When a child is hospitalized, the experience is anything but normal. However, recent studies show that video games can help children feel calmer during treatment. In a particular case, doctors tested whether or not video games helped children forget the pain of an intravenous line insertion. By inserting the IV needle when children were playing a game with vibrating controller and headset, children felt almost a quarter of the pain that children who were not playing video games felt.

When Nintendo found out about this, they put some serious R&D into hospital "Fun Centers". Nintendo supplies 3500 of the 5000+ Fun Centers that are in various hospitals. The Fun Centers are run through Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation, whose aim is to combat the isolation and fear experienced by hospitalized kids. A $3250 donation will buy a Fun Center featuring a Game Cube, DVD player, a flat screen television, and the lifetime upkeep of the unit. Nintendo looks forward to updating all the Fun Centers it owns with the Nintendo Wii in mid 2007.