METROID PRIME: A BIG GLORIOUS PUZZLE

Video games such as the new METROID PRIME: CORRUPTION offer the player an opportunity to problem solve visually and spatially.

METROID PRIME is more than a first-person shooter; it is a BIG, glorious PUZZLE to solve, involving logical sequencing and deduction.

I maintain that "cheats" as illustrated and explained in detail in gaming magazines and probably online rob the player of this opportunity to exercise the mind's eye for problems and solutions. Relying on a "cheat" is truly unfortunate as it ruins the whole point of the game.

Occupational Therapist's Idea: Use the Wii in Stroke Rehabilitation

Stroke victim uses Nintendo console to rehabilitate

By Reuters

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Franklin Perry used to spend hours performing video game feats with his thumbs but lately he has been using the Nintendo Wii, and the rest of his body, to regain his strength after suffering a stroke.

The 51-year-old, who had a stroke about three weeks ago, has been working hard to rebuild the muscles in his immobilized right side at Ohio State University Medical Center's Dodd Hall Rehabilitation Hospital in Columbus.

"I'm just now getting some movement back," said Perry, who before entering the center logged his game time at on a Sony PlayStation 2 home console or in shopping mall arcades.

Robbie Winget, an occupational therapist who oversees use of the Wii at Dodd Hall, said news that a rehab hospital in Alberta, Canada, was using the popular new video game system sparked the idea.

"Whee" Say Seniors for Nintendo's Wii

Six seniors at the Sedgebrook retirement community gathered in the lounge after dinner last year as the holiday season was getting under way. The center's residents were an unlikely test audience for the season's hottest toys. The plan: determine which toys their grandchildren might like.

The assumption was that they'd give their grandchildren the toys they approved. But it didn't quite turn out that way. The Nintendo Wii was so popular that the residents clamored for their own.

Today, each of the Erickson chain's retirement communities, including Sedgebrook, outside Chicago, owns at least one Wii.

Other retirement communities and municipal senior centers in recent months have followed, many using wellness grants and public funds to pay for the video-game system. The Wii retails for about $250.

Proponents say the Wii offers a welcome reprieve from a sedentary lifestyle

Christian Science Monitor