I was once a semi-champion for the Nintendo’s Wii Vitality Sensor, but now even I have given into reason and rationality: This vaporware peripheral, for me, is all but dead on arrival.
When it was originally revealed to a skeptical E3 audience more than a year ago, the sensor promised an interactive experience that was previously available only to hospital patients. It would seem that this is where that experience will stay, however, as we haven’t heard a peep from Nintendo regarding the sensor in quite some time.
At this point, the conspiracy theorist in me has to wonder if the sensor was a feint, designed to see how far competitors would go to copy Nintendo and attempt to capture some of the company’s wild success in a bottle.
Unfortunately, if this was the case it doesn’t appear to have worked, as the copycatting has only gone as far as the Sony PlayStation Move commercials, set in the sterile IKEA living rooms. There’s nary a Sony PlayStation Vitals or purple case Microsoft Kinecticality health game in sight.
This is a good thing, in hindsight, as Nintendo hasn’t exactly been blowing the socks off the industry as of late. I see the direction-less, incredibly peculiar Vitality Sensor as an embodiment of that staleness, confusion and perhaps a little arrogance as well.
Maybe now, with the Vitality Sensor DOA, they can focus on freshening up their image a bit.
It'll be part of the Wii2 release announced in 2011 for 2012.
I am thinking that Nintendo decided to hold off on releasing it as a periferal to the Wii and decided to include it as part of the Wii2HD Relax Health Machine package.
I only slightly kid.
My guess is that they realized it was impossible to program for since there are large swaths of the population that don't react in similar ways physiologically. I can only imagine people drinking 10 Red Bulls to get their heart rate up to get 100% completion in Resident Evil 17.
I think it will be something for next year, packed in with a 'relaxation' game.
I guess the most appropriate sound effect for this device is that of a sick person at the hospital flat lining…
I was hoping for a non-game type game to come out of this. Something to help relax with. To bad, I woulda paid money for it. Maybe there is still hope.
"Nintendo hasn't exactly been blowing the socks off the industry as of late."
Er… I heard that Nintendo's 3DS actually won all the reporters in attendance at E3, actually! Best of E3 in most reviews, in fact…
I think it's a little arrogant to fully presume a product is stale or silly before that product has come to fruition, or you know, having tried it out. Question it, sure. But declare it DOA without the A? No.
Also, considering it took 4 years for Sony to officially rip off the Wiimote, I think it's a little early to call this unit as uninfluential to the rest of the industry. I'm sure all Nintendo's competitor's have a 'copy Nintendo' division, and are paid to not ignore this stuff. Wiifit? Whodathunk. A billion dollar + industry spawned from Iwata's 'brain fart'? That's a perfume I'd bottle if I could.
Well yeah, we haven't exactly SEEN much of it, but Miyamoto has mentioned some interesting ideas. For instance, he said that you could use it in a horor game, the more scared you were, the more difficult the enemies get. He use Zelda as an example but SS doesn't look like the sort of game that will scare you…
In that form, it looks uncomfortably like the heart rate checker at my local hospital urgent care facility. It doesn't exactly scream "fun leisure time activity."
I'd wager that if and when this technology is put to use, it will be built into the next console's remote and function without the player even being aware that it's monitoring.
If someone says you've swung and missed, and the evidence they provide is a patent application, are they banned from the Internet forever?
A patent application? Really? That's the big bad snarky retort? Welcome to the Net, bucko! Patent applications are made about as often as a person breathes in a day, and they see the light of day as a product about as often as a mediocre batter hits the ball in the major leagues.
Swing and a miss, indeed.
And Nintendo is indeed stale at the moment. I go by sales. They're down. Software is at a trickle. Metroid was a turd. They're really lucky they wised up and decided a few 2D franchise titles were worth their effort. If New Super Mario Bros. Wii never came along and blew everyone away I doubt we'd see those games, to be honest.
Beyond the holiday, what does 2011 have in store? The 3DS, sure, but if history is any indication, 3rd parties will clamor to be first on Nintendo's brand new system (they definitely are, yes), but most of their games will suck, and it will be up to Nintendo to make the quality games–something they've shown they can do, but only a few times a year.
When I saw this being announced, for some reason I just never saw it actually going on the market. But I guess it could still happen.