healthGAMERS Part Two: Interview With Melanie Lazarus, MPH

June 30, 2009 Today in my Twitter feed (yes, I finally joined, see sidebar badge!) I immediately benefited from the 'following' phenom to shortcut my research time when a new friend/follower in Australia, Tania Andrusiak, pointed to today’s Scientific American story called “Take two video games and call me in the morning” ---('ReTweet' visual at left) Guess it's time for … [Read more...]

Hey Kids: Is There A Market for Healthy Games?

June 28, 2009 There's no question healthGAMERS are exploring the opportunities of using a "perceived problem as a solution" in the gaming world. Humana is now offering $5000 to create a healthy game concept, RWJF crowdsourced ideas in Teen Second Life with their Dream it. Do it. venture for healthier communities and Elf Island's already seeing therapeutic results in their … [Read more...]

healthGAMERS: Newly Launched Hub For Serious Gaming

June 26, 2009 Just as some kids can sniff out an ‘educational’ experience and shut the learning light switch off (or dim it at best) others do the same with the phrase "Serious Games." Though it's an accurate label for the new healthGAMERS site, I hesitate to use ‘serious games’ because it can send people bolting in the opposite direction faster than you can say ‘disease … [Read more...]

Young Runners: A Media Must For Healthy Track Season

May 18, 2009 I confess, I hate to run…always have. It harkens back to my days in 3rd grade when I was given the moniker ‘paddle foot’ for a goofy gait, and self-consciously abstained from public ridicule in favor of water sports instead...(I grew into my size 9 feet, and those flippers came in handy in the pool!) When Marc Bloom’s new book Young Runners: The Complete Guide to … [Read more...]

Wii Are Family: A French Look At A Global Gaming Phenom

Romantic that I am, I took French in 8th grade yet proceeded to live in locations where Japanese, Chinese or Spanish were the language of choice; yet somehow, French still sticks in my brain. There are plenty of language resource hubs and brain data expressing the myths of kids' critical learning years for foreign language, but regardless of linguistics research all I know … [Read more...]