Coming soon to the Nintendo DS: A glucose reader

You know how kids never know where the hell one pair of their eighty pairs of shoes are but they can always find their favorite toys?

For parents of kids with chronic health problems, that issue is upgraded from “highly frickin’ annoying” to “scary.” Paul Wessel has a son with Type-1 Diabetes, and it became apparent that while the little ankle biter was always misplacing his blood glucose meter, he never lost track of his Nintendo DS.

Wessel somehow managed to “team up” with Bayer to create the DIDGET™ Blood Glucose Monitoring System for Nintendo DS & Nintendo DS Lite. While it still involves the not-fun pricking to draw blood aspect necessary to measure blood glucose, there are some handy upsides to entice reluctant kids to at least not lose the thing.

From 6Minutes.com.au:

The device rewards children with bonus game points if they if they hit their target number of tests per day as well as achieving the minimum time between tests. It also gives rewards when the user gets blood glucose test results within their personalised target range.

Children can use the points to purchase items in the games, unlock mini-games and to take part in a web community set up by Bayer.

This isn’t the first gadget to marry handheld gaming and blood glucose testing, but it is the first for the DS/DS Lite. Another downside, though- DSi’s don’t have a slot-2 to accommodate the device.

The DIDGET isn’t available yet, but is expected to retail for £29.99, a price that includes a £5 donation to a Juvenile Diabetes charity.

[Source: Slippery Brick]