Dr Kanav Kohel and Dr Marshall Smith of the Banner Good Samaritan Medical Centre in Phoenix, Arizona, think that the Wii's control scheme can actually help surgeons perform better surgeries.
They're working with researchers to develop a program that would let would-be surgeons use their Wii consoles to practice the specific physical movements involved in surgical procedures. Think of it as fun homework.
To test Wii training effectiveness, researchers asked eight residents to play Wii games an hour before virtual surgery. It turns out that the ones that "warmed up" on the Wii scored 48 percent better for tool control and performance than ones who didn't.
You'd imagine that they would've played something like Trauma Center, but games like Marble Mania were favored as they involve small, precise movements of the controller.
Dr Kohel told New Scientist magazine: "The whole point about surgery is to execute small, finely controlled movements with your hands, and that is exactly what you get playing. But you don't gain a lot from swinging an imaginary tennis racket."
Hit the jump to see a Wii gamer that I wouldn't let perform a surgery on me.
Dale North is Destructoid's Editor-In-Chief, a founding editor, and specialist in Japanese gaming. An accomplished musician, Dale was reporting from Japan during the earthquakes of 2011. Luckily, he got the fuck out alive and is home in America now with his wife and beloved corgi, Einstein. Dale is also a co-founder of Destructoid's sister anime site Japanator. Likes Corgis, Sega Saturn, PSP, iPhone, Photographic tools.
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My Mom runs a few hospitals and has been mentioning for years that the surgeons who play videogames have a much more natural feel with advanced tools in some surgeries (i.e. the ones that have joysticks and require precise movements)
Is there no end to these ridiculous wii/research stories? What a bunch of PR bullshit this is, next thing you know they'll be planting stories that claim the wii improves fertility because couples play together then fuck afterwards.
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Contest:
10:53 AM on 01.17.2008
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thx for the post, the vid of the kid is hilarious.
The wiimote has the longest response time ive ever seen and if theyre using it for precision oh my lord...
Too bad he missed the TV though.
Cna I be a surgeon now?
LOL, yeah man. Never trust a guy who wants to cut a pentagram of some sort into you.
Yeah, and I loved the video too. Pretty safe to say that he won't be practising surgery with a baseball bat.