Good E3 For 'Games For Health'

GamePolitics reports on the Games for Health conference, held the day before E3 opened in LA. From the article: "Immune Attack is a first-person, real-time strategy game which employs authentic biology concepts to teach students about the immune system in a fun and engaging way. Developed by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), Brown University, and USC, the game challenges players to rebuild a human body's immune system from scratch by training cells to identify and combat infections. Contrary to the common public image of gamers as isolated loners, games can also provide a way to practice social skills. With advances in artificial intelligence and 3-D graphics, computers can accurately simulate complex social interactions. Imagine software that allows you to interact with a virtual personal trainer who customizes your diet and exercise regimen. How about a virtual tutor who walks you through your calculus homework?"

Comments

Damn

[jbellis]

I was hoping this would be about "games that make you healthy," not "games that teach you about health."

ARE there any of the former, besides DDR?
--
Carnage Blender : Meet interesting people. Kill them.

Re:Damn

[crossmr]

I was hoping for this as well. Other than DDR, I'm not familiar with any other games for the Console/PC that encourage movement like that. I don't think Yourself Fitness really counts.

In the arcade I've noticed a few, like that one where you peddle some kind of flying machine, but thats hard to bring into the home (unless you could find a way to hook a new fangled exercise bike up to USB or something, speaking of things I need to patent...)

Re:Damn

[hackiavelli]

The only other one I'm familiar with is MoCap Boxing.

Re:Damn

[lpangelrob]

Maya comes to mind, but she's very clearly aimed at the 18 to 35 female audience.

Re:Damn

[PSXer]

There was an exercise bike that interfaced with the SNES that I remember reading about in Nintendo Power.

Ah yes, found it. Looks like it's called the "Exertainment System"

Thank god!

[Omicron32]

Not one use of the word "edutainment".

You left out the important part...

[Wampus Aurelius]

Another idea is a virtual date who you could practice your best lines on, building confidence and giving you a chance to make an ass of yourself over and over in private until you get it right. How about a virtual girlfriend who I can....uh....you know.... ....breasts!

Educational Software's Been Around...

[informatico]

Educational Software has been around for a while, but despite kids' increasing use of computers in the classroom I don't really remember hearing about any of this software being really wide spread.

I suspect it's the difficulty in pretty much creating an educational curriculum (fact checking it etc.) then trying to turn it all into software, and also making it fun / easy to use. Also if it's too fun it might not be educational enough ;), there already seems to be a stigma about playing fun educational 'games' on school time.

here's a few

[BitterAndDrunk]

1. Volleyball
2. Softball
3. Flag football
4. Basketball
5. Baseball
6. Rollerhockey/hockey ($$)

All of these games will make you healthy, and most will be available through a recreation center of some sort near your residence.
If you meant computer games, sorry fatty, get some sun.

Re:here's a few

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh ahahaha.

Team sports are great, sure, but they're not everything. Exercising in your own home saves a lot of time. It doesn't depend on other people showing up. It doesn't matter if everyone else is better than you, or much worse: you set your own challenge level. If you want to exercise for longer, you can: it doesn't depend on guys not going home to their kids, other halves. You can do it in the middle of the night on a whim. You can push yourself til you drop - your bed's just round the corner. It doesn't depend on the weather. If you've got a cold or whatever you can still do light exercise in a comfortable environment without aggraviting your illness. And you can make it more fun than just running. And so on.

I don't see the point

[moe.ron]

FTA:

Dr. Lynn Miller is one of the minds behind the Interactive Sex Project, an interactive video designed to reduce HIV risk behaviors by allowing players to make critical decisions on a virtual date such as where to go, whether to bring a condom, and how to respond to an opportunity to take drugs. Players are allowed to make up their own minds and are presented with the consequences of their actions. If you are not sure what to do, the video's hosts are always there to offer advice. The project currently uses footage of real actors but Dr. Miller hopes to employ virtual characters in the future.

Isn't the whole idea of making "interactive, educational games" to have a piece of software that people want to use because its fun regardless of any educational value? Who is going to want to play a game where you win by not doing the fun things in the game? I thought the whole point of the virtual experience was to live the life that you can't in reality. Why would I want to be boring in my real life and my virtual life?

This is why there are violent, adult, non-educational video games. People want to have sex with that dirty hooker, and do drugs, and kill people, because in their real lives most won't do any of those things! Virtual Prude 2k6 gets a 1... out of 5.

Well I didn't RTFA...

[Skroggtar]

But I assumer there's a mention of "Enter-Fitness."

Game consoles is the wrong place for this

[destructoid]

"Interact with a virtual personal trainer who customizes your diet and exercise regimen." - I want my living room wall to do that, not my game console. I want to blow shit up on my Playstation. "How about a virtual tutor who walks you through your calculus homework?" - I want my gigantor texas instrument calculator to do that, not my game console. I want to hug trees on my Nintendo.

Re:Game consoles is the wrong place for this

[Anonymous Coward]

Your sig has a misspelling in the URL.

Re:Game consoles is the wrong place for this

[grammar fascist]

I want to hug trees on my Nintendo.

I want to bomb animal experimentation labs and abortion clinics on my Nintendo.

Seriously, though, how do you hug trees on your Nintendo?

Yes, there are

[LKM]

Playing Donkey Konga is quite exhausting, and it looks like many Wii games (Wario Ware, for example) will make you jump around the room like a madman.

Already in play

[Dr.Poe]

Note that there's already a game that simulates a personal trainer. It's called YourselfFitness. I've got the xbox copy, and it's quite good.

Re:Already in play

[Anonymous Coward]

There also is EyeToy: Kinetic

Immune Attack Information

[EitanGlinert]

The article left out the address for the Immune Attack Website. Go here to learn more about the game! I'll try to answer questions about the game in this thread, if people have any.