Category Archives: Video Games

Getting “Active” With The Wii

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EA Sports ActiveIf there is any one console on the market today that has the greatest potential for helping video game fans get in shape it would have to be the Nintendo Wii.  The interactive nature of the motion detecting controllers practically forces you to actually get up and move while playing many of the popular games available on that system (I mean, you COULD sit on the couch while playing Tennis in Wii Sports, but that might just make you a  toolbox).   Nintendo took the fitness potential of the Wii one step further back in 2007 with the release of Wii Fit and the game buying public couldn’t get enough of it.  The game and balance board combination was so popular that one creative individual came up with a website just to track when and where it was available.  Soon similar games followed, including one from fitness expert Jillian Michaels (of The Biggest Loser fame).

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Video Game Aims To Teach Diabetics to Manage Their Blood Sugar

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The Magi And The Sleeping StarWhen you think “educational software” what comes to your mind?  If you’re a parent like me you might think of the amazing Reader Rabbit series.  Maybe you think of language education software like Rosetta Stone or the supplemental DVD-Rom that came with one of your college text books.

I’m fairly certain you wouldn’t think of a an adventure game with a diabetic main character.

Well, the folks over at Game Equals Life have decided to try and change that particular perspective with The Magi and the Sleeping Star.

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Blizzard and Pepsi Announce Plans for WoW Themed Soft Drinks

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Horde RedOne of the things that I have to struggle with here at ShrinkGeek is the fact that healthy living is, quite frankly, not a fundamental aspect of the geek culture.  As a matter of fact, it’s fairly safe to say that geeks tend to revel in their love of deliciously unhealthy food and drink.  Stereotypes exist for a reason, and the truth is that most “normal” people wouldn’t picture the overweight slob sitting on his couch with a cheese powder stained controller in one hand and a two liter of Jolt Cola in the other if it weren’t for the fact that a good number of us really do treat ourselves that way.  I can recall countless evenings growing up where the most intense physical activity involved seeing how many times I could get my hand from the Doritos bag to my mouth.

Mind you, it’s that kind of “conscientious living” that contributed to my weighing 420 pounds and having two strokes before I turned 30.  Eating like crap and never exercising may very well be a fun, and possibly even integral, part of the geek lifestyle, but it certainly doesn’t lead to long and healthy lives.  Unfortunately, getting that across to the geek crowd is a difficult task.  To many it seems like the idea of being healthy is a form of “selling out”; That in order to maintain their edge they have to have a diet full of caffeine, sugar, and questionably “safe” chemicals.

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Fitness Related Video Games Installed In Schools

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Image courtesy of ajimixx

Image courtesy of ajimixx

Video game players do not have a reputation for being paragons of physical fitness (with the possible exception of freakishly strong thumbs). In recent years, though, there has been a growing trend of console based games that have gotten us up off the couch. From party games like Dance Dance Revolution, Rock Band, and Samba de Amigo to games specifically designed for physical fitness like Yourself Fitness and Wii Fit, the video game industry seems determined to help us shake off our couch potato reputation.

Hoping to capitalize on the popularity of these trends, many youth oriented activity centers are using video games to entice children into burning more calories. Not only are fitness centers like the YMCA installing consoles to appeal to kids, the school board of Stafford County, Virginia, has jumped on the bandwagon as well. Over a dozen schools in the district now have fitness centers with a “technology twist.”

It seems likely that this trend will only continue to grow. Despite its lack of “next gen” graphics and titles designed to appeal to traditional hard core gamers the Nintendo Wii was yet again the hottest selling console during the most recent holiday shopping season. It is only a matter of time before Sony and Microsoft jump on the bandwagon and expand their catalog of games that get us moving, and while they may not turn us into super models they might help to counter all those Doritos we suck down while playing.