Was it the PS2 or PS3 that was banned from Iraq because of fears that Saddam Hussein’s regime would co-opt the system for nefarious ends? Or maybe I made that up? It doesn’t matter. The point is that, yeah, your favorite video game system (well, maybe not the Wii) is pretty damn powerful little computer. So powerful, in fact, that it can be used rather effectively by doctors and researchers.
The deal is that a computer scientist in England has come up with a way to use the Xbox 360 “to detect heart defects and help prevent heart attacks.” (I wonder if there’s an achievement for that, jkkjkj.) Instead of using the system’s hardware to pump out 3D graphics and horrible voice acting, the system:
delivers data tracking how electrical signals in the heart move around damaged cardiac cells. This creates a model of the heart that allows doctors to identify heart defects or conditions such as arrhythmia, a disturbance in the normal rhythm of the heart that causes it to pump less effectively.
The key is that, compared to traditional hardware, an Xbox 360 is much less expensive, so scientists, hospitals, researchers, etc. can load up without going bankrupt.
I was going to do some sort of red ring of death joke, but, eh, I just all of a sudden changed my mind. So instead, I’ve just told you that I originally intended to write said joke, but now I don’t have the pressure of actually coming up with something reasonably chuckle-worthy. Win-win, I say.
Yes, the headline was purposely bombastic. Everyone knows gaming peaked with the SNES.
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