wii Not Active Enough Exercise

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

Were you lucky enough to find a Wii console to put under the tree this year? Were you planning to engorge yourself at Christmas dinner tomorrow and then work off all that excess with a family session on Wii Sports? Well, it's not gonna work, according to a study in ...

by Ian Bogost October 29, 2007

Changemakers - vote for Fatworld

Health & Medicine Games

It seems that http://www.persuasivegames.com/games/game.aspx?ga">Fatworld has been nominated as a finalist in the "Changemakers's Why Games Matter" health games competition. They chose 14 finalists, which seems like a lot to me, and now the community can vote for their favorites. The top three will be announced as winners on November 8. ...

by Ian Bogost July 22, 2007

Games for Health Contest

Health & Medicine Games

Ashoka Changemakers and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation have announced a new contest searching for games that promote health and health care. Eligibility is broad (existing games, research about games, conceptual game designs that are past the programming stage of development, public or private initiatives for game-based approaches to health ...

by Ian Bogost July 15, 2007

The Prehistory of Wii Fit

Health & Medicine Games

Among the many stories from last week's E3, one of the most widely covered was Wii Fit, an exercise game controlled via a pressure sensitive balance board. You play by shifting weight on the board. While the final activities to be included in the game are still uncertain, reports suggest ...

by Ian Bogost June 27, 2007

Fatworld in Wired

Health & Medicine Games

It seems like I've been talking about this game everywhere for a long time, but I don't think I've said anything about it here. Persuasive Games has been working on a game about the politics of nutrition, called Fatworld. It's been funded by PBS and the iTVS, and it will ...

by Ian Bogost June 19, 2007

Konami does Yoga

Health & Medicine Games

A couple recent exergame related happenings to relate. First, Konami has announced Groove Motion DDR. It's the DDR you know and love, with six additional programs like yoga and martial-arts exercises. In addition to the familiar mat, the game also sports a motion sensor the player wears around his or ...

by Ian Bogost June 7, 2007

Doctor: Too much Wii causes 'Wiiitis'

Health & Medicine Games

A Wii-playing doctor has suggested 'wiiitis' as the name for a sports injury-like strain similar to tennis elbow. The treatment? Ibuprofen and a Wii-free week. ...

by Ian Bogost May 7, 2007

No touching at this dance

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

The folks over at Applied Sciences have designed a prototype for a pressureless Dance Dance Revolution controller. Instead of activating the directional arrows by pressing buttons, the player does so by interrupting lasers beamed across the device. A different pattern of interruptions corresponds with a specific button press. The prototype ...

by Ian Bogost April 17, 2007

You can never have too many guitar peripherals

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

I'm fascinated by physical interface peripherals of all kinds. In particular, I'm very interested in how peripherals influence players' perceptions of their living space. A new article from the Reuters wire explores this topic: Game accessories strain relationships, decor. The basic premise is that peripherals like Guitar Hero axes and ...

by Ian Bogost April 8, 2007

Wii Workouts

Health & Medicine Games

According to the Daily Record, Liverpool John Moores University found that Wii players who play 12 hours a week or so burn 1830 calories, or the equivalent of around 27 pounds a year. 12 hours a week of Wii is more than you think, but certainly 30-60 minutes a day ...

by Ian Bogost February 3, 2007

My new column: The Missing Social Rituals of Exergames

Health & Medicine Games

Serious Games Source has published my latest Persuasive Games column, this one about social practice in exergames. In the column, I argue that exergames are currently limited by the lack social rituals of physical activity like sports. A brief excerpt: The whole experience exposes the inhumanity of exergames of this ...

by Ian Bogost December 21, 2006

Belgium's anti-gaming social marketing

Health & Medicine Games

A while ago, we covered some anti-gaming ads presumably run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), but which turned out to be unapproved ads created by their agency (the CDC later confirmed this to me personally). Well, now it looks like the country of Belgium has adopted ...

by Ian Bogost December 1, 2006

Sonic for School Lunches

Casual Games, Health & Medicine Games

Snack Dash is a Sonic-style side-scroller distributed by the UK's School Food Trust. "Speed is the key as you race to collect as many healthy eating points as you can while avoiding the bad guys and keeping up enough energy to get through the course." Normally I'm a bit cynical ...

by Ian Bogost November 30, 2006

Nintendo: Wii is not an exercise machine

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

There are a bunch of leading articles on Yahoo! this morning about the Wii, including coverage of people breaking their TV's and windows by inadvertently hurling wiimotes. More interesting, though, is a story on "Wii elbow", in which we get an official Nintendo position on Wii as exercise. Short answer? ...

by Ian Bogost November 23, 2006

Disability and the Wii

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

Kotaku posted a letter they received about from a longtime Nintendo fan who also has Muscular Dystrophy. He's having trouble using the Wii effectively. I can't really play some of the games in Wii Sports, because of the broad physical movement required. ... I can however play games with more ...

by Ian Bogost November 13, 2006

CDC in Second Life

Health & Medicine Games

In case you didn't hear, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), located right here in Atlanta where I live, is the latest government group to open up shop in Second Life. Sounds like they're mostly using it for public outreach and social marketing, that favorite topic of ...

by Ian Bogost October 20, 2006

Games for Health Competition

Health & Medicine Games

Games for Health has announced a competition to design health-related games. They have three categories, one for a student treatment/storyboard ($5k prize), one for an organization storyboard/treatment ($5k prize), and one for an open prototype/game ($20k prize). Deadline is April 1, 2007 and winners will be announced in June 2007. ...

by Ian Bogost October 17, 2006

Dave Perry working on Dance MMO

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

According to 1up, former Shiny chief Dave Perry is working on a multiplayer online dancing game called Dance!. Details are very thin, but according to the report publisher Acclaim will offer the game for free, although players will be able (or need?) to purchase clothing and other accessories for their ...

by Ian Bogost September 19, 2006

Want to make a Safer Sex Video Game?

Health & Medicine Games, Social Games

IGDA Sex Sig chair and author of the just-released Sex in Games, Brenda Brathwaite points us to a call for proposals from the University of Connecticut for a Safer Sex Video Game. If you're interested, act fast: there's a mandatory bid meeting Wednesday Sept 20 at 2pm ET. ...

by Ian Bogost August 28, 2006

Native Dancer - Virtual Powwows for Health

Educational Games, Game Design, Health & Medicine Games

Here's a rare example of an game that simultaneously attempts to educate, preserve an at-risk culture, improve health, and tackle an interesting game design problem. The Native Dancer Diabetes Education Game is a project in development at North Dakota State University and supported by the White Earth Reservation Tribal Council. ...

by Gonzalo Frasca August 23, 2006

post-traumatic stress disorder

Health & Medicine Games

Businessweek reports on the use of games for dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder among Iraq war veterans. This, as the article states, is not new and has been used with veterans of other wars (see, for example, Larry Hodges' work at Georgia Tech with Vietnam veterans). I wonder if "post-traumatic ...

by Ian Bogost August 6, 2006

Registration for Games for Health 2006 now open

Health & Medicine Games

The Games for Health initiative has announced registration for its 2006 conference, to take place in Baltimore, MD September 28-29 (yep, that's next month). You can register here; registration is $295 until August 10. This year's conference promises considerably more content than previous years, including topics such as personal health, ...

by Ian Bogost July 28, 2006

Hand me the wiimote, stat!

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

Kotaku reports that the Japanese surgery-adventure title Trauma Center: Second Opinion will be a Wii launch title. The game is being developed by Atlus, who created Trauma Center: Under the Knife for Nintendo DS, which I reviewed last year. A surgery game on Wii sounds like a sure thing, and ...

by Ian Bogost July 21, 2006

CDC: We did not approve anti-videogame ads

Advergames, Health & Medicine Games

As reported yesterday, during a visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta I learned that the anti-videogame print ads we had previously attributed to CDC (following the advertising trades), might not have been in any way affiliated with the organization. Today the CDC confirmed that the ...

by Ian Bogost July 19, 2006

CDC doesn't villify games, gamers?

Advergames, Health & Medicine Games

Back in February, I wrote about the Centers for Disease Control's misguided attempts to market against videogames and gamers, a campaign titled "Give Your Thumbs a Rest, Play for Real." I first saw the ads in AdCritic and later found the remainder of the series online. Joystiq and others picked ...

by Ian Bogost July 14, 2006

Mobile game teaches emergency first aid

Educational Games, Health & Medicine Games

Spanish developer Exelweiss has created Emergency 112 (or Emergency 911, if you prefer, in English), a mobile game to teach first aid techniques for medical emergencies. The game was apparently created for emergency response company Area de Intervención, but it looks like it's generally available too; a demo is available ...

by Ian Bogost June 16, 2006

Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day, but train it for what?

Console & PC Games, Educational Games, Health & Medicine Games

Author's note: Nintendo has created a community at Gather.com to facilitate discussion of their "Touch Generations" series of games. I have cross-posted this article there, and readers may want to view the other articles in that series. I know the game isn't new, but we never covered it properly here, ...

by Ian Bogost June 14, 2006

Own a piece of Exergaming history

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

One of the things that bothers me about videogame research is the lack of a sense of history. Sometimes you'd think that the only videogames that exist are EverQuest, WoW, and Grand Theft Auto. I've tried to do my part to correct this in my own research, and to that ...

by Gonzalo Frasca April 19, 2006

Serious links galore!

Health & Medicine Games

So many things to post about. First, CMP launched the Serious Games Source (www.seriousgamessource.com), a site on games and all things serious. Among its feature stories, there is "Why we need a corporation of public gaming, a very thought-provoking article by David Rejeski, which triggered a must-read post from Wonderland's ...

by Ian Bogost April 19, 2006

Bodypad, the full-body controller

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

Is DDR not enough for you? You may need (?) the Bodypad. It's "a fighting simulator actuated by your arms & legs that you plug as a gamepad on your best Playstation & Xbox games!" You attach movement sensors to your arms and legs, connect the thing to your game ...

by Ian Bogost April 14, 2006

Games for Health day at E3

Health & Medicine Games

Games for Health is running a one-day event right before E3, on May 9th. The "full-day event" will focus on "the use of games and game technologies in health and healthcare, including an evening reception." Topics include health messaging, combat and emergency medicine, psychotherapy, cancer treatment, disease management, and cognitive ...

by Ian Bogost March 19, 2006

More on the CDC campaign against gamers

Health & Medicine Games

Last month I pointed to the CDC's new advertising campaign, Give Your Thumbs a Rest, Play for Real. I argued that the campaign is ill conceived and detrimental to their overall project; vilifying gamers won't earn them any ears. Joystiq also pointed out that the CDC themselves are using videogames ...

by Ian Bogost March 4, 2006

Accordion Hero - Leben Sie Der Traum!

Health & Medicine Games, Social Games

Bavarian videogame satirists Schadenfreude Interactive have announced their most recent parodic homage, Accordion Hero! Polka your way up from Der Rathskeller to Oktoberfest in Munich! From the amusing "product page": Hit all the right notes and get the crowd on their feet waving their beer steins in unison - you ...

by Ian Bogost February 27, 2006

CDC villifies games, gamers

Advergames, Health & Medicine Games, Public Policy Games

The Centers for Disease Control, which is located just a few clicks down the road from where I live, has a new ad campaign to encourage more active lifestyles. As printed in AdCritic, one of these ads depicts a bunch of overweight baseballers in stained uniforms idle and cookout on ...

by Gonzalo Frasca February 23, 2006

NYTimes on exergaming and other games for the average Joe

Health & Medicine Games

The NYTimes (free reg. req.) runs today an article on Maya, the virtual personal trainer (the game was reviewed by Ian here at Watercooler in 2004). It includes interesting observations on how people relate to her. Ricardo Torres, from Gamespot, is right on the spot (no pun intended) when he ...

by Ian Bogost January 12, 2006

PopCap for healthy minds

Casual Games, Health & Medicine Games

This just in on the Games for Health front. Casual games heavy PopCap has funded research with G4H on the "Cognitive Health Benefits of Digital Gameplay." Here's the official word from the press release: PopCap Games, the leading developer and publisher of casual games, and The Games for Health Project ...

by Ian Bogost January 6, 2006

Creating Games and Simulation in Learning Summit

General, Health & Medicine Games

We're finally back from the holidays (and preparations for the semester), so expect things to get back to normal here. In the meantime, here's a quick note on an upcoming event in Long Beach, on games and simulation hosted by Stanford University Medical Media & Information Technologies. Speakers include Joe ...

by Ian Bogost October 25, 2005

DDR finally comes to GameCube

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

For those of you intrigued by the potential health benefits and den-floor fun of Dance Dance Revolution, but who chose Nintendo's GameCube as your family console, you've been out of luck. Either you needed to add the requisite PlayStation or Xbox console necessary to play the numerous versions of the ...

by Ian Bogost October 13, 2005

Konami puts DDR in Fitness Clubs

Health & Medicine Games

24 Hour Fitness and Konami have reached an agreement to put Dance Dance Revolution in the former's Kids' Clubs. According to the release, Konami will also offer coupon for a 30 day pass to any 24 Hour Fitness with new bundles of Dance Dance Revolution. Westerners may not realize it, ...

by Ian Bogost October 10, 2005

Review of Trauma Center: Under the Knife

Health & Medicine Games

I was a big fan of the late-80s hospital game Life and Death, so I've been looking forward to Atlus's new title Trauma Center: Under the Knife for the Nintendo DS. The main obstacle Life and Death faced was its interface. Using a mouse to perform surgery was very difficult, ...

by Ian Bogost September 23, 2005

Games for Health 2005, day two

Health & Medicine Games

I'm back at Games for Health for the second day this morning. As with yesterday, I'll be covering the sessions as they happen (save the ones I'm participating in). Covered talks from today: Games for Heatlh: The State Perspective Chris Foster - Maryland Deputy Director of Business and Economic Development ...

by Ian Bogost September 22, 2005

Games for Health 2005, day one

Health & Medicine Games

I am at the Games for Health 2005 conference, at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. As with my previous coverage of Education Arcade (1, 2), the Serious Games Summit, Games for Health 2004 (1, 2), and the Advertising in Games Summit I am happy to report ...

by Ian Bogost August 7, 2005

Games for Health 2005

Health & Medicine Games

The second Games for Health conference will be held September 22 - 23 in Baltimore, at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The current program is here, and this is what the organizers say about the event: This two-day conference is designed to explore how to use game technologies, ...

by Ian Bogost August 1, 2005

Plush Therapy

Health & Medicine Games, Social Games

I've mentioned before that my father was a psychologist (now retired), and so I'm always amused by therapy humor. In fact, I think the first thing I ever had formally published was a cartoon in a local psychological review. I think I was 8 years old. How perverse is that. ...

by Ian Bogost July 18, 2005

Powergrid Kilowatt, now in reasonable sizes

Health & Medicine Games

The Powergrid Kilowatt is a full-body videogame controller that functions as an isometric exercise device. William Huber and I tried it out at E3 2004, and we've talked about it before. The problem with the Kilowatt is that it's freaking huge, and pretty damn expensive. No normal person without a ...

by Ian Bogost July 13, 2005

Enough with the damned neurotech

Emotion in Games, Health & Medicine Games

I was talking to Nick the other day about a decade-old attempt to use neurofeedback in games. MindDrive was supposed to "harness the brain's impulses" to control simple movements in games. The device was developed by Ron Gordon, former Atari chief executive. He was actually attempting to create a kind ...

by Ian Bogost July 5, 2005

Urine: The Game

Educational Games, Health & Medicine Games

We went to the Grossology exhibit at the local museum this weekend (The Fernbank here in Atlanta). The latest trend in museums seems to be these traveling exhibits. I guess its a way for museums to bank on past visit figures from other venues without spending their own money on ...

by Ian Bogost May 20, 2005

E3: New Dance Pad Games

Health & Medicine Games

As we anticipated, Nintendo is releasing a Mario-themed version of Dance Dance Revolution, along with a GameCube compatible dancepad. The game doesn't appear to have any particular gameplay changes over normal DDR during dance mode, but Nintendo has woven a Mario-style quest game into the title. Specifically, Mario must "recover ...

by Ian Bogost May 16, 2005

Two new medical sims for DS

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

The E3 chatter has begun. Among the more interesting, two new medical sims for Nintendo DS, Caduceus from Atlus Tendo Dokuta from Spike. I find it interesting that so much early coverage has remarked on the novelty of this game... doesn't anyone remember Life & Death from back in 1992? ...

by Gonzalo Frasca April 6, 2005

A second life for Second Life

Health & Medicine Games

Wired reports on different organizations using MMOG Second Life as a way to integrate patients with social issues. Those include a group of adults with cerebral palsy and abused Portuguese children. ...

by Ian Bogost April 5, 2005

DDR Extreme Assessment

Health & Medicine Games

Just out today, West Virginia Public Employees Insurance Agency is sponsoring a study on the affects of playing Dance Dance Revolution on "boosting activity" in overweight kids. From the CNN article: The students, all children of PEIA-covered employees, are required to meet with researchers, play the game a prescribed amount ...

by Ian Bogost March 23, 2005

Teenage Mum, the game

Game Design, Health & Medicine Games

Take a look at this TV spot for Teenage Mum created by the Belgian public health department to encourage contraceptive use and raise awareness about teenage pregnancy. It's really just a PSA (created by Belgian agency Duval Guillaume) advertising a fictitious game, but the fictitious game's design is just brilliant. ...

by Gonzalo Frasca January 10, 2005

Wired on CES exergaming

Health & Medicine Games

This is defintively not a new topic here at the watercooler, but I think that it is interesting that there were 6 companies at the recent CES focusing on so-called exergaming or exertainment. Here's an article about it from Wired. If you think about it, games have been used for ...

by Ian Bogost January 7, 2005

Wireless Dance Pads have Two Left Feet

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

I hate wires. Hate them. One of the main advantages to the early GameCube days for me was the WaveBird, in my opinion the first good quality wireless controller. So, I was thrilled this holiday season when I saw Datel's PS2800D Wireless Dance Pad. It's got the same non-slip bottom ...

by Ian Bogost January 4, 2005

Audio games for blind players

Health & Medicine Games

The BBC ran a story this weekend on the expanding range of audio games for blind gamers. The article reports that there are at least 50 commercially available titles and at least twice that many shareware and freeware games for blind players, cataloged on AudioGames.Net. These games are more about ...

by Ian Bogost December 28, 2004

Swing your plastic peripherals with Xavix

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

I fell upon the Xavix XaviXPORT at Best Buy this week. It's a small game console that seems to be focused on games that use wireless, external peripheral controllers. More specifically, XaviXPORT seems to be designed for sports games; currently, they offer a bowling game with green wireless bowling ball, ...

by Ian Bogost December 27, 2004

Funding for Games for Health

Health & Medicine Games

The Serious Games Initiative's Games for Health project has recently received a major grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Read on for the full release. ...

by Ian Bogost December 22, 2004

Review of Yourself! Fitness

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

This was a big year for the dance fitness game, with significant numbers of new consoles sold after NBC's Today morning show ran a feature about how gamers were losing weight -- significant weight -- playing Konami's Dance Dance Revolution. Sony's Eye Toy has made strides in this direction, and ...

by Gonzalo Frasca December 11, 2004

Scalpel, scissors and Game Boy

Health & Medicine Games

According to an anesthesiologist at University Hospital in Newark, Game Boys are better than tranquilizers before surgery. They tried first with PSPs, but it ran out of batteries way before the surgeon was ready ;) ...

by Ian Bogost December 4, 2004

Dance Pads for GameCube

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

Peripheral manufacturer MadCatz has just released the first dance pad peripheral for Nintendo GameCube. They've bundled it with their first published game as well, MC Groovz danceCrazy, for $49.99. The dance pad and game supports 8 directions instead of the normal 4. I'm constantly hedging on console recommendations to parents ...

by Ian Bogost December 4, 2004

Games and Medicine in SoCal

Health & Medicine Games

Gamespot announces the Videogame/Entertainment Industry Technology and Medicine Conference, to be held December 10-11 in Marina del Rey, CA. Oddly, they refer to this as the "first ever" Videogame/Entertainment Industry Technology and Medicine Conference. I guess they missed Games for Health back in September. Looks like a number of GFH ...

by Ian Bogost November 21, 2004

Stretch with the devil...

Health & Medicine Games

Another chapter in the sad fates of independent developers begins. Roger Avery, Academy Award-winning co-screenwriter of Pulp Fiction, has sued Microsoft and Oregon-based ResponDesign for a reported $30 million plus punitive damages for "stealing his idea for a virtual yoga studio." Co-defendant ResponDesign is developer/publisher of Yourself! Fitness, an ...

by Ian Bogost November 5, 2004

Basketball Players and Fighter Pilots

Health & Medicine Games

An AP story reports on a training tool called IntelliGym, which an Israeli company developed for pilot cadets. The game, which has been around since the mid-90s, purportedly "improves concentration." Now the game's developers are selling it to college and pro basketball teams "to increase the player's ability to ...

by Ian Bogost September 28, 2004

Sid the Slug teaches Britons about Salt Consumption

Health & Medicine Games

Really, I'm serious. The UK Food Standards Agency has launched Sid's Game as a part of their broader Salt - Watch it outreach campaign. (via Adverblog) ...

by Ian Bogost September 17, 2004

Games for Health, day 2

Health & Medicine Games

I averted a night in O'Hare due to hurricane Ivan, so I'm able to spend a second day here at Games for Health in Madison. The conference is getting some good press coverage, including a big half-page spread in the local paper, mention on CNN Headline news, and coverage by ...

by Ian Bogost September 16, 2004

Games for Health, day 1

Health & Medicine Games

Keeping with my tradition of blogging conferences for those who can't make it across the state or across the pond, I'm here at Games for Health in Madison, Wisconsin. It's a two-day conference and unfortunately I have to leave before the end of today, missing the last two sessions so ...

by Ian Bogost August 15, 2004

High-Tech Workouts

Health & Medicine Games

CNET just published an article on High-Tech Workouts, including favorites like DDR, Yourself Fitness, the EyeToy, Cateye Game Bike, the Powergrid KiloWatt, and the new Nintendo Bongo peripheral due out next year. William Huber and I had a go at both the Game Bike and the KiloWatt at E3 this ...

by Ian Bogost July 21, 2004

Games for Health Conference registration now open

Health & Medicine Games

The Games for Health Conference will be held September 16 - 17 in Madison, WI. Registration is now open, for the reasonable fee of $99. There are also a limited number of $62 hotel rooms, so if you're interested, you'd better book now. Update (9/16/04): read my live coverage of ...

by Ian Bogost June 16, 2004

Games for Health Conference

Health & Medicine Games

The Games for Health 2004 Conference will be held September 16 - 17 in Madison, WI. It will be the First Ever Meeting of Developers, Researchers, and Health Professionals, hosted by the Academic ADL Co-Lab and organized in conjunction with the Serious Games Initiative and the Federation of American Scientists’ ...

by Gonzalo Frasca May 24, 2004

Console sweat

Health & Medicine Games

The NYTimes (free reg. req.) posts a story on a videogame aimed at women who want to work out and lose some weight. It's a long way from all-you-can-eat Pacman. Update: CNN runs a story about losing weight while playing Dance Dance Revolution. ...

by Ian Bogost May 9, 2004

LucasArts engineer and 9 year-old create cancer game

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

Ben Duskin, a 9 year-old in remission from Leukemia wanted to create a game in which the hero kills cancer cells. The Make-a-Wish Foundation teamed Ben up with Eric Johnston of LucasArts. As the press release says, "For months, Ben and Eric have been meeting on a regular basis to ...

by Ian Bogost February 25, 2004

Virtual Worlds Dull Pain

Game Design, Health & Medicine Games

The BBC reports that Dr. Hunter Hoffman of the Harborview Medical Center in Seattle is using "immersive virtual worlds" to treat pain in severe burn cases. SnowWorld, for instance, takes users on an absorbing virtual journey through glaciers and ice caves whilst having to defend themselves from attack by polar ...