The Entertainment Consumers Association's ECA Institute (ECAi) officially launches a new work group called Gamers for Health. The goal of the group is to help ECA members and gamers at large incorporate gaming activities into healthy lifestyles by providing resources and tools that are effective in those areas.

Launching today, this destination for healthy gaming offers a place for gamers everywhere to join the various programs that help get you fit by gaming.

Valve has always been keen to track user data and use it to improve its games, but many may not know that the company has always been acutely aware that some of its players may have special needs in order to play many of their most popular games. Speaking to Gamasutra Mike Ambinder of Valve Software explains some of the things the company does to help players with different kinds of disabilities:

"Most of the accommodations we make for disabled gamers (closed captioning/subtitles, colorblind mode, in-game pausing in single player, easier difficulty levels, re-mappable keys/buttons, open-microphones, mouse sensitivity settings, use of both mouse and keyboard and gamepads, etc.) stem from functionality added to improve the experience of both able and disabled gamers," Ambinder tells Gamasutra.

The Shriners Hospitals for Children in Galveston, Texas is taking part in a psychological study that examines the effects of virtual reality game on pain tolerance during physical and occupational therapy.

Funded by a National Institutes of Health grant and conducted by the University of Washington, the study uses a video game called SnowWorld with young burn patients to see how the game helps them during physical and occupational therapy. These two types of therapies are collectively called rehabilitative therapy, and are essential to the recovery of patients suffering burn injuries.

As burns heal, the affected areas of the body tend to tighten causing constrictions of the skin, and making mobility a challenge to patients. Therapies and exercises that address these issues are common, but also lead to discomfort. Patients often report an increase in pain levels.

A study published online and set to appear in the pages of the January 2011 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine finds that games can be used to encourage children to eat more fruits and vegetables.

Researchers are looking for new ways to combat the rise of obesity and type 2 diabetes in young people. One of the ways to combat this is an increased intake of healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables, fruit juices, and water. Researchers hypothesized going into this study that video games designed to support healthy lifestyles would have a positive effect on children who played them.

The results of a study released by the University of Calgary this week reveal that video games (exergames) may be as good as traditional physical education classes in keeping children physically fit. The research tested the effects of several video games that encourage users to jump and balance such as dance games, light walls and games that use the Wii's balance board.

After two years studying the effects of games on Calgary elementary school students, researchers found that these exergames improved balance by up to 30 percent. This was compared to conventional physical education that included traditional games like badminton. The results were comparable to a six-week Physical Education program that focused on improving agility and balance using dance, gymnastics, and obstacle courses.

Nintendo, in a bid to push its own products, highlighted a survey by the American Heart Association today. The survey found that playing "active-play" video games can lead players to real-world fitness activities. According to the survey, 58 percent of people who played active-play video games began a new fitness activity like walking, tennis, or jogging since they started playing the games. The survey also found that 68 percent of people who play active-play video games say they are more physically active since they got involved in video games. The survey was conducted Oct. 25- Nov. 1, 2010, by the American Heart Association and included a total of 2,284 male and female respondents ages 25-55.

Are Mommy and Daddy breaking up and you don't understand what is going on? It's not your fault, little camper, but a new game from the Australian government may have the answers you seek. The government has launched a video game and a book to help children whose parents have separated understand the change in their family. Both were developed with the assistance of community counseling service Boystown and are available free from the Department of Human Services. The video game and book are designed for children under 12 and will help them deal with the difficulties of separation.

Once again video games serve as a crutch for lazy, inept parents. Boystown general manager Wendy Protheroe claims that these products help answer the tough questions children often ask when their parents separate.

The Think Feel Play blog has an interesting take on videogame addition, asking “are video games the drug of our generation, or might something else be going on?”

Author Shoshannah Tekofsky (aka Shos) begins by looking at definitions of the term addiction before picking on research, specifically looking at two major issues “plaguing” videogame research: the all important casual link, “They need to find healthy, balanced people whose lives gaming ruined. This is a lot harder than it sounds,” and definition, “Many researchers assume that there is a problem, pick a set of criteria and see who fits into that slot.”

First Lady Michelle Obama's "Apps for Healthy Kids" initiative has chosen a winner in the game category. The program challenged developers to create programs that entertained and encouraged children to engage in exercise and healthy eating habits. In the Game category, "Trainer" took the top honors. Trainer charges youngsters with caring for creatures with different dietary and fitness needs. The Player trains these creatures by exercising alongside them.

The runner-up game was Fitter Critters, "a game platform designed to transform children's attitudes toward eating and nutrition, while developing the skills they need to become informed consumers capable of making better choices about their own diets." Smash Your Food gets an honorable mention.

To see all of the applications, visit www.appsforhealthykids.com. Thanks Joystiq.

Just a few weeks after a child psychiatrist called for games to feature exercise ratings, a non-profit health advocacy group affiliated with Games for Health has released its own exergame rating system.

The Exergame Network (TEN) came up with its Exergaming Experience Rating System (EERS), which scores games first on their game play, interface and energy expended, and then grades on an additional seven criteria, including customization, accessibility, biometric feedback, intervention capability, socialization, sustainability and safety.

Stephen Yang, a SUNY Cortland Professor and Games for Health advocate, appeared on Good Morning America earlier this month to discuss the impact games are having on the health field.

Yang demonstrated games such as the Wii-based Just Dance, billing it as chance to “imitate and have fun,” adding, “It’s for exercise, enjoyment, socialization… that’s the whole point of games, it brings us all together.”

Yang then showed off a prototype game from Red Hill Studios that's designed to (hopefully) improve the balance of Parkinson's sufferers.

Nothing really new, but always nice to see games championed in the media and the spotlight put on great initiatives like Games for Health.

A teacher arrested after making a threat to kill hundreds of people was acquitted by a jury after clarification emerged that his remark was meant to reference the taking of virtual lives in videogame play, so that he could relieve stress.

Jason Davis was a teacher at Knox Central High School in Barbourville, Kentucky, when a student, and fellow online gamer who Davis often played with, hid some of Davis’ markers. Davis, according to Kentucky.com, was apparently having a rough day and this bit of tom foolery caused him to issue utterances about killing people to relieve stress, which was apparently taken out of context by students and resulted in his arrest in May of 2009 for second-degree terroristic threatening.

A jury needed only 10 minutes to conclude that Davis was not guilty. Davis spent a month in jail before coming up with bond, and is now unemployed as the school, before the incident, informed him that he would not be rehired.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) affects 1 in 110 children, a number that is spurring the development of games designed to help those with the disorder. A panel today at Games for Health discussed some autism-specific titles that are currently in the works.

Rob Morris from the MIT Media Lab outlined one potential hurdle to developing such games—those with autism typically demonstrate very specific interests, meaning that any game must be adaptable to a particular patient. Morris demonstrated one way around this issue, a Flash/Action Script-based title that implements a custom Google image search in order to infuse a specific element—that the player can identify with—into the game. The hope is to eventually release an open source version of this game.

The health-based game community has grown significantly over the past few years, aided somewhat by the introduction of Nintendo’s Wii. As with any specialty segment, such expansion brings along growing pains, some of which were touched on in a discussion at Games for Health examining how the exergame field might keep advancing.

The panel, entitled How Do We Realize the Potential of Games for Rehab, Physical Therapy & Exergaming With and Without the Advancement of Commercial Entertainment Exergames, featured a group of researchers/developers and a representative from Best Buy.

While there is very limited information on the intersection of games and psychotherapy—studies are extremely few and far between, and by some accounts, only a single “game” broaches the subject—one child psychiatrist is using videogames in a different way; as an icebreaker.

Dr. T. Atilla Ceranoglu is an instructor at Harvard Medical School and a psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital, in addition to running his own practice. In a session at Games for Health, Dr. Ceranoglu detailed how he makes use of videogames.

The  the sixth annual Games for Health conference might not be the place you would expect to hear Extreme drummer Kevin Figueiredo perform, but that’s just what happened.

Games for Health head Ben Sawyer welcomed attendees to this year’s show, which kicked off today in Boston, by noting that he is “the crazy person who thinks he can pull this off each year.” After a few remarks, Sawyer passed the microphone over to Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Senior Vice President Dr. John Lumpkin. Robert Wood Johnson’s Pioneer Portfolio is a backer of Games for Health.

Lumpkin, an avowed gamer, indicated that he used to keep videogames and his work as “separate disconnected parts” of his life, before he noticed his son playing a game of Dance Dance Revolution and working up a sweat. This is when he realized that his professional field could intersect with his hobby.

Another study about games will be explored, dissected and revealed at Games for Health this week in Boston, and it involves casual games. Preliminary results of a new study conducted by East Carolina University's Psychophysiology Lab have found that playing casual games showed improvements in cognitive function for older players. The study, which has been underway for over six months, is focusing on games like Bejeweled and Peggle.

Using 40 consumers age 50 and older, the study explores the effects of games on subjects' short-term cognitive acuity. Early data suggest that sizable improvements were identified in the performance of the test group, compared to a control group.

Can playing videogames before bedtime make you the master of your dreams? MSNBC entertains that possibility in this technology and science story, showcasing the work of Jayne Gackenbach, a psychologist at Grant MacEwan University in Canada.

Gackenbach is somewhat of an expert on lucid dreams, or dreams where the subject is aware of being in a dream state. Many years ago she noticed her son's love of video games and the similarities between dream worlds and virtual worlds. This prompted her to conduct a decade's worth of research. That decade of game-related research has apparently yielded some surprising data, although she concedes that her findings represent "suggestive associations" rather than definitive proof. Gackenbach will discuss her work as a featured speaker this week at the Games for Health Conference in Boston.

So what did she find in her research?

ABC News has a piece online which contains reactions to Nintendo’s just-announced partnership with the American Heart Association.

For starters, Nintendo did agree to pay the AHA $1.5 million dollars over three years in what was termed a “gift.” AHA President Dr. Clyde Yancy told ABC’s Health Editor Dr. Richard Besser that such corporate endeavors on the part of the AHA follow a “very deliberate process.”

 In regards to the dollars exchanging hands, Yancy stated, “Certainly resources have exchanged hands, because it takes quite a bit to launch a new initiative.” He added, “The logo’s not for sale.”

Recognizing the Wii as an enjoyable way to stay moderately fit, the American Heart Association (AHA) and Nintendo have paired for a “multifaceted” strategic relationship.

Nintendo will benefit from the AHA logo appearing on packaging for the Wii system and specific products like Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports Resort. A united call to action will urge consumers to “Get Informed,” “Get Empowered” and Get Active,” while the jointly-produced ActivePlayNow website will inform people on the benefits of being physically active and offer helpful tips such as “Choose a parking spot farther away than usual, and take some extra steps.”

Nintendo and the AHA also plan to produce a “multidisciplinary” summit later this year that will “take a closer look at the synergies and potential benefits of active-play video games and physically active lifestyles.” Participants will include AHA Exercise Physiologist Dr. Timothy Church and Entertainment Software Association (ESA) President Michael Gallagher.

The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) and The U.S. Department of Agriculture, in concert with Games for Health, will launch “game jams” in six U.S. cities, including Boston, Seattle, Atlanta, Orlando, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Albany, and Fairfax, on May 21st.

The jams are designed to leverage the capabilities of game developers in support of the Apps for Healthy Kids competition, which is part of Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign. Developers, artists and local youth will gather to make game prototypes in just 48 hours.

IGDA Board Chair Gordon Bellamy said, “This unique partnership provides a fun way for our members to focus their creative energies towards the goal of the Apps for Healthy Kids competition. We’re looking forward toward generating some amazing entries for the contest.”

A previously mentioned Bill in the New York State Assembly—which would require retail outlets that sell or rent videogames to display a warning about the possibility of games causing epileptic seizures—appears to still be alive, though buried in bureaucracy.

Bill A04004, drafted by Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D), was first introduced in 2001. It has been referred to the consumer affairs and protection agency multiple times, most recently in January of both 2009 and 2010.

The Bill’s text reads:

The Lindale Independent School District Education Foundation of Lindale, Texas has awarded grants to 23 teachers that will fund classroom projects, including two based around Nintendo’s Wii console.

The Early Childhood Center was one recipient; with teachers Cookie Hartley and June Wright (pictured) receiving $1,021.40 in order to fund their project called Wii Can Do It! The project utilizes Wii games as “therapy and instructional tools” for preschool students afflicted with disabilities. Use of the Wii will promote a way to “address educational goals and objectives in the areas of communication and academics” in the youngsters.

As part of her Let’s Move campaign to end childhood obesity, First Lady Michelle Obama is on the hunt for games that encourage kids to be more physically active and to make better choices about what they eat.

The Apps for Healthy Kids competition officially starts accepting submissions today and will offer up $40,000 in prizes to the winners across two categories—tool and games. Applications will be judged by both the public and an all-star panel that includes Entertainment Software Association (ESA) President Michael Gallagher, LucasArts Engineer Eric Johnson, Zybga’s Mark Pincus and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. Judging ends on July 14, 2010.

Thanks to a research grant of $3.9 million from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Yale University will create a videogame designed to teach youngsters how to best avoid being infected by the HIV virus.

The grant will be distributed over the course of five years and enable the project, which will be led by Yale School of Medicine Assistant Professor of Medicine Lynn Fiellin M.D. Titled Retro-Warriors, the game will be created with different cultures in mind, in order to spread its message to adolescents around the globe.

The game’s main goal is stated as “teaching minority adolescents sex, drug and alcohol negotiation and refusal skills.” It’s proposed that instead of just preaching about things that could lead to catching HIV, the game would contain a role-playing aspect enabling those using it to participate in and learn from such risky behaviors.

Fiellin stated:

Access to the Internet is growing in developing countries and these technologies could be transferred to adolescents in countries experiencing a growing HIV epidemic but which have limited access to targeted risk-reduction strategies.

Upon completion the game will be subjected to a clinical trial in a New Haven, Connecticut community center.

Via Kotaku, Thanks Andrew!

The Public Broadcasting Service’s (PBS) investigative show Frontline will air a deep look into how digital media and the Internet have transformed human lives and the subject of videogames is featured heavily in the program.

Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier will debut on February 2 at 9:00 ET. The 90 minute show was produced by Rachel Dretzin, who also created the recent Frontline special Growing Up Online, and will feature commentary from Douglas Rushkoff. Segments include Living Faster, Relationships, Waging War, Virtual Worlds and Learning.

Many individual videos are already available for viewing on the PBS website and a trailer for the show offers a quick overview of what it’s all about.

The Waging War section features game-related topics such as the military’s use of virtual reality training, as well as looks at both America’s Army and the Army Experience Center.

Virtual Worlds contains a cornucopia of videogame segments, including the use of virtual reality therapy for veterans, gaming addiction, professional gamers, violent games, Second Life and about 20 more pieces.

Another cool aspect to the program is that the Digital Nation website launched about a year ago ago in a bid to let users collaborate with the project by sharing their own experiences.

A new system from a company called Games for Life attempts to combat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in kids by training them to pay attention.

Play Attention is designed for the PC and centers on an object that looks like your standard issue bicycle helmet. The helmet is actually outfitted with brain wave sensors—that read EEG waves associated with attention—that will shut off the on-screen game if a child’s attention wanders. Users control the game using their mind and as long as they continue to focus on the game, they will be able to keep playing it.

A test of the system on ten UK students with ADHD showed their impulse behavior was reduced after 12 weeks with the product. Research Professor Pine said about the system, “The Play Attention method may prevent long-term problems by helping the children to be less impulsive and more self-controlled.”

Units are expected to be available to the public beginning this month.  A 2-user license system for home use costs £1,795 (approximately $2,930.00 U.S.), while a professional version, with unlimited licenses, will sell for £2,495 (approximately $4,070.00 U.S.).

A pilot study into the rehabilitative aspects of videogames has shown that custom-made games can aid hemiplegic cerebral palsy sufferers boost hand functions and forearm bone health.

The pilot involved placing remotely monitored videogame systems in the homes of three participants, who were outfitted with custom-made sensor gloves used to control on-screen action. Games for the pilot were also custom-developed for the program by Rutgers University reports ScienceDaily. Subjects were tasked with exercising their affected hand 30 minutes a day, five days a week.

The remotely monitored consoles (which appear to be PS3s) introduce a few new twists to this study; physical therapists can remotely monitor progress and make adjustments as necessary and patients are spared repeated trips outside the home in order to receive therapy. Patients can also use the devices at their leisure and are not tied to the schedule of a physical therapist or doctor. Not to mention that it's proabably a fun way for rehabbers to get their work in.

All three participants, who were adolescents, showed improved functionality in their affected hand, resulting in a greater ability to lift objects and increased range of motion in their fingers.

Lead author Meredith R. Golomb, M.D, M.Sc., an Indiana University School of Medicine associate professor of neurology, sees other uses for the technology in the future:

While these initial encouraging results were in teens with limited hand and arm function due to perinatal brain injury, we suspect using these games could similarly benefit individuals with other illness that affect movement, such as multiple sclerosis, stroke, arthritis and even those with orthopedic injuries affecting the arm or hand.

California-based charity Get-Well Gamers has reached a milestone with the addition of the 100th healthcare facility to its network.

The organization stocks children’s hospitals and treatment centers with new and used videogames and systems to provide entertainment for ailing youngsters. Facilities outfitted by Get-Well Gamers now span all 50 U.S. states.

President Ryan Sharpe stated, “We could not have reached this amazing milestone without all those who have helped us throughout the years. The doctors, the child life staff, the parents, the games industry, but most importantly, regular, everyday gamers deserve our deepest thanks.”

The organization also noted that White Wolf Publishing, a division of CCP, recently donated $10,000.

"It is difficult for anyone to be hospitalized but especially so for children,” added Rita Goshert, MS, CCLS, Manager Child’s Life Department, Miller Children’s Hospital at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center. “Play is the work of children. By donating a video game system to hospitalized children, you are helping to support their normal growth and development during a very traumatic time.“

As part of an initiative to chronicle the health benefits of videogames, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has bestowed over $1.85 million in grants to nine research teams.

RWJF’s Health Games Research program, headquartered at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is backed by $8.25 million in funding from RWJF’s Pioneer Portfolio, which operates under the mantra of supporting “innovative projects that may lead to breakthrough improvements in the future of health and health care.” The grant winners announced today are part of a second round of funding.

Pioneer Portfolio Team Director Paul Tarini stated, “The pace of growth and innovation in digital games is incredible, and we see tremendous potential to design them to help people stay healthy or manage chronic conditions like diabetes or Parkinson’s disease.  However, we need to know more about what works and what does not—and why.”

Research teams were chosen from 185 total proposals and each was awarded between $100,000 and $300,00. The grant winners, and a short synopsis of their field of study, are:

• Children's Hospital of Philadelphia - Reward Circuitry, Autism and Games that Teach Social Perceptual Skills
 
• George Washington University - Active-Adventure: Investigating a Novel Exergaming Genre in Inner City School Physical Education Programs

• Georgetown University - Wii Active Exergame Intervention for Low-Income African-American Obese and Overweight Adolescents

• Long Island University - Dance Video Game Training and Falling in Parkinson’s Disease

• Michigan State University - Buddy Up! Harnessing Group Dynamics to Boost Motivation to Exercise

• Michigan State University - Short-Term and Long-Term Effectiveness of Exergames for Young Adults

• Teachers College, Columbia University - Lit: A Game Intervention for Nicotine Smokers

• University of California, San Francisco - A Video Game to Enhance Cognitive Health in Older Adults

• University of Southern California - Robot Motivator: Towards Adaptive Health Games for Productive Long-Term Interaction