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Glucoboy Rewards Diabetics With GBA Fun

Posted by simoniker on from the carrot-meets-donkey dept.

Thanks to Joystick101 for pointing to a news piece discussing the in-development Glucoboy add-on for the GameBoy Advance. According to the article, "Glucoboy is a glucose meter that can be inserted into a Nintendo GameBoy. The product operates independent of the video game system, but downloads video game programs that are contained within its circuitry into the GameBoy as a reward for maintaining good blood sugar control." The product hopes to help children with diabetes monitor their condition better, and the creator comments that his son "...always knew where his GameBoy was, but he always seemed to misplace his Glucometer."

5 of 28 comments (clear)

  1. Re:(SARCASTIC VOICE) This sounds awesome by Sevn · · Score: 3, Funny

    Or, testing it out on family pets for more free games. Don't forget about that.

    --
    For every annoying gentoo user, are three even more annoying anti-gentoo crybabies. Take Yosh from #Gimp for example.
  2. As an actual diabetic... by Yorrike · · Score: 4, Insightful
    As an actual diabetic I must say that a glucose meter in a PDA or game console is really my killer app. Should someone out there be looking to sell me a $1000 peice of equipment I want the following things: Ability to play GBA games, surf the net, test my blood glucose, open my front door and call/text my friends all from the same device no bigger than a Palm M100.

    I know blood glucose is an extreme niche for geek toys, but the more projects like this, the better in my opinion. At least until they come up with a reasonable cure.

    I'm actually surprised no one did anything like this for the Handspring Springboard format (although, I must admit, I was considering hacking a spare glucose meter up and making on emyself at one point)

    --

    Looks can be deceiving. Or CAN they?

    1. Re:As an actual diabetic... by glassesmonkey · · Score: 3, Funny

      diabetic testing is killer app for the whole bio-tech industry (the other ones being DNA chips, STD chips, biological chemical testing chips). When they get lab on chip and micro-needles and disposable silicon chips that can measure blood sugar the industry will be ready to explode. But, it's one of the first hurdles.

  3. But what's the game like? by evilspyperson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I can see it now: Parent: Now you can this game if your blood sugar is correct! Kid: Yay! (2 days later) Parent: tested your blood sugar yet today? Kid: No, the game sucked so i'm playing zelda! Yay! bottom line - the whole thing collapses if the game isn't as good as a real gameboy game.

  4. Lets hope the game isn't Captain Novolin by analog_line · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Many of you probably haven't heard of Captain Novolin, but if you read a lot of "worst game ever" threads, you've probably heard of it.

    Captain Novolin was a NES game about diabetes. You played the good Captain on his quest to save the Earth from invading donuts, and other sugary foods that promote diabetes. In between levels, various poorly drawn doctors would pop up and give supposedly helpful messages to those with diabetes, telling them how to check their blood sugar, etc.

    All in all, it's one of the worst games ever, but strangely hypnotizing, as some of the worst games ever do tend to be. I just pray, for the children's sake, that they didn't license this for the Glucoboy, or they're in for a ride through hell.