When Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata took to the stage last week to unveil the Wii Vitality Sensor, he didn't really tell us how it all worked. No, that information now comes a week later.
Seems that the WVS works by measuring the flow of blood through the user's body, a small light sensor inside the device somehow able to measure that flow and determine various characteristics of your body's workings.
For instance, by watching your blood flow, the sensor can apparently determine when and how hard you're breathing in and out. One of the "games" demonstrated with the device - which may or may not make it into a "game" for the WVS - was a simple breathing exercise, as users timed their breathing to the tick/tock of a metronome.
How this can be used to enjoyment is at this stage up in the air. And until we get a firmer idea on what games/programs will be shipping with the WVS, we won't know whether it'll be the next revolutionary million-seller from Nintendo, or the next piece of hokey psuedo-science from Nintendo. Or both.
How Nintendo's boss rewrote the rules of the game [The Guardian]