Last year when Barack Obama was swept into executive power, one of his main priorities was to create a national healthcare plan and digitize medical records to improve efficiency, saving billions of dollars a year in the process. While his grand plans have been somewhat foiled by a lack of bipartisanship, universal healthcare remains at the forefront of his objectives for this year.

Obama isn’t the only one ballyhooing about the health industry. It seems that everyone wants in on the game, hoping to latch onto its increasing momentum.

Ever since the dawn of the Wii, video game console makers have been trying to transform the health industry with their cheap systems and technologies. The latest company to seriously consider using their video game consoles for non-entertainment purposes is reported to be Microsoft.

There’s no doubt that Microsoft’s Xbox 360 behemoth is a hit, especially amongst “core-gamers,” with lifetime sales at 39 million units. But, is it even a system that can be considered for medical purposes? The Xbox 360 won’t be a replacement for an X-ray scanner anytime soon, but in terms of using it as a low-cost PC to access and display electronic medical records and other health information, the idea piques my interest. Desney Tan, a senior researcher at Microsoft Research says that Microsoft is exploring the potential that the Xbox 360 could have on the health industry, with technologies such as Project Natal’s controller-less input. Following Nintendo’s approach, Natal could be used for rehabilitation.

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