From ehealthnews.eu:

21-23 June 2009, Verbania, Italy.

The 14th Annual International CyberTherapy and CyberPsychology Conference (CT14) brings together researchers, clinicians, policy makers and funding agencies to share and discuss advancements in the growing disciplines of CyberTherapy & CyberPsychology. The conference will seek input from a wider segment of the scientific community, and is interested in attracting experts in clinical therapy and rehabilitation, cognitive sciences, social sciences, and computer sciences interested in the meeting’s core topics: emerging applications of new media, design of new media and effects of new media.

There is also an interest in continuing to design, evaluate and apply cutting edge technologies such as Ambient Intelligence, Augmented and Mixed Reality, Avatars, Shared Virtual Worlds, Video Game Virtual Reality (VGVR), Web 2.0 and 3.0, 3G and 4G mobile phones.

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From laist.com:

So when we got the invitation from Nintendo for their Wii Fit Ultimate Playdate event at the W Hotel, we took some inspiration from Willie Nelson and headed over to learn more about how to stay in shape.

We entered the Bliss Spa at the W to find manicurists and massage therapists ready to pamper us. Wait a minute! Hold the phone! Were we being treated to video games and spa treatments at the same time? Had we entered heaven?

Then they told us that we’d get to workout on the Wii Fit with personal trainer, Ashley Borden. Borden is the author of "Your Perfect Fit " with Paige Adams-Geller. We grilled her with questions about how effective she believes the Wii Fit can be. Borden suggests that all exercise that gets us inspired has to be a good thing.

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From kotaku.com (via gamepolitics.com):

Who says UK lawmakers are hostile to video games? Tom Watson, the government’s Cabinet Office Minister wants kids to play more. And not just edutainment or shovelware — violent ones are OK.

"Basically, I think playing games is a good thing," Watson (pictured) told the Mirror. "I’d rather my boy be playing on his Wii than passively watching telly. Most games are educational. They make you think, focus, challenge and change – 500 years ago a medium that did this would be called art."

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Here are a few fun healthy gift ideas for the holidays, for kids and adults. Enjoy!

1. Wii Fit  
2. Nintendo DS
3. Brain Age
4. Wii Sports
5. Active Life Outdoor Challenge
6. Dance Dance Revolution
7. My Weight Loss Coach
8. My Stop Smoking Coach with Allen Carr
9. Personal Trainer: Cooking
10. Let’s Yoga

Which one will you be playing this winter?

Do you have any more suggestions?

From dailygazette.com:

At 85 years old, Wayne Wilson is grateful that he has never fallen.

“It’s something that I think about, though,” said Wilson, who lives at the Beverwyck Independent Retirement Living Community in Slingerlands. “Some days I feel a little unsteady, and I would like something to help steady myself.”

That something might be Wii Fit, a video game developed by Nintendo for the Wii console. It is an exercise game consisting of activities utilizing a Wii balance board that players stand on.

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From news.illinois.edu (via slashdot.org):

A desire to rule the world may be a good thing if you’re over 60 and worried about losing your mental faculties. A new study found that adults in their 60s and 70s can improve a number of cognitive functions by playing a strategic video game that rewards nation-building and territorial expansion.

This is the first such study of older adults, and it is the first to find such pronounced effects on cognitive skills not directly related to the skills learned in the video game, said University of Illinois psychology professor Arthur Kramer, an author on the study.

The research appears this month in the journal Psychology & Aging.

Decades of laboratory studies designed to improve specific cognitive skills, such as short-term memory, have found again and again that trainees improve almost exclusively on the tasks they perform in the lab – and only under laboratory conditions, Kramer said.

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