Get In On The Excitement of Wii

My 7-year-old daughter loves her Nintendo Wii game machine. I had sort of resisted getting her any video game system because it would just be one more screen to get involved in.

But the Nintendo Wii is different. Its motion sensor technology means she gets up and gets involved. Especially the sports game that comes with it. She loves bowling -- and baseball. In fact, playing Wii baseball got her set to play real baseball in her little league.

She got a High School Musical sing along game and it came with a microphone and she just gets up and starts singing along. It engages her activity and her mind and it has been a really positive experience.

Finding a Wii can be tough though (Santa came through for my little girl ;)), so these links through ShopWiki should be helpful in tracking one down to buy.

Plus, the ShopWiki site has a page to locate various Wii games.

If your kid wants a game system, try something different and consider the Nintendo Wii.

This was a sponsored post.

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Public Policy Fails to Address the Effects of Media Violence on Children

Highly publicized events such as school shootings arouse public interest in the effects of media violence exposure on children, yet there is still considerable public debate about whether to take this issue seriously. A recent article in Social Issues and Policy Review summarizes the research on the effects of media violence and convincingly demonstrates the profound influence that media violence is having in society.

The many studies that have been compiled on the effects of viewing media violence show that there are at least 14 scientifically documented effects on children’s physiological and psychological well-being, both in the short and long term. Although many different types of studies have been conducted, they converge on the same conclusion: Violent media exposure increases the likelihood of aggressive behavior. Video games are of special concern because their effects may be particularly pronounced.

Despite the abundant research documenting the harmful effects of media violence, few people seem to get the message. For example, over half of American parents believe that violence makes children more aggressive, yet only a small percentage establish rules regarding content for their households. In addition, little has been done in the public policy arena in the United States. Because of First Amendment concerns, the courts are less concerned tolerant of government restrictions on media violence than on other public health risk factors. Furthermore, some courts have failed to glean the true strength of the scientific evidence from expert testimony by opposing sides.

The authors outline clear policy options. They recommend a moratorium on access-restriction legislation. Instead, they suggest that parents should be more actively involved in their child’s media habits and that creating a universal rating system for all media, in combination with a major education campaign, might be the most effective policy. In addition, they propose that physicians, medical schools, and state and city governments could also undertake policy initiatives that might be effective. Media violence effects “are likely to become greater over time, as different media converge, become more interactive, become more global, and colonize more spaces in our lives,” the authors note.

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$58 Billion Damage, 373,000 Jobs Lost in U.S. Due to Copyright Piracy

Pandemic theft of copyright-protected products, including motion pictures, video games, sound recordings as well as business and entertainment software, has cost the U.S. $58 billion in annual economic output and 373,375 jobs, according to a report released by the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI).

The report, "The True Cost of Copyright Industry Piracy to the U.S. Economy," sheds light on the injuries from copyright piracy to the national economy as a whole, not just to U.S. copyright producers and industries.

Because of global and U.S.-based piracy of copyrighted material:

• The U.S. economy loses $58 billion annually;
• U.S. workers lose 373,375 jobs;
• U.S. workers lose $16.3 billion in earnings annually, including $7.2 billion in earnings from workers in the copyright industry or "downstream" retail industries, and $9.1 billion in earnings by workers in other U.S. industries; and
• The U.S. government loses at least $2.6 billion in tax revenues annually, including $1.8 billion in personal income tax and $800 million in lost corporate income and production taxes.
  

"As policy makers turn their attention to the competitiveness of the U.S. economy in the global marketplace, it is clear that the problem of copyright piracy should be afforded a prominent place on the policy agenda," says Stephen Siwek, author of the report and principal with Economists, Inc.

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Game Maker Tailors 'Harry Potter' For Mac

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Video: 'Crash,' 'Donkey Kong' Among Hottest New Games

Some of the hottest new games were on display at the recent E3 Media and Business Summit in Santa Barbara, Calif. E3 is the annual gathering for the video game industry.

Check out clips of "Crash of the Titans," "Bioshock," "Donkey Kong Barrel Blast" and more.

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E3 Video Game Show Refocuses on Gaming

E3, the long running annual video game industry showcase, this year has said good bye to scantily clad "booth babes," million dollar exhibits and the lights and blaring sound that once made it seem like one huge video arcade.

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E3: Microsoft Wows With Halo And Disney Deal

Microsoft has announced a deal to make 35 Disney movies, such as the animated Aladdin and the action flick Armageddon, available for download on its online video game service.

The software giant made the announcement at E3, the annual trade show for the video game industry, held this year in Santa Monica, Calif.

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Breakthrough Video Game for Teens Helps Save Lives

A new video game called “Re-mission” is designed to give young cancer patients a sense of power and control over their disease. Rated T for teen, the 3D game is a 20 level journey through the bodies of fictional patients with different types of cancer. Players control a nanobot named Roxxi. The task? Blast cancer cells, battle bacterial infections, and manage realistic, life-threatening side effects.

But the game is more than a fun challenge. Studies show that young cancer patients who play the game are more likely to take their medicine, undergo needed therapy and understand their illness. That's because the game is geared to help teenagers better adhere to their cancer treatment and embrace vital behaviors to improve their health.

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Turn off TV to Improve Children's Health

For parents, National TV-Turnoff Week (April 23-29) isn't just about spending less time in front of the tube. It's about making a change to improve their children's health for life. That's the view of RealAge.com, a personalized health Web site.

Too much TV--and other screen time with computers, video games and movies--has been linked to adult obesity, poor body image and high cholesterol. Scientific studies reveal that limiting screen time in childhood increases the probability that a child will grow into an adult with a healthy BMI.

Dr. Jennifer Trachtenberg, MD, RealAge.com parenting expert and author of Good Kids, Bad Habits: The RealAge Guide to Raising Healthy Children, cites further studies revealing that, "kids who eat in front of the TV tend to consume fewer fruits and veggies, more snack foods and soda and ultimately, more calories. What's more, the average child watches 20,000 TV commercials per year, most commonly for sugar-laden cereals, candies and sodas as well as fat-packed snack foods--inevitably influencing their choices."

Turning off the TV is optimal, but when that's just not doable, Trachtenberg's rule of thumb is that kids should not have more than two hours of "screen time" including TV, computer, video games and movies per day. She also advocates that kids need one hour of heart-pumping activity each dayto elevate their pulse (i.e., not simply standing in left field).

Trachtenberg offers some tips for regulating TV time:

• Plan ahead: Choose programs together with your child then turn off the TV before the next show begins. Similarly, choose one DVD or one video game with an agreed-upon time limit.
• Watch together: Help your child understand what he or she sees and hears, including ads and music lyrics.
• Hide the remote: It's harder to mindlessly channel surf without one.
• Minimize sets: Allow one or two TVs in the house, never in a child's room or near eating areas.

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Video Games Shown to Improve Vision

According to a new study from the University of Rochester, playing action video games sharpens vision. In tests of visual acuity that assess the ability to see objects accurately in a cluttered space, game players scored higher than their non-playing peers.

“Action video game play changes the way our brains process visual information,” says Daphne Bavelier, professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester. “After just 30 hours of training, people who normally don't play video games showed a substantial increase in the spatial resolution of their vision, meaning they could see small, closely packed letters more clearly.”

Most of the factors that affect a normal person's ability to read an eye-chart are optical (size of the eye, the shape/thickness of the cornea and lens) and video games will not change those factors. However, there are some types of visual deficits that aren't optical in nature but are instead neural. “It is our hope that video game training can help these people,” says Bavelier.

Only certain games create this effect; first-person action games. Shooting games, such as Unreal Tournament, improved vision. More sedate games, such as the puzzle game Tetris, showed no effect. “When people play action games, they’re changing the brain’s pathway responsible for visual processing,” says Bavelier. “These games push the human visual system to the limits and the brain adapts to it. That learning carries over into other activities and possibly everyday life.”
This could mean that video games will find a future role in the medical world. Patients with visual impairment from conditions such as amblyopia (commonly known as 'lazy-eye'), or even normal aging of the brain, could use video games as rehabilitation therapy.


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