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Denver, 12:57 PM
Sat Nov 7
46 posts in the last 24 hours
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08/10/09
What Iwata describes here? It doesn't sound like a game, it sounds as boring as checking your blood pressure. There's still no game here for me. Until they tell me or show me differently I think it's one bizarre thing Nintendo is cooking up that just won't sell.
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Simmer Down Sprinter(Kotaku Article)
Brain Ball(Gizmodo Article)
It's easy to see this type of technology being used to make a game based in meditation and relaxation, or to enhance a pre-existing game. Can you imagine your healing rate being enhanced by a low stress level? Calming to charge an attack?
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A relaxation "game"? Turn off your TV and go to bed if you need to relax.
This sounds NOTHING like Brain Training.
08/10/09
As one would use standard games like Modern Warfare, Madden, or Gears of War to boost your adrenaline, mood, and hand-eye coordination, biofeedback technology like this would allow you to unwind and relax after a long day.
If you are stressed out, playing videogames to zone is definitely one way of dealing with it. Same goes for working out or other strenuous activities. Heightened activity burns away the stress.
The opposite approach works just as well. Complete relaxation. Technologies such as this and ones available right now such as binaural beats, put the mind and body into a relaxed, meditative, zen state of mind. This state of mind dissolves the stress and puts you into a calm, cool state of mind. Lakers coach Phil Jackson is famous for having all of his players meditate on a regular basis with great success.
Same goes for Bruce Lee.
And of course, Chuck Norris.
08/10/09
I'm so sick of people naysaying this stuff. Everyone keeps going on about how these sorts of things are worthless, and that they are unnecessary. Why not vote with your wallet? Forget about it, no matter what you do or say there are going to be people who want this and enjoy using it. What is the point of being negative? If anything the money people sink into this is going to pay for that next classic from nintendo we are all dying to play.
My point is that we should welcome this kind of diversity, because it means more money being circulated for our past-time of choice.
08/10/09
You say stop complaining and just don't buy it, I say bitch and moan to your hearts desire when a GAME company goes from making games and gaming machines to ... this.
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08/10/09
Not sure I follow you. I'm not goofing on the game at all, I am supporting it. I think the Vitality Sensor could be very promising for biofeedback-type applications.
I agree there are a lot of people who don't understand it and think it's a joke, but they are not the market that this is aimed for.
Bottom line, the situation is not an either/or issue. Nintendo can bring out Wii Fit and Vitality Sensor games AND hardcore titles. Expanding their market share to the casual crowd is the reason for their current success. If they had kept on their previous hardcore strategy as before they would have been trounced by the competition.
Nintendo has evolved whether people like it or not. And their evolution has catapulted them to the top. Hard to argue with success.
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Yes, we all know you can get fitter by using Wii Fit, but it is by no means a replacement for any other activity- despite what Nintendo will lead you to believe. To me it is in the same category as those belts which you strap around your waist to shock you into losing weight; but is sold as something much greater than that.
This vitality sensor seems to be purely a money grabbing exercise in my opinion- there is no reason for it; especially not on a gaming console. I don't need to be told if I can't sleep or if I'm stressed, and when I am stressed, I already know myself how to combat it.
I'm going to take a punt here and assume the "game" in which it is used will change its output based on your heart rate- relaxing music if your heart is racing to calm you down, maybe playing to the beat, etc. The problem is, you don't need a sensor to do this; you can just as easily, or even more easily, listen to some calming music, or listen to some whale noises or whatever it is that relaxes you.
This device, along with those magic weight-losing belts, vibration exercise machines and Wii Fit, are a placebo for the masses.
08/10/09
So yes, none of this are replacement of taking good care of yourself, and they may be as effective as the infomercial stuff, but nintendo is not selling them as such.
Still... I can't wait for the Wii Ortopedic Chair.
08/10/09
visualising your stress would be a good way to make it easier...
I would buy it so that I could chillax after playing Grand Slam on the Wii, due to the sheer number of fucking sore losers I encounter who quit just before I win ;P
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These all seem like much better alternatives then hooking your finger to the screen and entering zombie mode watching the variations of your heart rate.
08/10/09
read a book: this would mean that you have a stack of relaxing books by your bedside, how much do they all cost altogether (lets forget about the fact that your initial stack will run out)?
go out for some fresh air: 2am, you can't sleep, girlfriend/wife asleep, cold outside, (lets forget about the fact that you might not have a partner right now, and could be living in an urban area with no parks)
...
...
oh and think outside the box a little, don't think the game is going to be a chart that shows your heart beat going up and down and that's it.
08/10/09
I would also like to say that i am sorry for anyone that is forced to accept the vitality sensor as entertainment because of lacking alternatives and i want to assure you that i`m not being sarcastic.
When people like _Hayko try so hard to defend this thing by eliminating anything i can think of as better forms of entertainment then maybe there is something wrong with me.
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Rather than flow, this is more like biofeedback training, which has proven to be effective at combating stress. I see some potential, here, but not much outside of the Wii Fit/Brain Training crowd.
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Vitality sensor could have some uses in "hardcore" games though.... if it had a nunchuk input.
Imagine a survival horror, or something like Eternal Darkness, where the game tries to scare you more and more as your heart rate goes up. That could "potentially" be interesting.
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Having the game chart your own heart-rate as a way to measure how to affect the sanity meter would be great, since the higher your heart rate the weirder the hallucinations thrown at you.
08/10/09