9 Games That Can Improve Mental Health

For the longest time during their formative years, video games came with a reputation that was far from anything to brag about. Like television before it, the increasing popularity of this new digital medium came with equally increasing concerns about the negative effects on mental health and emotional well being.

Surely, cried the experts, any amount of time spent furiously button-bashing our way through what were often graphic, violent virtual environments could only inspire a generation of children to take what they’d learned on the game consoles of the time and channel it into a life of crime, depression and poor health back here in the real world? And that’s before we even get onto the inevitable isolation caused by a marathon session indulging in the latest franchise.

A worry, yes, but as time went on it seemed those concerns were become ever-more unfounded, especially as the gaming industry began to evolve, embracing the idea that, as evidence has since proven, video games can actually be good for you.

Indeed, you only need look as far as the runaway success of the Nintendo Wii, with its physical fitness promoting titles such as Wii Fit and Wii Sports…