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. ...

For prevention (and treatment). At the Games for Health Conference last year, Humana announced its newest venture, Humana Games for Health (HG4H), an online world where users can play video games to keep their minds and bodies fit.  Their hope was to engage consumers through the use of a most popular...

Pow, zap, boom. One of the many benefits of health games versus traditional health education materials is instant reinforcement and immediate feedback.  When a player does something correct, the game immediately gives the player a reward, such as a visual effect or fun sound.  Great Game Tenet #6:...

Get out the grill. At the core of every health game should be great content; there should be real meat there.  And appropriately so, Great Game Tenet #3 is: a great health game has great substance.  Some would say this is easy since, for the most part, health games have a learning or behavior-changing...

Greatness can come in small packages. I’m a member of the Casual Games Association which helps me stay up with the industry for our casual games for health site Playnormous. I get a magazine from them four times a year, and sometimes I run across an amazing article that must be shared. This quarter,...