Better Food Pyramid games afoot? When I first started healthGAMERS we were in the process of creating a new online health game based on the food pyramid.  At that time, I was researching what was out there.  My conclusion: a call for better Food Pyramid games.  Someone at the USDA must have been reading...

Beginnings of a mobile health game movement? In my last post on mobile phone-based health games, I gave you an overview of Mindless Eating Challenge, a game by Cornell University Food and Brand Lab, funded in part by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as part of their health games research initiative. ...

The novel Nanoswarm: Invasion From Inner Space was published today, a work based on the NIH-funded multi-million dollar health game of the same name.  Nanoswarm is a first person, role-playing videogame adventure in healthy eating and exercise.  The game is designed to change nutrition and physical...

Lack of exercise no longer a problem? According to a recent news release in Amsterdam, a research study presented at the European Congress on Obesity determined that food intake alone explains the increase in American body weight over the last thirty years.  Professor Boyd Swinburn, Director of the...

A word from the editor. We are honored to present our first guest contributor today, Dr. John La Puma, MD.  He is going to share some of his insight on the world of cooking games for weight loss.  A big thanks to Dr. La Puma for this article.  -Melanie L. The top four. When Dr. Mike Roizen and I taught...

Should the food pyramid really be a food pie? We’re in the process of creating a health game about the food pyramid at the Playnomous office.  And it hasn’t been easy.  In my opinion, from a graphical standpoint, the latest edition of the USDA food pyramid (or MyPyramid) is nonsensical. ...

Sounds good to me. Continuing on with our series, today’s great game must is music to my ears.  You guessed it, Great Game Tenet #7: a great health game has great sound.  This isn’t just your run-of-the-mill sound effects.  Sound includes the sfxs, music, and voices.  All are crucial. Sounds...

Gamer vogue. The style, the color, the flare!  An important element to any game is the art assets.  This gives the game its feel, its personality.  Great Game Tenet #5: great health games have great art. Art versus content. Some, like Whyville’s founder Dr. James Bower, believe that good art...

Can’t play just once. Game creators, both heath-related and mainstream, always hope that their game will have that gotta-play-again feeling.  What’s the point if someone plays it once and that’s it.  A game has to have good re-playability.  Great Game Tenet #4 is a no-brainer: great...

Haven’t I seen this before? Continuing on with our ten-part series about how health games can utilize great game techniques seen in mainstream games, like those presented in an article by the Casual Games Association, we step right into part 2 and thus Great Game Tenet #2: a great health game is...