Going to the hospital is never a good experience for anyone (even with the valiant doctors and nurses doing their best to make things pleasant) – especially if the patient is a little kid with nothing to look forward to but bed, doctors in white lab coats and visits from relatives. Microsoft and the non-profit organization Companions in Courage is aiming to minimize the hurt by providing the young patients with a very powerful distraction: Xbox360 kiosks.

Like how this editor doesn’t like flights all that much, but paradoxically looks forward to Singapore airlines’ flights because of the inclusion of classic NES games in their in-seat entertainment suite, these kids will certainly be wowed by the pre-installed E and E10+ rated games, Y-rated television programs, G-rated movies and the Xbox Live headset / Vision camera in order for gamers to play online. Moreover, the same online component will enable the young patients to log on to a special version of Microsoft’s popular LIVE! Network and communicate with other Xbox 360 kiosk users, namely kids with life-threatening conditions in other hospitals with the kiosks.

                                             The hospital kiosks work in a similar way, only those go to the patient and not the other way around.

At the moment three hospitals in the US, Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York-Presbyterian, the Children’s Hospital & Regional Medical Center of Seattle and the Children’s Hospital of Orange County, California have received the first batch of Microsoft’s and Companions in Courage efforts, and while there is no word on additional venues for the expansion of this program, this is too good an idea to let lie. In fact, Companions in Courage is accepting donations to be put into expanding the program, and I defy any real gamer not to contribute to something as worthy as letting hospitalized kids enjoy a little bit of gaming time on a high tech console like the 360.

Now bringing a little love to the little tykes won’t necessarily involve fruits and flowers, teddy bears and teacups – Microsoft wants these kids to act like kids, and for this generation, that means a little bit of time in front of a screen with your game-face on and communicating with your buddies online.