The Brain Workout: In praise of video games

[DealBot]

"Yet the critics of video games are not only conjuring up a threat where none exists; they're ignoring the positive moral lessons and cognitive benefits that many of today's sophisticated games offer."

http://digg.com/gaming/The_Brain_Workout%3..._of_video_games

[MBJ]

Some video games have clear educational value. Does anyone remember Donkey Kong Jr. Math?

[Phillyman]

Some video games have clear educational value. Does anyone remember Donkey Kong Jr. Math?

No but i remember playing Math Muncher and Oregon Trail back in Elementry School

[jeffjenx]

i remember donkey kong jr. math! it's so easy to beat, though.

[jbbdude]

And yet no one mentions Brain Age.... (Or the upcoming title Big BRain Academy.....)

[cartooncd]

i saw in discovery channel that some a study was done where surgeons who are gamers are better then their non-gamer counterparts. So, a hospital now encourage surgeons to play some games first before doing an operation.

[goodknight]

Tetris helps with spacial awareness, knowing the sizes and shapes of objects and environments intuitively. Yay! Tetris helps me arrange furniture!

[Gnash]

I can't remember where I read it so don't take my word for it, that gamers can view more targets at the same time than non gamers when they become fighter pilots.

[zovik]

My brother and I grew up playing lots of RPGs. Some games have the plot and dialogue to rival a novel. (Chrono Cross comes to mind... man that's a great game.) Anyway, my little brother always had a much larger vocabulary than his friends, and blames it on all the games we played.

I think the greatest value games have for young kids is to get them comfortable with computers at a very early age. I know that was the case for me.

[ezekielcrow]

i've seen a number of studies on the internet saying how gamers have better hand - eye coordination, better reaction times, can handle multi-tasking better, better problem solving skills, ect. personally, i'm surprised that more educational games haven't worked their way into the public school system.

[4am]

I'm sure if the Wii is as successful as we're all hoping it will be...

More and more ppl will realize how beneficial it is to hand-eye coordination. (And how to beat hookers with bats, if GTA comes to Wii. )