Re-Mission 2, a collection of free online games launched today by HopeLab, harnesses the power and appeal of casual games to help young people with cancer fight their disease. Combining research on the neuroscience of interactive video game play with the fun and accessibility of casual games, Re-Mission 2 is the follow-up to HopeLab’s breakthrough Re-Mission video game, released in 2006.

The new games apply insights from a brain-imaging study published in 2012 by HopeLab and Stanford University researchers showing that Re-Mission, a video game about killing cancer in the body, strongly activates brain circuits involved in positive motivation.1 This reward-related activation is associated with a shift in attitudes and emotions that helped boost players adherence to prescribed chemotherapy and antibiotic treatments in a previous study.2 As a result, each Re-Mission 2 game is designed to boost positive emotion, increase self-efficacy, and shift attitudes toward chemotherapy. The new games also incorporate direct input from more than 120 teens and young adults with cancer across the U.S.

"A lot of times we don’t really want to take our meds, we wonder, What is this doing? Where is it going? I’m tired of it. It’s just going to make me throw up,’" said Jose Guevera, an 18-year-old who was treated for cancer at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and helped design the Re-Mission 2 games. "But when you see on the screen and visualize what’s happening inside your body, and what the chemotherapy’s doing ‘ you’re not looking at a PowerPoint, you’re playing a game and you’re being chemo and you’re killing your bad cells. I think Re-Mission 2 can really help a lot of us."

"Research on the original Re-Mission showed that it impacted biology and behavior primarily by energizing positive motivation circuits in the human brain and giving players a sense of power and control over cancer," said Steve Cole, Ph.D., Vice President of Research and Development at HopeLab and Professor of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. "That gave us a whole new recipe for engineering the games in Re-Mission 2 ‘ by harnessing the power of positive motivation circuits in the human brain. And by involving more than 120 young cancer patients in shaping the game scenarios and play experience, we know these games will be super fun to play."

Each Re-Mission 2 game puts players inside the body to defeat cancer, using weapons like chemotherapy, antibiotics and the body’s immune cells. The action parallels real-world medical treatments used to fight cancer. The games are designed specifically for teens and young adults who are at risk of adverse cancer outcomes due to poor treatment adherence.3 Research on Re-Mission 2 shows that the new games are as effective as the original Re-Mission game in increasing players self-efficacy, boosting positive emotions and shifting attitudes about chemotherapy.

"Combining high-quality science and compelling game design to help young cancer patients fight their disease was at the core of my vision for the original Re-Mission, and I’m delighted to see that continue with Re-Mission 2," said Pam Omidyar, HopeLab Founder and Board Chair. "HopeLab science has improved our understanding of how technology can be harnessed to catalyze the innate resilience of young people, even in the face of extreme adversity, like cancer. The Re-Mission 2 games have been tested with kids across the country, including my own, and we hope people have as much fun playing them as we have."

Re-Mission 2 games are free to play online at http://www.re-mission2.org. The web-browser-based casual game format offers a variety of fun gameplay styles and meets young cancer patients where they already spend time, online and on mobile devices. Three of the games also can be played on iPad, and players can unlock a special bonus pack of downloadable games for Mac or Windows PC.