Feeling unproductive? Here's a story that won't help that, but it might momentarily melt your cold heart.

A 13-year-old Los Angeles native has teamed with an Israeli hospital to develop a video game for gamers with limited motor skills. Dani Levenfeld's system inserts digital photographs of patients in the intensive care unit of Jerusalem's Alyn Hospital into certain video game programs, which the patients then manipulate themselves.

A program created for 17-year-old cerebral palsy patient Danny, for example, allows Danny to operate the game with his cheeks. A mouse is attached to a vertical rod on Danny's wheelchair, which is activated when Danny presses his left or right cheek against the buttons. The game created by Levenfeld features Danny as an astronaut moving through space and defending himself against alien invaders.

When I was 13, I was puffy painting the names of New Kids on the Block members on to fluorescent colored sweatshirts, and - with all motor skills intact -- could barely complete one level of Super Mario Brothers without being murdered by one of those mushroom-esque creatures.

Good to see that Dani is doing something other than taking blurry, camera phone MySpace self-portraits and idolizing mediocre pop stars, I suppose. No word on whether his offering has been snapped up by any video game providers, but I imagine programming stardom is on the horizon.

Post by Chloe Albanesius