By Andrew Liszewski
You might remember a few months ago I posted a story about Microsoft partnering with Companions in Courage and donating hundreds of standalone Xbox 360 kiosks to children’s hospitals across the US. Well Nintendo is now following suit and have partnered with the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation to create Fun Center portable kiosks with built-in Wii consoles designed to provide entertainment and enjoyment for hospitalized kids.
The new Fun Centers feature a Sharp Aquos LCD display, a DVD player and a Wii console with family-friendly titles like Wii Sports, Super Mario Galaxy and Mario Party 8. The first two units, which were donated by Nintendo, were presented to the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles in late June. But in total the company is manufacturing 1,250 of the Fun Center Wii kiosks in their first run, and the Starlight foundation hopes to have about 500 of them distributed to hospitals across Canada and the US by the end of the year. So I guess the ball’s now in Sony’s court.
[ Starlight and Nintendo Unveil New Fun Center Featuring the Wii ] VIA [ Joystiq ]
As an employee of Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation, I just wanted to point out that actually Nintendo has been doing this for 15 years! Long before Microsoft stepped in. Since 1992, Nintendo and Starlight together have placed more than 5,000 Fun Centers in more than 1,200 hospitals across the US and Canada!
Ditto, I am working nights in an emergency dept. now which has a Starlight Starbright Nintendo Gamecube kiosk for the kids’ use.