From timesonline.co.uk:

The government’s new health campaign suggests that video games are causing inactivity and obesity among young Britons.

Representatives of the British game industry reacted with outrage on Monday when the latest video in the government’s Change 4 Life healthy living campaign featured a young boy on the sofa playing with a games controller, below the caption “Risk an early death, just do nothing.”

“This sort of campaign just reinforces the worst stereotype of the games industry,” a spokesman for Sony told The Times. “It feels like, once again, the video games industry is being made to carry the can for society’s ills.”

From technology.newscientist.com:

“Researchers at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, the Palo Alto Research Center, also in California, and the University of Delaware in Newark, quizzed 7000 players of the role-playing game Everquest II about their physical and mental health. Participants were offered a specially created virtual weapon as an incentive – the “Greatstaff of the Sun Serpent”. The researchers then combined the survey responses with statistics about players’ online activities and playing habits.

The results suggest that adult gamers have an average body mass index of 25.2, compared to the overall American average of 28. The average gamer also engages in vigorous exercise once or twice a week, which the researchers say is more than most Americans. The reasons for this are not obvious, although the team suggest it may be because more educated, wealthier people are attracted to computer games, and these people also tend to take better care of their health.
“Average gamers engage in vigorous exercise once or twice a week”

The downside, however, was that the gamers reported more cases of depression and substance abuse than their compatriots. “They may be drawn to use the game to help deal with emotional distress,” says team member Scott Caplan of the University of Delaware.”

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From gamasutra.com:

“The University of Baltimore and the Games for Health Project will host the Health Game Jam, a development session challenging teams to rapidly prototype games that educate players about improving their health, on October 18th.

Designers, programmers, and artists work together round-the-clock to create small and playable health-aware games in short amounts of time. Competitors then showcase their work, which will be critiqued and judged by a panel of game developers and educators.”

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From asia.cnet.com:

"No, these games are not booby trapped nor do they contain anthrax powder. These are the games which the Thai Ministry of Health has put on their watch list. Yes, the MINISTRY OF HEALTH and not the ICT Ministry! They include:"

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