Bayer Didget for Nintendo DS

Bayer DidgetIn an attempt to step up and validate a gaming platform for real-word, Bayer develops the Didget Glucose Meter and tracking application for the Nintendo DS/DS Lite platform.

The Didget is based on Glucoboy, which in fact is developed at Bayer by the same person who originally developed the Glucoboy for the Nintendo Gameboy. Paul Wessel quit his job, founded Guidance Interactive Healthcare and created the Glucoboy for the Gameboy because his son kept losing his meter, but somehow managed to always have his Gameboy.

The Didget follows the same principles and function, but modernizes Glucoboy for the newer system. It’s simple, and easy to use with no coding or manual entry, which would be mandatory for getting kids to use it. Well, having it for a game platform doesn’t hurt either.

Taken from the UK website:

Bayer’s DIDGET™ is the only blood glucose meter that plugs into a Nintendo DS™ or Nintendo DS™ Lite system. This unique meter helps encourage consistent testing with reward points that children can use to buy items within the game and unlock new game levels. And, since the DIDGET™ meter is based on Bayer’s trusted CONTOUR™ system, you know you’re getting a meter that’s reliable.

This is an excellent example of a company leveraging a very popular game platform to equip folks with a device that helps them manage their health. There are a ton of games that say the promote memory growth, exercise your brain, and I just recently found Personal Trainer: Walking for the DS Lite, which I was tempted to get.

Unfortunately with Nintendo’s release of the DSi, Nintendo decided to remove the GBA slot, so Didget is out of luck with the newest revision of this platform.

There’s also a US site for the Didget, but it’s not available yet

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