Monday, February 4, 2008

Active computer games tackle obesity

A personal computer game (also known as a computer game or simply PC game) is a video game played on a personal computer, rather than on a video game console or arcade machine. Computer games have evolved from the simple graphics and gameplay of early titles like Spacewar!, to a wide range of more visually advanced titles.

PC games are created by one or more game developers, often in conjunction with other specialists (such as game artists) and either published independently or through a third party publisher. They may then be distributed on physical media such as DVDs and CDs, as Internet-downloadable shareware, or through online delivery services such as Direct2Drive and Steam. PC games often require specialized hardware in the user's computer in order to play, such as a specific generation of graphics processing unit or an Internet connection for online play, although these system requirements vary from game to game.

LONDON: The British government is set to encourage children to play "
active computer games" to tackle the childhood obesity 'epidemic' in the country that costs the exchequer billions of pounds every year. With authorities desperately trying ever more imaginative ways to involve children in sports, schools are being encouraged to put the new generation of "active computer games" on the curriculum.

The latest attempt to tackle the problem stems from an initiative in which Nintendo Wii consoles were used to attract inactive pupils into "virtual PE". It was found that children were attracted to the machine for their chance on the Wii, which requires users to stand up and move their arms and legs to play games including tennis, baseball, bowling and golf.

A report in The British Medical Journal found that active console games "significantly increased participants' energy expenditure", compared with other systems. Britain is in the grip of an obesity 'epidemic'. Child obesity rates have trebled over the past 20 years; 10 per cent of six-year-olds and 17 per cent of 15-year-olds are now considered obese, The Independent daily of Britain reported earlier this week. Last year, a government report showed that this would rise to 26 per cent of children by 2050. Tackling the
obesity problem is set to cost the government tens of billions of pounds a year by 2050. The government is in the final stages of a plan that envisages giving the overweight financial incentives to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

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