Nintendo, Starlight partner to help sick kids

by Jason Dobson { Jun 25th 2008 at 8:20AM }

Video games are not always just about financial muscle and suffering the slings and arrows of fanboy-fueled drama. Sometimes, just sometimes, they're about making the world a better place. Such is the case today, as Nintendo has partnered with Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation to place Wii kiosks featuring such games as Super Mario Galaxy and Wii Sports in hospitals across both the US and Canada to help lift the spirits of seriously ill kids.

The move echoes a similar effort by Microsoft last month, which saw the company link up with NHL vet Pat LaFontaine's foundation Companions in Courage to bring hundreds of Xbox 360 kiosks to children's hospitals in the US. According to a statement, Nintendo plans to manufacture some 1,250 new Fun Center kiosks as part of the partnership, with the charity hoping to have around 500 of these in hospitals by the end of 2008. The first pair of Fun Centers will be donated later today to the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles during what Nintendo describes as a Super Mario Galaxy-themed launch event, while Mario will also be on hand, no doubt to discourage Bowser from crashing the party.

Tags: charity, nintendo, starlight-foundation, super-mario-galaxy, supermariogalaxy, wii

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

FOXHOUND @ Jun 25th 2008 8:44AM

Always good to see videogames and their companies portrayed in a positive light instead of "harbingers of youthful crimes and violence".

Jon L-S @ Jun 25th 2008 8:55AM

On the one hand, generosity is never a bad thing, but it seems like Child's Play (and gamers) have been doing this sort of charity work for a number of years now - and not because it looks good on a press release.

(additionally, that kiosk looks like a pretty awful way to play Wii sports.)

Obie @ Jun 25th 2008 12:21PM

The starlight foundation was around before Child's play ( it might've had a different name back then), I remember them donating a few SNES' back in the day to a hospital near my house.

But I do admit the scale Child's play has grown to is VERY impressive.

kiwi @ Jun 25th 2008 9:08AM

They donated two "fun stations" to the hospital my wife is a pediatric resident at... good stuff.

cheatbeastxcom @ Jun 25th 2008 10:18AM

I think its a great thing no maybe they will make a bigger screen for them..

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schizo @ Jun 25th 2008 10:51AM

My son had surgery last week. I was very surprised when the nurse rolled one of these in because I'd never heard about it.

When you boot it up, it doesn't go right into the Wii Menu. Instead, there are floating game covers (similar to the iPod interface). You click on one of the covers and the system loads that game. There were a lot of games to choose from, including Sports, LoZ, Paper Mario, Carnival Games, Elebits... probably 15-20 in all. There was a separate device attached to the Wii (which wasn't visible, by the way) inside the kiosk. From what I could tell, it controlled the power and might have held the games. It didn't look like a multi-disc device.

The controllers are tethered to the kiosk. There was a switch to choose Wiimote only vs. Wiimote+Nunchuck. One problem: I couldn't tell which Nunchuck went with the Wiimote I had. Volume was set rather low and couldn't be adjusted--so as not to disturb other patients, I assumed.

The aim was off. I tried to access the system menu to adjust it (maybe it was set to below the screen when the transmitter was above the screen), but it was disabled. It didn't bother us much because my son chose a game that didn't rely on precise aim, but I could see how it would get annoying.

I didn't have a problem playing, even though the cables were a little stiff. Unfortunately, since my son was in bed, the stiffness of the cables made it difficult to play, especially for games that required the bowling motion. He was sitting in a bed, as most recovering patients would. I understand a need for security, but tethering the controllers for a system that is made for motion and freedom really doesn't make sense. It also doesn't make much sense for patients with fresh stitches or recently repaired limbs to be playing a system like the Wii. Sure, parents can tell their six-year-olds to only play games that don't require a swinging motion like I did, and other parents can hope that he would listen (like mine did). I'm sure that it's great for patients with less physically challenging issues, though.

I think this was a very nice gesture on Nintendo's part--I'm just not sure if it's the right type of system to be in a hospital. So many people want the Wii and to have it in a hospital for recovering children is a great, great idea, but a system that doesn't require motion to play might have been better.

velocitySTRIKE @ Jun 25th 2008 11:33AM

Nintendo has been making these gaming centres (albeit with GCs, not Wiis) for quite a while now. I remember playing Pikmin whilst suffering from chest infection. So while this partnership is obviously nothing new, it's nice to see it pop over the Atlantic and all.