Email to a friend Printer friendly Font: * * * * Okay, whether there's some truth to this "brain age" thing, or it's just Nintendo marketing hoopla, there's little argument the trend toward games that exercise your brain is a good thing. Carl Arinoldo, a psychologist and author in Long Island, N.Y.
, is a fan of downloadable PC games like PopCap's Bejeweled 2 and Bookworm Adventures, as they can keep the brain active and focused. "Studies have shown people experience better mental clarity when playing these types of games," he says. "In fact, with seniors, these games may even help ward off dementia, such as Alzheimer's.
" "These puzzle games also allow you to become temporarily entranced by them, capable of melting away the day's stressors," he adds. Some video games require players to get up on their feet and exercise. Konami's Dance Dance Revolution, or DDR, may be the most well-known example of the "exergaming" craze.
Players fold out a dance mat and plug it into a video game console, choose a song and step on the arrows according to the onscreen instructions. DDR games also offer a calorie-counter mode. Just out: Dance Dance Revolution: SuperNova 2 for the Sony PlayStation 2.
The Nintendo Wii console has also received considerable praise from parents and educators for its motion-sensing controllers that require players to stand up in front of the TV and move their bodies to play, whether it be whacking an imaginary tennis ball (Wii Sports), performing dance moves (Boogie) or blasting away at aliens (Metroid Prime 3: Corruption) by holding the wireless controller like a gun. Nintendo will take this exercise trend one "step" farther when in November it releases its Wii Balance Board, a wireless peripheral that looks like a bathroom scale. When paired with the Wii Fit software, you will be able to exercise, stretch and do yoga with on-screen avatars.
For example, you may be asked to step on and off the board in time with music, or to keep one foot on the board while lifting another up toward your waist. Fun games are also included, like one where you are a soccer goalie and must lean left or right to head soccer balls but avoid cleats and other objects. Another game has you shift your feet to roll marbles around on a board, and the object is to roll them into a hole and not over the edge.
"What we're realizing now is that gaming, as a medium, has become more than just entertainment," said Ben Sawyer, co-founder and director of Games for Health Project, an organization for medical professionals, researchers and game makers to explore new ways to improve health-care practice and policy.
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