Latest & Greatest

[#1]

I was doing some online product research of my own a while ago, and stumbled across something that I did not quite expect from a partnership between an entertainment software company and a major university.  I’ve always known that these types of partnerships exist, but there was something about this particular joint venture that caught my eye.  It wasn’t the project itself.  It wasn’t even the two organizations that supported it.  It was what that they were using to achieve their mutual goal.

Now, distributed computing is nothing new – the idea itself has been around since the mid 1950’s.  Who would expect though that a video game console could help scientists study and develop treatments for various diseases?  That’s right.  Since 2005, Sony Computer Entertainment has partnered with Stanford University on Folding@Home – a distributed computing project – using its very own PlayStation 3.

And it turns out that Sony isn’t the only company that’s using its video game consoles in an innovative way!  Nintendo has been incorporating its Nintendo DS into schools and medical institutions overseas as a learning tool, and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 teamed up with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America  this past summer to celebrate the first-ever “National Family Fitness Day.”

Think about it.  How many of us simply view video games as entertainment when they’re capable of doing so much more?  How many other electronic devices do we use on a daily basis that could be used differently to solve problems that we don’t even know exist yet?


For more information on any of these projects, please check out the following links:

Sony & Folding@Home
http://www.us.playstation.com/PS3/Features/FoldingHome

Nintendo and the Community
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/corporate/en/csr/report2007/07/index.html

Microsoft PressPass
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/may08/05-06FamilyFitnessPR.mspx

Message Edited by Aaron-GS on 12-22-2008 05:39 PM