Healthy Gaming » trainer

Turn your Nintendo DS into a math trainer

Chris — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:17:55 +0000

"Personal Trainer: Math" is a high-tech way to do a low-tech thing: Learn math facts with flashcards.

Instead of parents putting their kids through their math paces using a set of flashcards, this Nintendo DS game does it for them when kids play the game for 10 minutes a day. Is this method better than using flashcards? Not really. Is it more fun? Yes. The use of technology and the variations on traditional flashcards make this method more engaging.

To attain mastery of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts, kids need to memorize the facts using repetition. "Personal Trainer: Math" provides a way to consistently practice essential math facts in an ordered, sequential way. It keeps track of accuracy and speed over days and months of practice.

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Video games get cooking, offering education and entertainment

Chris — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 03:42:38 +0000

From philly.com:

If you’ve resisted the lure of video games because war, sports and car theft don’t appeal, beware. There’s a completely different genre to hook you in: cooking.
That’s right, cooking, both real and imagined. More and more titles are centered on food this holiday season, and what was once a genre aimed at little girls making cakes has turned into something else entirely. It has become a broad category that allows gamers to burn quite nicely in the real and virtual worlds.
Taking a look at the variety of titles is a bit like exploring the cereal aisle at the grocery store. So many choices. Here is a nice sampling, from the fiber-encrusted to the sugar-coated offerings.
Personal Trainer: Cooking
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This title has been creating a lot of buzz lately for two reasons. First, this isn’t really a game – it’s a total cooking resource. With more than 240 real recipes from all over the world, this is quite a package.

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Can Wii get you Fit?

Chris — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 01:50:30 +0000

From winknews.com:

Can a video game get you in shape? The popular video game system “Wii” is making that promise with its new counterpart “Wii Fit”.
It’ll cost you $300 dollars for the Wii system and another 89 for the Wii Fit game. So, we wanted to know if it was worth it. We took the Wii fit to the trainers at “Fitness on the Move” in Fort Myers. They spent the weekend testing it.
“Both your legs are working that’s what’s so great about it,” said one trainer about the lunge portion of the workout.
“Oh there’s a hill on this bridge have to go higher!” said another trainer while doing the running portion.
How did the trainers feel the system worked?
“Overall impression? It’s a wonderful tool,” said trainer Ozzie Uriarte.

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Can video games fix our flaws?