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Nintendo Wii: Making Playing Video Games a Healthy Lifestyle?

Over the years, video games have received a bad rap for many different things. From the gory and detailed violence that some of them portray, to their prospective potential to draw people in to the point of addiction. There have been many lawsuits and complaints over the years regarding video games.

However, over the past decade, video games have taken a turn for the better in terms of reputation. Clearly, people who have been avid gamers, specifically since the beginning were not swayed by the various lawsuits that persisted over the years. However, as video games began to evolve, and appeal to a wider range of people, the naysayers that were so prevalent throughout the 1990s began to come around. Video games are still a viable pass-time for kids, teens, and even adults.

Additionally violence is still plentiful, and there are many games, particularly those in the massive multi-player online role-playing game genre that people still find addictive; however, there has been more of an emphasis on creating interactive learning games, as well as games that promote movement and even exercise. As a result, a larger fan base is emerging.

No system is more innovative in the area of bringing an interactive gaming experience to the player than the Nintendo Wii. The Wii presents a unique gaming environment in which the player moves around in order to control the character or other entity on the television screen. You can even sweeten the deal with a premium satellite service such as direct.tv. What better way to play your favorite video games with in HD viewing?

Additionally, the Wii released an entire program devoted to exercise and moving around called the Wii Fit. The Wii Fit provides an intelligent interface in which people can obtain their current stats, and then keep track of them over the course of a period of time to reach a specific goal they have set for themselves. The Fit is a fun and interactive way for people to play a video game and not even realize they are simultaneously burning calories. The aspect of this concept that is so appealing is that it works particularly well for getting kids who normally do not like going outside to play, to exercise inadvertently.

Using Video Games as Therapy for Children

Hand Eye coordination

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Child psychologists, parents, and school administrators have more information now than in previous generations, about the causes of a child’s ineptitude in social situations. They know that a child who comes from an abusive home, regardless of the type or extent of abuse, can suffer socially.

Some children are resilient enough to bounce back, and may even be friendly and outgoing as a means of escape. Others, unfortunately, might become withdrawn, painfully shy, and frequently unhappy. Still others act out in aggressive ways that could be harmful to them and to other children.

Armed with this information, adults in a child’s life also know how to reverse some of the effects of abuse. Therapy with professionals is one course of treatment. Now, psychologists and child advocates are beginning to realize the benefit of therapy using video or computer games. This is most beneficial in cases where children react aggressively or impulsively among other children, making it hard for them to make and keep friends.

Social Benefits of Game-playing

Starting with easy games they can beat, children build self-confidence they lost from the abuse they experienced. Children who interact with one another while playing games, learn to take turns, learn good sportsmanship, and can develop self-esteem and self-concept, skills they need to make friends.

Children also learn self-control when practicing hand-eye coordination, learning to correct mistakes they make in the game, and being motivated to achieve the goal of successfully completing the game.

Using the normal techniques of therapy, such as talking about what is bothering them, one on one or in a group, along with playing therapeutic video game playing, alone or with others, builds the necessary skills children need to heal.

Computer Games Helping ADD Children Focus

Researchers are using video games to monitor the brain waves of children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder. The tests hope to prove that playing video or computer games will help children with concentration and focus. Lack of concentration in ADD children is a major cause of learning problems in the classroom.

ADD children can learn to adjust the activity in their brain that requires them to focus, when the results of biofeedback displays on a monitor screen. With proper training, these adjustments become automatic. Using video games with ADD children helps to train their brain to focus in order to receive the reward of winning the game. Researchers based this on tests given to pilots to increase attentiveness on long flights.

Parents of the ADD patients tested, reported improvements in their child’s ability to focus, and in their social skills. They also reported that they noticed improvements in overall classroom performance and an improvement in their grades.

Researchers believe that by playing video games, ADD children can increase their attention spans, while reducing their hyperactivity and their impulsiveness. They train their own brain waves to complete a game because it is self-rewarding. Given motivation to win a game, patients tried harder to concentrate on the rules of the game.

Not all types of video games will aid ADD children. Certain games, especially violent video games, can trigger impulsiveness, as a type of caught up in the frenzy response, which is unhealthy for any child.

Learning games that reward children with points throughout game play are best. Alphabet, word, and math games that require identification of letters, spelling of words, or solving simple math problems, helps them to pay attention, in order to win the game.

Monitoring Computer and Video Games for Children

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Inconclusive evidence on both sides of the computer or video game debate regarding ill effects and benefits, leaves the job of limiting video game playing to parents.

As with anything in life, the old adage, too much of anything is not good for you, rings true in the world of computer games. If playing video games interferes with the essentials for a healthy environment, it becomes problematic. Limiting the type of games played, combined with the amount of time spent playing, can reduce the risks of bad habits regarding children and video game playing.

Educational Games

If children learn something, whether it is a skill or a technique for acquiring a skill by playing a particular game, it becomes a therapeutic tool. In determining the value of the game for educational purposes, parents should read the objectives of a video game.

If, however, they spend countless hours playing games with no obvious benefit, it can become detrimental to their mental well-being.

Age and Skill Level of Games

Parents aware of the learning style of their children can choose video or computer games that will highlight the child’s talents, or improve skills they lack. Games that stimulate problem-solving can boost a child’s self-esteem. Choosing the appropriate skill level for the age of the child will reduce a child’s frustration of the inability to play the game or win it.

Knowing your child and familiarizing yourself with the aspects of the computer or video games they play, will help to determine the value of game playing. It will also alert parents when children show signs of overdoing it, when playing computer or video games.

Making the Case for Computer Video Games

Child playing a video game

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There have been arguments over the value of video games, computer or otherwise, since their inception. Parents frustrated by the endless hours their teens spend on the computer playing games, disagree with those with special needs children. Parents of children with any learning problem, ranging from children with learning style differences to children with autism, argue that video games helped their children learn.

Ways Computer Video Games can be teaching Tools:

For Research

When a video game requires players to search for clues or objects in order to reach the goal of winning the game, it can stimulate their ability to research information for school projects. The video game makes it fun to find things, or to find information.

For Reading and Comprehension

Video games geared toward pre-school children and even elementary school children, feature words on the computer screen along with other aids to help them play the game. Words like end or play, go or stop, and more, help children sharpen basic memorization skills that prompt children to recognize words more easily.

For Math Skills

Any video game that requires players to keep score, gives small children the stepping-stones to conquering basic math skills. After a time, children know which number comes next in a sequence when adding numbers together, to reach a certain score.

For Language Skills

Interactive computer or video games calling for participants to ask or answer questions, to take directions or give directions, helps children learn the give-and-take of interacting with others.

No two children learn in exactly the same way, and as with all things, moderation is the key. Parents can gain a better understanding of the attraction of computer video games by occasionally playing with their children.

The Demand Games Have on Computer Hardware

Since the mid 1990s, video games for the computer have been rapidly growing in popularity. Beginning with the widely acclaimed first person shooters such as Doom and Quake that helped pave the way for the computer gaming revolution, to the currently popular massive multi-player online role-playing games; computer gaming has never been more popular than it is now. When it comes to finding the right computer that will be able to maintain the latest releases of video games, there a quite a few things to consider.

To begin with, video games are becoming a great deal larger than they used to be; larger pertains to the amount of hard drive space that they actually take up after being installed. Ironically, a single game now takes up more space then the entirety of a top of the line hard drive in the mid 1990s; this is a simple testament to how drastically technology and the extent of a video game has become. While in fact many people who own computers have purchased within the last five years, so typically, hard drive space is not an issue unless the hard drive is filled with excess material; there are some people who have not purchased recently and lack adequate hard drive space as a result. So ensure you check the specifications of the game prior to deciding to purchase to ensure you have adequate hard drive space to handle the installation.

Another, and equally important element pertaining to the hardware of a computer as it relates to gaming performance is the memory. As with hard drive space, video games are requiring higher end memory to ensure the fluidity of the game runs without flaw. With the increases in technology and graphics design, video games are becoming more intricate and detailed in their finished product, and often require a great deal of memory in order to function properly.

The Evolution of Video Games

Video games have long been a popular entity among various groups of kids, teens and even adults. With the innovation and interactive aspects they exhibit to the player; seemingly allowing them to take on the character in which they are controlling; video games have had a great deal of appeal for quite a long time. However, the times are changing, as video games are not just appealing to a single, cult following type of demographic. Over the past decades, with the inception of better graphics as well as new gaming systems, video games have begun taking on new types of crowds.

First and foremost, video game developers have begun putting an emphasis on restructuring the reputation of video games. Unfortunately, throughout the 1980s and 1980s, video games received a bad rap through various complaints about violence and their addictive tendencies. While video games are just as violent, and even more addictive than before by some standards, the fact that there has been an emphasis on educational values and even exercise with newly released titles overshadows these tendencies.

Educational video games have been a popular bright light within the gaming industry that appeal to a whole new type of video game fan. Generally, these types of games appeal to much younger children, as they are more friendly to them; as well as the parents of these children due to the fact they are making learning in a sense, fun. Aside from the educational value, with systems like Wii, video games can also be used as a form of exercise. Playing in to the concept of making learning fun for children, the Wii makes getting exercise a fun and interactive activity that gets the mind off the fact a person is actually working. In all, video games have evolved for the better, and are continuing to reach new audiences.

Video Games Can be Educational?

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Video games have long been a popular activity among younger generations over the course of the last few decades. From popular console gaming systems such as Atari and Nintendo, to the stunning graphics exhibited by most modern computer games; there are many entertaining options to choose from. However, video games have had a rocky past in how they have been perceived by parents and their theoretical hold over some children. Obviously, video games present an opportunity for hours upon hours out of the day to be dedicated to playing. Genres such as massive multi-player online role-playing games in particular have held a widespread reputation for getting people addicted to the game play, and even controlling how they are outside of the game.

Over the past decade or so, however, developers have become more innovative and receptive in their approach to please different demographics of game-players and parents alike. In this pursuit, video games aimed at education and learning have been developed, and widely received. These types of games come in a number of different forms; for the computer and for console gaming systems, as well as individual gaming units. Typically, these educational games bring in the fun and entertaining element that is generally associated with playing video games and combine it with learning.

The reason why these games have gained in popularity so much since their inception is due to the fact that they in short, make learning fun. Most children are not enthusiastic about learning because they are not stimulated by the material in which they are learning about. Educational video games solve the problem of children not being stimulated, and keep their attention to the material allowing for it to be absorbed in a natural manner. As the popularity for these games continues to grow, more innovative releases are hitting the market and pushing the limits for what kinds of educational adventures can be at the disposal of children and parents alike.

The Increase in Popularity of Online Gaming

Video games have widely been accepted as a viable pas-time for people of all ages. While in fact they have had a few rough patches in the past through various complaints by parents and the overall hold video games can gain on children and young adults; for the most part, video games are widely celebrated. Over the past few decades, the inception of new technologies and graphical achievements have opened a whole new world of gaming to people who had been gaming since the beginning, and people who were just taking it on. Due to this fact, there are more people who are playing video games now than ever before, and the numbers continue to rise. Among one of the most popular ways for people to get in their fix is via online computer gaming.

Online computer gaming really began picking up in the 1990s with various first person shooter titles that quickly gained in popularity. Since then, online gaming has branched out into other genres that are producing some extremely avid gamers. Among the most popular of the various genres is the massive multi-player online role playing games. Massive multi-player RPGs have enacted a new appreciation for online gaming in many people by solidifying the cooperation aspect of it and bringing players together in order to accomplish one common goal. Through various updates based in part by player feedback, these games are continuously refreshed with new content that keeps the players guessing and busy as they continue their adventure.

In addition to the massive multi-player RPGs first person shooters have remained a strong entity in the online gaming world, presenting players with stunning graphics and interfaces that are unmatched in the popular console gaming systems that also remain strong in the gaming world. Due to the performance enhanced hardware that many specialized gaming computers utilize, developers are continuously pushing the limits and capabilities of top of the line gaming experiences with each new title they release onto the market.

The Correlation of Computer Hardware to Gaming

The amount of computers in modern homes is rapidly growing. Over the past two decades, there has been a drastic increase in computer owners. As a direct result of this, the gaming industry has had to change its focus from primarily focusing on the generic platform and console gaming systems to computers. While in fact console gaming is still an extremely important priority, it remains secondary to the computer. Thus, it is uncommon for a specific game to be released for a platform gaming system and not for the computer as well; aside from extreme cases where the format does not match up properly, as with Nintendo Wii games for instance.

The computer gaming revolution is going strong, and continuing to pick up momentum. From the various first person shooter games that were first introduced in the early 90s through games such as Doom and Quake, to the vastly popular massive multi-player online role-playing games that are currently dominating the industry; computer gaming has never been stronger. As games continue to be developed, the developers are looking to out do previously released games by romping up graphics as well as overall performance to provide an unparalleled gaming experience. In order for these games to perform to the developer’s specifications, the hardware of the computer system in which they will be played on needs to be up to par.

The primary hardware attributes of a prime gaming system will exhibit high end aspects such as a large amount of memory, adequate hard drive space, a high quality video card, and a lightning fast processor. These aspects of the hardware specifications on the potential gaming computer are vital for the games performance. As developers continue to up the specifications and break the barriers of video graphics and overall gaming performance, the hardware of gaming systems must be equally upgraded to meet the challenge. Computers currently however, are so powerful by default that it is rarely a problem anymore that a computer cannot run a specific newly released game, even if it is a few years old.

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