The Wii Vitality Sensor tracks a players pulse while playing. A novel Nintendo idea — or is it?
Nintendo has never been afraid of mining its own past for new product ideas — take the DS's dual screen design that echoes Nintendo's own Donkey Kong multi-screen Game & Watch.
The Wii Vitality Sensor appears to be another Nintendo dip into its own R&D backlogs. As game blog Game|Life points out, back in 1998, Nintendo released the "Bio Sensor" along with Tetris 64. The peripheral read the player's pulse by clipping onto their earlobe as opposed to the player's finger. The Japan-only Bio Sensor allowed players to speed up or slow down Tetris 64 based on heart rate speed.
The Bio Sensor was only supported by Tetris 64 before it flat lined. Nintendo is going to need a steady pulse of Wii titles for the the Wii Vitality Sensor to keep this new peripheral alive.
Nintendo ‘Vitality Sensor' Already Appeared on N64 [Game|Life]