Study Shows Games may be Good for Aging Brains

Here's a big duh article for me, but perhaps not for the rest of you:

Study Shows Games may be Good for Aging Brains - 1up.com.

This study, which shows playing video games helps older folks with their cognitive abilities (memory, reasoning, multi-tasking) really is no surprise to me. I attribute much of my own development of problem solving ability to playing video games. I might get knocked for saying it, but I always thought well designed, interactive, and engaging video games with a good story and lots of problem solving to typically be superior than your *average* book¹ for brain development and always superior to television or movies.

Most video games worth their salt, say something like the more recent Legend of Zelda or Warcraft III), are full of multiple branching decision points, cause and effect scenarios, quick decision making, and reinforcement of quick reflexes - albeit with your mind and fingers and not your typical functional muscle groups. You can not get this from the sedentary activity of being fed a movie or passively turning the page of some standard piece of fiction in which the words on the pages are never changed.

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¹Note that I said your average book. Even the best video games can't supplant good literature when it comes to enriching your noggin.