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Original post by stake Interesting, but 33 surgeons is hardly a large data set. There could be some correlation, but I am not sure picking one activity and relating it to another activities performance is sound proof. Nothing has made me more skeptical of 'research proves' that you see in the newspaper than when I actually became a researcher myself.

Remember, it's not the size of the sample that's important, but the size of the sample relative to the population in question. 33 people is far more meaningful out of the tiny population of laparoscopic surgeons than it would be out of the American population at large.

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Original post by aidan_walsh Quote: Original post by LessBread Are there any virtual surgery video games? Google tells me that there is one game, "Trauma Center: Second Opinion" for the wii. It seems to me that there is plenty of room for games in this niche. What do you think? Second Opinion is the sequel to Trauma Centre: Under The Knife on the DS, which garnered quite a few good reviews. EDIT: Darn slow connection and long search times.

IIRC the Wii version isn't a 'proper' sequal, but more of a port + extras of the DS version. Which is a shame because I really liked the DS version and wanted more. [grin]

I tried to get my wife, who is a labour and delivery nurse, to play Trauma Center: SO. She didn't like it, saying it wasn't very realistic and didn't feel like playing her job (although she has no problem watching her job on TV). She was trying to do the suturing slowly and carefully when all you need to do is make a big zig zag motion. I think the controls may have frustrated her too much.

Also Trauma Center didn't have that many real life surgical cases. After the second chapter its all about removing a set of parasites created by "Medical Terrorism". Besides the bomb defusal level, it was a bit hokey. If you are looking for a realistic surgical simulation game, Trauma Center isn't it.

However, I do think a licensed E.R. game for Wii could fill that void. Same controls as Trauma Center, more realistic graphics, talk with the characters from the show between cases. Its probably not going to happen, but it would be a good idea if someone did.

Something my wife has mentioned to me before is that some of the surgeons at her hospital play games before surgery as a way to warm up. She didn't say what games though.

Surgeons who play video games are better because they have the STAR POWER

This lends further credence to my new genre of rhythm-action surgery games.

Look for Suture Suture Revolution on store shelves near you.

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This lends further credence to my new genre of rhythm-action surgery games. Look for Suture Suture Revolution on store shelves near you.

As seen on Grey's Anatomy.

It should be noted that keyhole surgery isn't the kind where you cut a person open and dig around in there with your hands, even if that kind can be quite fun! It involves using instruments that are on long thin arms with triggers to control the movements... Playing video games would, imo, obviously improve performance because you become used to the idea of disconnected actions, that is you perform an operation (such as pressing on the joystick), and something else happens (such as your character moving).

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Original post by Zipster The fact sheet mentions that they have beta testing planned for early 2007, but I don't know how public it would be. Since this isn't an ordinary "game" I imagine it won't be a typical beta test, but maybe open to various universities and medical schools? It's not something I would particularly be interested in beta testing other than to check out just how good a job it does at simulating a health-care environment.

It doesn't seem like a game at all. They liken it to a flight simulator. I think the idea that it would be tested at various universities and medical schools sounds right.

Keying off of Washu's comment - which gets at the heart of this news - I guess I'm wondering why there haven't been more games made with a medical angle. I don't think they need to have the detail that something like Pulse would need, but just enough to satisfy the curiousity of game players. Given the success of tv shows like House, ER and so on, I'm surprised that the majors haven't attempted to craft a spin off game.

It would seem to me that many parents would flock to buying a game that could potentially train their children to be surgeons, keyhole surgeons - or at least maybe inspire them to become doctors or teach them a little about anatomy and how the body works. I remember when I was a kid my parents could pretty much be counted on to buy a game for me if it was tagged as educational - erector sets, 101 electronics, chemistry sets, telescopes. It seems like such a game could take the place of those "transparent human body" plastic models that I used to see in the stores (except now there wouldn't be any parts to get lost).

I wonder what the reasons are as to why there is a dearth of such games. Is it that other types of games are so much more profitable that these games aren't worth making? Is it the fear that if the bodies in such games aren't anatomically correct people won't want the games and if they are there will be too much hell to pay from the various moral minders of society?

Maybe the lack of medical games has to do with the lack of interest and knowledge in the field to most in the industry. I know that there are many topics I like the typical engineer or software coder has no interest in...let alone someone like a game designer. I have always found it difficult to get along with lots of engineers because I just don't really share a lot in common with some of them.

As far as the industry as a whole the lack of medical games could have to do with fear getting the right amount of fun mixed with the right amount of realism without pissing someone off..such as parental groups.