First announced in 2019, the Starlight Children's Foundation has begun installing new game stations into hospitals that house specified Nintendo Switch systems. Coming with a selection of Switch titles preinstalled onto the system, the new stations are meant to give young patients a sanitary way to play their favorite games, especially with many of the limitations that have come with 2020.
The Starlight Nintendo Switch Gaming Station is a part of the Starlight Gaming initiative created by the Starlight Children's Foundation that works to bring different forms of entertainment to young patients. As a result, the station is somewhat more complex than simply putting a console in every hospital room, as there are sanitation standards and accessibility measures that are necessary to reach in order to provide this experience to the children.
Each of the stations is built with strict infection protocols in place, and come equipped with 25 games preinstalled onto the system, including some of Nintendo's best selling titles like Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It hasn't been announced whether or not these specified systems will be able to download new games, but the Switch consoles at the base of the station may still be able to update over time. For now, the available library already offers the young patients a wide variety of both single-player and multiplayer experiences, to allow for individual and social entertainment depending on the situation.
Now that the first few systems have begun to arrive at hospitals, the young patients are able to take these Starlight Game Stations around with them, thanks to mobile platform on the bottom. This has been especially beneficial in a number of hospitals, as COVID-19 restrictions have made the standard practices of entertainment and social interactions impossible throughout 2020. So with the Game Stations now bringing Switch titles like Super Mario Party to over 800 hospitals, with 7,200 units shipped, the children in this care have more options to enjoy than they've had in months.
This kind of program, like what the Starlight Children's Foundation has started with this latest Game Station, can often be a huge benefit to the extremely ill children. The foundation itself has been responsible in the past for delivering everything from hospital wear to VR gaming experiences to young patients, making this latest deal with Nintendo a likely choice that the organizers have been putting together for some time. Regardless, allowing these children to pass the time as they go through difficult treatments by playing games on Switch is a big move for the foundation, and hopefully those first 7,200 units are only the first of many.
Source: Starlight.org