Bona fide exercise bike abuses Wiimote accessory license... badly
By Darren Murph 
posted October 14th 2009 7:40AM
posted October 14th 2009 7:40AM
[Via Joystiq]
posted October 14th 2009 7:40AM
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haven't you already learned that people hate you and don't want to buy your shit. do us all a favor and go skydiving without a parachute.
why so difficult? It would be much easier to add some cheap active "strips", which you will put on your legs and which will be "watched" wia the wii remote sensor
When I first saw the running part of Wii Sports (Play?) I thought it would be way cool if one could simply run and explore rather than being locked into a certain path - the possibilities are endless. I don't know why they don't have visuals for commercial-grade treadmills already - the graphics hardware/software is obviously there already - hills, curves, woods, desert, whatever - as one goes through a "course" the speed/incline of the treadmill could be changed automatically.
Because it won't be people that weigh 150 lbs and less using it. It's going to be people way heavier. Do you expect a cheap plastic bike to withstand heavy loads? The balance board has a weight limit many Americans surpass unfortunately.
They DO have those already. I've seen them at the YMCA in Auburn Hills, Michigan.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09036/946920-56.stm
They have these types of things already at my local gym. They are actually pretty fun to use. My gym has both a stationary regular bike model and a recumbent model. You have to steer around any of the available courses, and the resistance gets harder when you are going "uphill" and easier on "downhill", plus you have to change gears just like a regular bike.
Now the quality on this Wii version will probably be questionable, it is a cool idea to have it in ones home.
Here's there website.
http://www.expresso.com/indexmain.html
no american is that skinny.
Harsh.. I'm American and in good shape, and there arent a lot of fat people in my area.
But yes, most Americans are quite disgusting, some people were just raised around the dinner table i guess...
@Massmass
Lots of americans have olive skin and black hair. american does not mean white people. you can have any ethnic background and be american.
YOU GUYS ARE RACIST!!!
TO AMERICANS!!!!
/sarcasm/
=P
I can't tell if you are simply intermittently sarcastic or ignorant..
I don't see why this thing can't be made of reasonable quality for about $100 (maybe $150).
It's just a lot of plastic and some metal, plus a Wii transmitter module. Unlike a real exercise bike, there is no led display. And I assume you can't in anyway adjust the resistance on the pedals.
Plastic isn't expensive and neither is Chinese labor.
I wonder if they were smart enough to design it for a "generously sized" person, rather than the one pictured on the box.
BTW... might get one for my dad. He loves his Wii but only uses it for bowling.
"generously sized" person and plastic chair.....what could possible go wrong?
It's not the worst idea in the world, from a business perspective. LOTS of the same people who bought wii fitness also like recumbent bikes. Such bikes are very easy to lazily exercise on...
When I was little I rode an exercise bike that was hooked up to a video screen at disney world (epcot?). It was pretty sweet. I think this could be a legitimately fun way to ride the bike. Quality control is another issue, but most buyers will use this less than 20 times, sadly.
Personally, I think you could make a lot of money by hooking a pedometer style device to the pedal of any elliptical or stationary bike or stair climber, and have that work with a $50 machine that plugged into your TV for some basically fun exercise game. You could calibrate it based on the calories your machine claimed you were burning.
but this is likely to be more profitable.
Yeah, this is dumb and will probably fall apart.
-but how many guitar hero and rock band accessories have you "worked" through?
See? Puts it in perspective, doesn't it?
Yeah, but you usually don't sit on Rock Band guitars.
Not if you don't leave 'em on the couch.
I told you about that, now we need more glue! ;)
I have yet to go through one guitar so I have no clue what your talking about. The whammy bars are a little dangly, but seriously... Have beat most of the games on medium/hard so I would think it has had some decent wear on it.
So no... it doesn't put it in perspective.
A pair of glasses and a humor transplant for my friend here, please?
If the game was a bike-based MarioKart, it would totally make exercising worthwhile.
Flintstones Edition.
For the American market, GM should jump on the bandvagon and release an "accessory" to the Wii in a shape of a full sized car.
screw the Focus - how about a Wii-enabled STi for some rally gaming?
by the way...if it was deleted...which it probably will be soon, my comment went to the asshole who keeps spamming his damn webpage.
MSRP : 300$ +50$ shipping
Anyone else notice the box mentions Mario Kart? It looks like it's under a "Compatible with" label.
I wonder how that's going to work
The concept is interesting. But the liability due to injury might be too high in America.
- Amir Rosenthal
Reebok did this with the CyberRider and PS2 games 5 years ago. Kind of fun for half an hour and then it gets ignored.
There was a game for the SNES MUCH earlier that used an exercise bike. It was called "exertainment" and you could bike as the devil (IIRC), so it was easily the best excercise bike-based videogame ever.
weak and yet over-priced. under promise, most likely be abandoned within 2 weeks.
so this goes well with Wii
If the price were cheap enough, I would just be interested in taking it apart and seeing if the transmitter guts could be adapted to fit my "real" exercise bike.
.............
This is madness.
This is Sparta!
I don't see why they don't just stick the Wii-remote on a pedal and use the motion detector to calculate rotations. Then anyone could use any exercise bike.
Maybe with this device, the effort corresponding to steepness of a hill, could be set from the Wii but then you would also want gears to compensate, but then it all gets too complicated, so I doubt it.
This is not a first for Nintendo. The NES had a bike flywheel/stand and game called CompuTrainer way back in the early 90's. It turns out all the crazy stuff Nintendo did in the 80's (PowerGlove, Uforce) were just market research for their current Wii success. Is a ROB comeback next? Let's hope not.
CompuTrainer is still very much alive and well, but it's association with Nintendo has long since expired. CompuTrainer today still makes and does quite well selling near $2,000 trainers for serious competitive cyclists and triathletes. $1700 for the Pro model is just for the trainer and software, you still need your own bike(s).
http://www.computrainer.com/rm_inc/sales/pricing_ordering.html
That actually looks kinda fun but I don't see how it would be solid if it's not heavy and well made!.
You know, sometimes Engadget's cynicism gets on my nerves... obviously there's at least a tiny market for this sort of thing as I've seen similar devices in gyms before, usually an exercise bike attached to a "game" where you cycle around... oddly enough, it can make it a lot more fun to ride an exercise bike, especially if they can make it into an actual game where exploration is encouraged. Really, Engadget... sometimes I think you're all too happy to bring the hammer down on something just to get a chuckle out of your readers... what ever happened to actual journalism?
Or they realize a plastic bike might not withstand the weight of obese Americans.
I agree, it's not so different from the Tacx I-Magic Trainer. But I'd rather it was just a turbo trainer and not a whole exercise bike.
The Wii has really revolutionized the video game industry. While sony and microsoft are still making max payne, Nintendo has came out of the gate and changed the world. Again. Just like they did in 1985 with the NES. They are so far ahead of their competition its not even funny.
they had one of these for a mountain bike game for super nintendo a long time ago too i wish i could remember what it was
bigger TV, raised and right in front of you... awesome
http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=10&e=smartcyclelanding
They left out the best part - the spring in the seat that throws you over the handlebar when your character crashes.
For the larger folks they could use this type of set up: http://www.allegromedical.com/images/products/18030-3.jpg
anything that lowers the weight of children in this country is a Good Thing.
Let us attach something to our existing exercise bikes. That way I can use the recumbent bike I already have, which is much a better quality machine than what is presumably included with the game.