If you doubt the veracity of video games for health, fitness and even for pain management, you might think again when you realize the fun you can have while working towards better overall well being. Video games have attained a level in fitness management that they even warrant a conference and a national program geared specifically to Health Games Research. To learn more about how video games can contribute to your health and well being, we’ve compiled a list of 25 fun video games, or fitness tools, that are geared toward health and fitness nuts (or wanna-be nuts).
Most of the games listed below are found at Amazon, but some links may lead you directly to the home page of the game’s developers. In some cases, you may need to purchase a game playing set, such as Wii, to perform the game. While the price of these games can cut into a discretionary budget, you may discover a great way for the entire family to to play together…a priceless option for health and fitness. Additionally, these games can help an individual learn more about his or her health and body.
Brain Health
- Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree: With 15 new Activities that challenge your brain in single-player Test and Practice modes, Big Brain Academy Wii sees how you measure up in five categories: memory, analysis, number crunching, visual recognition, and quick thinking.
- Brain Age and Brain Age 2: Initially developed by Nintendo DS, both the original and sequels are inspired by the work of Dr. Ryuta Kawashima, a Japanese neuroscientist. The second game, according to the Web site, can increase the blood flow to your prefrontal cortex.
- Brain Voyage: Take your brain on a trip as you travel to 16 cities around the world, each with a distinct puzzle to solve. Puzzles vary every time you play. Download options allow you to share puzzles with friends.
- Left Brain, Right Brain: Exercise the weak parts of your brain to strengthen them. Challenge a friend to a two-player mini-game via DS download play. You also can monitor personal progress with development percentages that show after each game.
- Puzzler World: Delivering over 500 hours of play time spread across over 1,000 addictive games, Puzzler World features multiple play modes, allowing players to enjoy games the way they want. Also, you can save functionality that ensures that your game progress is never lost and that your trackable stats continually improve.
- Scrabble: Learn how to spell, learn word meanings and more as you challenge players to this great word game — now available as a video game for a variety of platforms.
General Health
- Emergency! Disaster Rescue Squad: Take charge of 15 different unit and vehicle types as you respond to over 20 unique catastrophes in five heart-pounding campaigns. This game is much faster and more complex than the following game…
- Emergency Room: Real Life Rescues: Great graphics and realistic cases in a slow-paced game that is easy to use. Experience real-life emergency medical cases such as cardiac arrests, broken bones and life-threatening traumas as you respond to situations requiring you to revive, treat and keep seriously ill patients alive…just like any medical professional!
- My Healthy Cooking Coach: Enjoy more than 240 recipes created by a culinary school in collaboration with a renowned nutritionist. Learn tips and tricks to create healthy and delicious meals for yourself and for your friends and family. More of an instructive tool than a game, you can make it into a game if you engage others to a cook-off!
- Trauma Center: New Blood: While this game won’t turn you into a surgeon, it can help you learn how to control motor skills while you perform operations. This game is for the Wii, and the Wii remote has a built in rumble feature, that allows you to really feel the action as you perform operations.
Fitness
- Active Life Outdoor Challenge: Using the specially-designed eight pad Active Life mat and the Wii Remote, players get totally physical as they compete in over a dozen single and multi-player challenges like river rafting, mine-cart adventure, log jumping and more. Additionally, you can watch your character’s body change according to how you play. This fitness game is great for kids and for kids at heart.
- Dance Dance Revolution: DDR, for short, is the dance game that can burn calories as well as help to develop coordination. This video game is available on a wide variety of formats, with an equally wide choice of dance pads. Get down.
- Dancing With The Stars: Pick a celebrity to take his or her part as you pair up with one of nine professional dancers from the television show. This fitness game includes 36 licensed songs and demonstrates the same 10 dance types shown on that show, such as the Cha-Cha, Tango, Jive and more. Dance alone or invite a friend.
- EA Sports Active: Use the money you might have spent on a personal trainer to purchase this customizable fitness program. This video game set features more than 25 exercises and sports-inspired drills such as dancing, inline skating, tennis and volleyball. Additionally, you can see your movements tracked on-screen with the specially-designed leg strap.
- Eyetoy Antigrav With Camera: Any Eyetoy game is worth owning, as you project yourself into the character on the screen via video camera. This particular game allows users to grind on rails across eight different levels, discovering hidden areas and unlockable sections. Enjoy multiple game modes to keep the physical and mental challenges coming…
- Gold’s Gym Cardio Workout: Thanks to the Wii’s motion tracking control and optional support for the Balance Board accessory, you can get a real workout that is fun and entertaining right at home.
- Just Dance: This is the hottest new dance game, provided for the Nintendo Wii. Kids, adults and even dance-phobic players can burn calories and get limber with this game. Requiring only one Wii Remote per player, up to four people can break it down at a time.
- My Fitness Coach: Released by UBI Software in 2009, this game is available on Amazon. Evaluate your current fitness level in order to determine your baseline fitness and then mark your calendar for fitness goals and workouts. Use the tutorials for over 500 exercises including Yoga, Pilates, cardio fitness, strength training and more. The ability to choose from a variety of music options turns workouts into games.
- Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage: Take on this Gold Medal winner as you participate in bigger and more varied challenges across the globe until you’re finally ready to take on the world’s top boarders in the ultimate competition. This is a great multi-player game that can involve the entire family or your roommates.
- Walk It Out: Although this game features kids on the cover, it also is for adults who need or desire low-impact exercise. Walk along to discover surprises and listen to over 120 songs that can boost your heart rate as you keep rhythm. This game provides a choice of controls from Nunchuk and Wii mote, DDR Dance Pad, or Wii Balance Board.
- Wii Fit Plus: While you can create workouts with this Nintendo video, you also can create games that include juggling, skateboarding; snowball fights, obstacle courses, log-leaps and a balance game designed to promote a combination of physical and mental health.
- Wii Guitar Hero 5 Stand-Alone Guitar: Guitar Hero 5 allows fans to play alone, as a full band or, for the first time, with any combination of multiple guitarists, bassists, drummers or vocalists, to customize their musical experience. Players now have the control to rock any way they want whether it is with two guitars and two drummers, four guitarists, or three guitarists and a vocalist, any combination is possible.
- Wii Sports: Bundled with Wii, Wii Sports introduces a whole new way to play your game. Play tennis, baseball, golf, bowling and boxing in the comfort of your home.
- Wii Sports Resort: In Wii Sports Resort, you’ll use your Wii Remote to literally swing into action. Engage in a wide range of exciting activities, including Sword Play, Power Cruising, and Disc Dog. This game includes one Wii MotionPlus accessory in the box with the game.
- Yourself Fitness: Great 3D images and a personal workout coach gets you started on a “game” that features a personal fitness program designed just for you at the beginning of the video. Keep your workouts fresh by doing them in a variety of environmental settings.
Did you enjoy this article?
Comments on this entry are closed.