Topic: Wii Vitality Sensor *expanding the blue ocean*

[BlackNMild2k1]

What is the Vitality Sensor and what does Iwata & Co. have in mind?

Well Iwata recently had an interview with Venture Beat, and they discussed just that.

VB: Do you feel you need to stay ahead of Sony and Microsoft on motion control? They clearly seem to be trying to leapfrog the Wii’s capability. With Microsoft’s Project Natal and Sony’s new motion-sensing wand, doesn’t that force you to do a more accurate form of motion control?

SI: I don’t share that feeling. We don’t have any information about when they would introduce these things and at what kind of price. Until we know exactly what they will do, it’s harder to understand what we would need to do. What Nintendo has to do is make software that takes advantage of the Wii MotionPlus and make efforts to make the public understand the benefits of the Wii MotionPlus controls. As the pioneer of motion-sensing technology, what Nintendo has to do is provide new surprises in the next year and two years from now.

VB: And one of those new surprises is the Wii Vitality Sensor?

SI: The sensor doesn’t have a direct connection to Wii motion sensing. But let me say why we made an announcement about it at this time. Take the example of Wii Fit. When we talked about it two years ago, a lot of people thought the Wii Balance Board was crazy. They thought Nintendo would start selling a bathroom scale. But Wii Fit became a success because we saw a “blue ocean strategy.” But now a lot of companies are fighting in the red ocean of follow-up exercise games. [Note: As discussed in the Blue Ocean Strategy book, too many sharks in one area make a red ocean; but innovators who swim in the blue ocean have no rivals]. When we introduced the Wii controller, we were in the blue ocean and this year is still the blue ocean. But the year 2010 may become the red ocean for motion-sensing controls, based on what Microsoft and Sony say. The advantage for Nintendo is that we always try to do things that other companies don’t try to do. That is something that the general public appreciates. That’s why we have to introduce this Wii Vitality Sensor. A lot of people must be wondering what the hell this is about. But that’s exactly the way people felt two years ago with the Wii Balance Board. Looking at the history of video games, and game controllers in particular, you have always controlled it consciously. That’s what the name implies. Starting from the movements of your fingers to the shifting of the body mass, you always control it consciously.

VB: How is this going to be different?

SI: We have been trying a variety of different technologies and possibilities. We have found that a lot of information can be found through the pulse of a human being. The pulse is not the simple measurement of just your heartbeat. It provides a number of other signals through your body. It can show how your automatic nervous system is operating.

VB: Your nervousness or calmness?

SI: Not exactly that. Your automatic nerves. You can’t control it consciously, but your heart always beats. You may sweat. Your body may shiver. Those are signals of your automatic nerves. By trying to sense the nerves, it can tell a lot. The pulse can include this information. You may feel totally relaxed. Maybe you will play a horror game and the sensor can tell how scared you are. Several other things can be learned from the pulse, like if you are breathing in or breathing out. We may come up with interesting new software that we sell with the new Wii Vitality Sensor, much like we sold the Wii Balance Board with Wii Fit. Sometimes you are physically tired at night but your brain is functioning too much to go to sleep. If you can have software that helps you understand how you can shift from such a tense situation to being more relaxed, then that would help. At some point, what is invisible can become visible. You can learn your level of relaxation.

What we have inside the Wii Vitality Sensor is an optical sensor. It sends light through your finger and detects the amount of blood that it passes through. If there is more blood, the more light is blocked. We can calculate a relaxation level, through my heartbeat and my breathing in and breathing out. With yoga, they try to calm the nerves through meditation. If you can become conscious about it, you can control it. Some of our employees see their vitality go up at the end of the week because they may be looking forward to the weekend. Normally, this is invisible. A long time ago we sold something called a Love Tester. A boy and girl would shake hands to see how passionate they were. I think boys simply wanted to touch girls’ hands. There was no science behind this. Now we may be able to do a real Love Tester.

VB: I would guess you will talk about a game that uses this soon?

SI: You can see we are already working on a lot of this. Maybe we will announce the game next year.

Wii Vitality Sensor in detail as it is basically identical to the medical device you find at hospitals.

Is anybody seeing a new health and relaxation craze coming up sometime next year with the release of this?
WiiRelax & WiiFit: HealthPack+ incoming.

Well there is everything we basically know at the moment, so what do you guys think about this attachment and its possibilities?

[KDR_11k]

I might care if they announce actual software.

[EasyCure]

I might care if they announce actual software.

This, but also.. it can't just be WiiFit type games or this will end up being an almost useless peripheral. More devs need to act like Suda51 and start imagining ways to use this sensor in games OUTSIDE of the type Nintendo will release it with.

[D_Average]

I wonder if they'll package it with any rx meds to assist in calming or speeding up the gamer as needed.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Well let me see if I can expand the scope of games for you:

Adventure games: e.g. Zelda - Nintendo had a patent for an automatic in game hint system a while back. If you start getting stressed  because you can't figure out what to do, the game can automatically give you a hint to get you back on the right track.

Horror game: e.g. RE/SH - Vitality sensor picks up on your level of panic and increases/decreases the amount of pop-up scares or number of zombie/monsters coming after you until you reach an optimum level. Maybe light the pathway to take or highlight an important object you need to help you stay alive or just progress

Music/Rhythm game: e.g. GH/RB - it can change the level of difficulty by speeding/slowing down the song or how many notes needs to be hit to keep up. Maybe intensify the background visuals if are breezing through or tone it down if your panicking. Maybe even change up the next song to something a little more difficult or a lil easier.

Driving game: e.g. MK/NFS - Increase/decrease the number of drivers attacking depending on your heart rate or whatever else it sensing. Change your track order to help you not get too stressed or ramp up your level of excitement.

Puzzle games: There was supposedly a Tetris game back in the day that used some tech like this. I guess it would in/decrease the number and/or speed of falling blocks depending on your level of panic, imagine something like that for all the other puzzle games you can think of. Or if you not stressing on a puzzle, maybe a timer pops up to make you sweat a little.

Those are just a few possibilities off the top of my head. I'm sure you guys can come up with some more.
Of course it still comes down to 3rd parties trying to do new stuff outside of the comfortable safe zone which we consider "thinking in the box".  Think of something like a new Trauma Center that also measures your heart rate while you play, a Tetris, Silent Hill, BoomBlox, PunchOut, Mario Kart, and how little changes in what the sensor picks up can change the game to in/decrease the difficulty or the ambiance of the surroundings, the volume or intensity of the music/sfx.

WiiFit Health Pack+ can't be all you can imagine with this sensor. But don't get me wrong, I'm not betting on this sensor just yet. I'm still curious how you are gonna wear that thing and play most of the games I suggested. Its a little bulky to wear while holding the Wiimote and what happens if I also have the nunchuck plugged in... then what. I'm still waiting to see exactly what Nintendo has planned, but that doesn't mean we can't imagine whats possible before they do.

So discuss.

[DAaaMan64]

The thing that annoys me with this is that there is no way to retain normal controls AND have your finger in that thing.

Guess you really will have to put your penis in it

[Kairon]

This'll be interesting, but I highly doubt it will be the next coming of the Wii Balance Board.

[bustin98]

The thing that annoys me with this is that there is no way to retain normal controls AND have your finger in that thing.

Guess you really will have to put your penis in it

How will GP and Mop_It_Up play with it?

No, wait.

Umm... yeah, nobody answer that...

Seriously, I think this type of sensor can do great things for the atmosphere of games. I was going to make a similar post if one hadn't been created already. You can have different experiences based on how you are reacting.

[nickmitch]

Can we go to the red ocean?  That sounds badass.

Reggie: "This year, we're going for a completely red ocean strategy.  Simply put, you **** with us, WE WILL EAT YOU ALIVE!"

[ThePerm]

that thing is too small for my penis

[BlackNMild2k1]

Maybe DAaaMan isn't really the Man...

But I just came to post another gameplay idea.

Several other things can be learned from the pulse, like if you are breathing in or breathing out.

...what do you do when you are holding a gun and aiming it before you shoot in real life? You hold your breath in so that your arms move less, giving you better aim. So, for example if you are in a game using a sniper rifle and when you hold your breath in, in real life, the character will do the same, maybe blurring environment and focus on what you are aiming at, fading down the music and make heartbeat sounds that match your very own!

I think that is another excellent game idea for FPS style game.

[mantidor]

I love it, as opposed to the balance board which I found silly when first announced, I find this to be a very original idea with a lot of potential. It really should be a wrist thing instead of a finger thing, actually, it should replace the strap!

I also find countless of different applications for this thing, I really can't get the hate the dumb gaming internet community is giving to this, the balance board and motion controls might make us lazy nerds all pissed because its making us move, but this is something different, I think is amazing.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I love it, as opposed to the balance board which I found silly when first announced, I find this to be a very original idea with a lot of potential. It really should be a wrist thing instead of a finger thing, actually, it should replace the strap!

If they could find a way to make that work, that would get rid of its major problem of getting in the way.

[Kairon]

Really Mantidor? I can easily understand skepticism with this peripheral.

For one, it puts an entire hand out of commission, meaning I can't even hold a Classic Controller. Also, Nintendo's obviously thinking of this in the line of Miyamoto's oft-mentioned Wii Health Pack, so their first goal is not to create biometric feedback shooting games, but zen-garden pulse-training games for the Wii Fit crowd, or those too old for balance boards.

Now, I would totally dig a game that used biometric feedback interestingly, but I can't help but imagine that we're going to get things that aren't games, aren't even wii Music-like software (btw, <3 Wii Music, <3 <3 <3), but are more "exercises."

Hmmm... though a Trauma Center game that uses this would be the most amazing thing in the world... oh geez!

[batmaniswatching]

Dear video games,
Please release the Wii Vitality Sensor bundled with Eternal Darkness 2.
Thank you.

[Morari]

Dear video games,
Please release the Wii Vitality Sensor bundled with Eternal Darkness 2.
Thank you.

Nice.

[mantidor]

Really Mantidor? I can easily understand skepticism with this peripheral.

For one, it puts an entire hand out of commission, meaning I can't even hold a Classic Controller. Also, Nintendo's obviously thinking of this in the line of Miyamoto's oft-mentioned Wii Health Pack, so their first goal is not to create biometric feedback shooting games, but zen-garden pulse-training games for the Wii Fit crowd, or those too old for balance boards.

Now, I would totally dig a game that used biometric feedback interestingly, but I can't help but imagine that we're going to get things that aren't games, aren't even wii Music-like software (btw, <3 Wii Music, <3 <3 <3), but are more "exercises."

Hmmm... though a Trauma Center game that uses this would be the most amazing thing in the world... oh geez!

The concept is completely original and thats why I like it. I love when a company actually thinks outside the box and mean it. I will probably hate whatever software they come up with but the idea is simply amazing, it's not about you controlling the game but the game controlling you (in some way), so it really hypes me for whatever Nintendo is thinking for their next console. Yes, the whole basis of the balance board was excercise, but now we see it has even been implemented in punch out, I wouldn't discard the idea of the vitality sensor getting outside the "health" games and into the traditional games.

[Stogi]

This looks exactly like the tech used in hospitals.

If Nintendo combined this tech with the tech found in the wiimote and M+, then made the attachment for all your fingers and thumbs, this could quite literally replicate Minority Report.

But let's stick to the present for just a moment. I know you guys aren't really interested in the Zen garden idea, but just imagine for a second what that would be like.

You are sitting with your legs crossed in the middle of the living room. The game instructs you to close your eyes. Your heartbeat is higher than it likes, so the music is more intense than you would like. It tells you to relax and to focus on your relaxation. The music becomes less intense and the sound of waves begin to hit your ear. Further and further you relax until you hear nothing but the sound of nature. With the trees shaking in the wind, the sound of birds singing, and the waves splashing onto the shore, you have finally relaxed. It then tells you to think of all the things that might cause you stress....

That may not sound like a game, but it is useful.

[EasyCure]

This looks exactly like the tech used in hospitals.

If Nintendo combined this tech with the tech found in the wiimote and M+, then made the attachment for all your fingers and thumbs, this could quite literally replicate Minority Report.

But let's stick to the present for just a moment. I know you guys aren't really interested in the Zen garden idea, but just imagine for a second what that would be like.

You are sitting with your legs crossed in the middle of the living room. The game instructs you to close your eyes. Your heartbeat is higher than it likes, so the music is more intense than you would like. It tells you to relax and to focus on your relaxation. The music becomes less intense and the sound of waves begin to hit your ear. Further and further you relax until you hear nothing but the sound of nature. With the trees shaking in the wind, the sound of birds singing, and the waves splashing onto the shore, you have finally relaxed. It then tells you to think of all the things that might cause you stress....

That may not sound like a game, but it is useful.

I would use that on a daily basis if my life is anything like it is now when this peripheral is released.

I'm slightly relaxed just imagining all that, so i can only imagine how at ease i could feel if i had that sorta help via software and the vitality sensor.

Oh and stogi, i believe it IS the exact same tech seen in hospitals.. from what i've read anyway.

[BlackNMild2k1]

From the OP

Wii Vitality Sensor in detail as it is basically identical to the medical device you find at hospitals.

[EasyCure]

From the OP

Wii Vitality Sensor in detail as it is basically identical to the medical device you find at hospitals.

hehe knew i read it somewhere

I'm trying to think of ways this accessory could be used in "traditional" games but outside of the examples already mentioned, i've got nothing. I think my imagination is broken


I did think it could maybe be used in a game like Metal Gear Solid, where you'd have to stop from bleeding not by crouching but by trying to slow down your heart beat.. or even have moments during your Evade Mode where you have to hold your breathe in a locker so gaurd don't hear you.. but those are still along the same lines of some of the other ideas thrown out there.

[BlackNMild2k1]

that actually sounds like a pretty good idea. lets hope 3rd parties actually have some similar or better ones.

[EasyCure]

that actually sounds like a pretty good idea. lets hope 3rd parties actually have some similar or better ones.

And thats the good part of this.. if i can come up with a decently neat lil idea like that, imagine what Miyamoto can come up with or Suda51!

[ThomasO]

You are sitting with your legs crossed in the middle of the living room. The game instructs you to close your eyes. Your heartbeat is higher than it likes, so the music is more intense than you would like. It tells you to relax and to focus on your relaxation. The music becomes less intense and the sound of waves begin to hit your ear. Further and further you relax until you hear nothing but the sound of nature. With the trees shaking in the wind, the sound of birds singing, and the waves splashing onto the shore, you have finally relaxed. It then tells you to think of all the things that might cause you stress....

That sounds like a game that can be used to hypnotize people. Once the sensor determines that the user is in a deep state of relaxation, other players can then use that to make the user do silly things. Imagine... Wii Hypnosis.

[EasyCure]

You are sitting with your legs crossed in the middle of the living room. The game instructs you to close your eyes. Your heartbeat is higher than it likes, so the music is more intense than you would like. It tells you to relax and to focus on your relaxation. The music becomes less intense and the sound of waves begin to hit your ear. Further and further you relax until you hear nothing but the sound of nature. With the trees shaking in the wind, the sound of birds singing, and the waves splashing onto the shore, you have finally relaxed. It then tells you to think of all the things that might cause you stress....

That sounds like a game that can be used to hypnotize people. Once the sensor determines that the user is in a deep state of relaxation, other players can then use that to make the user do silly things. Imagine... Wii Hypnosis.

BEST. PARTY GAME. EVER.