From bjhcim.co.uk:

The EU-funded PlayMancer project is using existing 3D video gaming engines to develop innovative ways of interaction between the player and the game world. The project is focusing on supporting the development ‘universally accessible games’ so that players of all abilities can use the games, especially for physical rehabilitation.

The project is aiming to shorten the game production chain and make it more cost effective based on generative modelling, and thus reduce the cost of offering a full-fledged pre-designed gaming world.

The project is developing a series games modules in two application domains: physical rehabilitation, and therapeutic support and lifestyle management programs for behavioural and addictive disorders.

From gametrailers.com:

A trailer for the upcoming Nintendo DS game Gardening Mama (in the same series as Cooking Mama ).

Maybe this game will teach me to grow my own veggies, instead of getting those processed ones at the grocery store

Cooking Mama’s stepped out of her kitchen and into the backyard!

From ljworld.com:

However, unlike others trying to lose weight, she doesn’t go to a fitness center, she’s not enrolled in a special class and doesn’t have a home gym — unless you consider a Nintendo Wii Fit a home gym.

Hethcoat, who lives in Lawrence, is one of four founding members of the Web site Wii Fit Mommies, a fitness blog started shortly after Julie Maloney, of South Carolina, shared how she lost 60 pounds using the gaming system. The women created the site to give people a place where they could work together and motivate each other in their weight loss while having fun doing it.

…

“That’s the one thing I like about the Fit,” she says. “I can do it right here and with both of my kids. I can do it any time. I don’t have to change my clothes or worry about the weather. There are no excuses.”

From inventorspot.com:

The creative folks at Disney and LeapFrog have joined forces and developed a brand new wireless interactive exercise and learning system just for kids called Zippity.

The system includes the console, a foldable interactive mat, eight fun preloaded activities, and a bopper, which is similar to a ginormous joystick. The educational learning activities include basic word recognition, problem solving, art and music skills.  The activities include the well-loved Disney characters Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh  and Tigger, Little Einsteins, Handy Manny, Disney Princess and Pixar’s Cars. Each game includes two different difficulty levels of play.

Although some adults may discourage running and jumping in the home, Zippity encourages children to jump around to their heart’s content.  Running, jumping, hoping and dancing on the mat and using the bopper actually controls the activities and characters you see on the screen. The wireless mat and the bopper interact with the Zippity console, which connects to your television set.

 

From escapistmagazine.com:

Michael Torchia, the health and fitness expert who hinted at using legal action against Nintendo over the Wii Fit, says he doesn’t have a problem with the unit itself but stands by his criticism of the way it’s been marketed as a fitness tool.

Earlier in February the fitness guru threatened a lawsuit against Nintendo based on the company’s promotion of Wii Fit as "a replacement for sensible exercise and sports activities." Torchia wanted distribution of Wii Fit halted until Nintendo began including warnings about the possibility of injuries as a result of its improper use and stopped "contributing to the epidemic of obesity" by promoting the balance board as a fitness tool rather than as an entertainment device. "Young and old are putting away their gym clothes and shying away from going outdoors to play sports, because [of] the addictive appeal to the Wii game products," he said.

In a new statement, Torchia stood by his criticism but says he is merely part of the class action lawsuit being put together against Nintendo, adding that he hopes changes are made to the game so legal action can be avoided. Among the specific changes he’s seeking are updates to the owner’s manual to include proper playing and breathing techniques, the imposition of time limits on Wii Fit gameplay, updates to balance board sensors that will help users avoid overexertion and the halt of marketing efforts that present Wii Fit as a fitness tool rather than a game.

From jhu.edu:

Wii-habilitation" — using Nintendo’s Wii video game system in rehabilitation therapy — continues to be popular with health care workers looking to help patients get through what some see as the pain and torture of physical therapy. Now two engineers in APL’s National Security Technology Department have cranked that concept up a notch. Bobby Armiger and Jacob Vogelstein have rewired Nintendo’s Guitar Hero III : Legends of Rock game to allow amputees to rock out and get valuable training with prosthetic prototypes at the same time.

Their gaming is part of the APL-led Revolutionizing Prosthetics 2009 effort, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, to develop a prosthetic arm that will be controlled and also feel, look and perform like a natural limb. So far the project has produced two prototypes and has leveraged a surgical technique, developed at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago by Todd Kuiken, that reroutes the nerves that once controlled an amputee’s arm to remaining muscles. These "re- innervated" muscles naturally amplify the nerve signals so that electrodes placed against the skin can detect activity and control the prosthetic arm.