Video games: Let the healing begin…

Given it’s Christmas, we thought it was time to look back at the year and think things over. We say this as we remember all the violent-game-makes-violent-kids debates that have been springing up like fungus from the mouths of many a lawyer, a commentator and a news site, and see if it’s really all that bad. Apparently, not quite.

Enter Gus Luna. Formerly an all-star soccer player, tae-kwon-do green belt, and the president of his 5th-grade class, Gus suddenly fell ill to brain cancer.

Now bedridden and home-schooled, Gus endures chemotherapy to cure the illness, along with exploratory brain surgery. Procedures that would normally be unbearable, if it weren’t for his other constant companion (aside from his loving parents) – videogames.

“It would be really hard without this … You never know what’s going to happen next.” as Gus commented on how the games helped him cope with the hospital’s unfamiliar and oftentimes stressful atmosphere.

And for other patients in Los Angeles‘ Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where Gus is hospitalized, it looks like they’re getting a chance at his perks, in the from of the hospital’s Fun Center. Built to be rolled around like hospital equipment (Wiimote=/=Defribillator) the Fun Centers are built exactly for this purpose – to help child patients recover from mentally stressful procedure like chemotherapy, at the same time putting anxious parents’ minds at ease.

And for those asking who’s behind the Fun Center program, our attention shifts to Don James of Nintendo Co. Ltd, who designed the Fun Center. Nintendo’s currently supplying 3,500 of the 5,000-plus Fun Centers to 1,000 hospitals worldwide, which are in turn part of a program run by the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation.

Nintendo’s Fun Center package includes a GameCube console, flat-screen monitor and DVD player. Did we mention that they’re planning to release a Wii package for mid – 2007? *Drool*

For the guys who, like us, truly believe that something good comes out of responsible, controlled gaming, this be your good tidings for the season.

Via Reuters

Given it’s Christmas, we thought it was time to look back at the year and think things over. We say this as we remember all the violent-game-makes-violent-kids debates that have been springing up like fungus from the mouths of many a lawyer, a commentator and a news site, and see if it’s really all that bad. Apparently, not quite.

Enter Gus Luna. Formerly an all-star soccer player, tae-kwon-do green belt, and the president of his 5th-grade class, Gus suddenly fell ill to brain cancer.

Now bedridden and home-schooled, Gus endures chemotherapy to cure the illness, along with exploratory brain surgery. Procedures that would normally be unbearable, if it weren’t for his other constant companion (aside from his loving parents) – videogames.

“It would be really hard without this … You never know what’s going to happen next.” as Gus commented on how the games helped him cope with the hospital’s unfamiliar and oftentimes stressful atmosphere.

And for other patients in Los Angeles‘ Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where Gus is hospitalized, it looks like they’re getting a chance at his perks, in the from of the hospital’s Fun Center. Built to be rolled around like hospital equipment (Wiimote=/=Defribillator) the Fun Centers are built exactly for this purpose – to help child patients recover from mentally stressful procedure like chemotherapy, at the same time putting anxious parents’ minds at ease.

And for those asking who’s behind the Fun Center program, our attention shifts to Don James of Nintendo Co. Ltd, who designed the Fun Center. Nintendo’s currently supplying 3,500 of the 5,000-plus Fun Centers to 1,000 hospitals worldwide, which are in turn part of a program run by the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation.

Nintendo’s Fun Center package includes a GameCube console, flat-screen monitor and DVD player. Did we mention that they’re planning to release a Wii package for mid – 2007? *Drool*

For the guys who, like us, truly believe that something good comes out of responsible, controlled gaming, this be your good tidings for the season.

Via Reuters