treadmill
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Details on Azeroth-traversing treadmill revealed
Well, it looks like those keen to attempt their own real life trek across Azeroth (or the virtual world of their choice) now have a fairly straightforward course of action to follow, as the originators of the MMO-connected treadmill have just posted some detailed plans for the rig on the ever-useful Instructables website. In case you didn't catch it the first time around, the setup simply uses a mouse (they recommend an MX Revolution) that's held in place against a mousepad affixed to a bicycle wheel, which itself is simply rested against the treadmill -- a joystick handles the directional control. Of course, there's nothing stopping you from taking things a few steps further and, if you do, be sure to let us know.[Via Hack a Day]
15 Minutes of Fame: Lean and mean with WoW
15 Minutes of Fame is our look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes – from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about.Just a few weeks ago, we published a post about two guys who connected their treadmills to their computers to find out just what it would be like to really take a little jog down the road from Shadowglen to Darnassus. (Hilarity ensued.) But that got us thinking ... What if these guys had actually kept playing that way, turning their WoW-time into a potent weight-loss strategy?It turns out that quite a few players have done exactly that. Back in 2006, The Weight Lifter lost more than 40 pounds with two-hour "WarBiking" sessions on an exercise bike while playing WoW. ("If things got crazy -- as in, I ended up running for my life in the game -- I would end up peddling really fast on the bike. LOL, I know, kinda weird. You try it and see what you do!") Then we talked to Althaea of Terror Nova-H on Eitrigg. Althaea has lost almost 100 pounds playing WoW from a treadmill, shrugging off a diagnosis of sleep apnea and creating an exercise routine that has definitely stuck. Find out how he put it all together, after the break.
Using treadmills to Race across Azeroth
The Wii Fit board was the first object to be linked to character run speed in WoW. Now, the folks at Mana Energy Potions have raised the ante -- they connected a pair of treadmills to their computers, and set about gauging just how possible it is to run like your character. They took a couple steps to simulate the run speed. They measured the land-speed of your average WoW character. Then, they set up a pair of treadmills to tap forward on their accounts -- everytime they moved a certain treadmill distance, their keyboard would pulse "W" to move forward. They dressed up in some silly costumes to make sure their event was as realistic as possible, or maybe just to make the pictures funnier. And then... they ran from Shadowglen to Darnassus. The results? The experience darn near killed 'em, apparantly. They tried a few other things -- drawing a sword while running, eating, and drinking. None of it went particularly well. And while they finished the run, the pair aren't looking forward to doing it again. The author describes it as "sheer brutality." Final result: your character in WoW is in much better shape than you are. I am shocked and amazed. Still, if I had the carpentry skills to build their rig, I think I might take my Warrior out for a jog to help get in shape.
Nerds race across Azeroth IRL, nearly die from shame
Let's try not to read too much into this one. Here are the facts: two dweebs thought it would be a good idea to hook up treadmills to their PCs, don brightly-colored wigs and cardboard swords, and race their avatars across about a mile of virtual turf by jogging in place with only a modicum of coordination and zero athletic ability. The folks at Mana Energy Potion were complicit in the event, which failed to prove treadmill gaming is a good idea, but made great strides in proving just how low World of Warcraft addiction has brought certain members of our society. Video is after the break, we recommend you look away.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Player vs. Everything: Frustrated by levels
I was reading through my usual round-up of blogs and news items this morning when I found an interesting post by Van Hemlock on the topic of levels in MMORPGs. More specifically, it was about how levels in games keep players from playing with each other. He discusses how ever since he started gaming in 1999, being a different level than the people he wants to play with has kept him from playing with them. Whether you're too high for the content to be challenging or too low to be effective, playing with your friends at different levels just never seems to work very well. Van Hemlock makes an excellent point, and it's a problem in almost every single MMOG out there with two notable exceptions: EverQuest 2 and City of Heroes/Villains. Both of these games recognize the problem and attempt to circumvent it, but they do it in very different ways. In City of Heroes, you can move either up or down in level so that you can see high level content at low levels or go back and do low level content as a high level player and still advance. In EverQuest 2, it's strictly one-way. You can bring yourself down to your friend's level and adventure with them for alternate advancement experience. Is this really as big of a problem as people make it out to be, and if it is, why don't more games have systems like these?
Age of Conan's raiding treadmill
Race to the level cap. If you're too slow, you lose. If your gear sucks, you lose MORE. The people who got there first have your number and know where you live. You finally struggle to max level -- but you need to raid to get the gear to continue. The game may be built around PvP, but you have to raid in order to get the gear to PvP. You need to raid to get the gear to do more raiding. Then comes the first expansion, and all your old gear is trash. Rinse and repeat. Thus goes the raiding treadmill. Invented by EverQuest and polished to a mirror-finish by World of Warcraft, the raiding treadmill is no stranger to MMOs.Does it really have to happen again? To see all there is to see and partake in all that can be partook, must we jump on the treadmill and, Red Queen-like, run as fast as we can, just to stay in one place? In a recent blog post, Keen looks at the Age of Conan news that performing in the top echelons of PvP in the Border Kingdoms will depend on grinding out mini-games and doing a fair amount of raiding for the gear to compete. In the end, he decides to purchase the game, despite indications he will not be able to fully enjoy the game. Must modern games still reward fanatical devotion so highly? Is there a way in which casual and hardcore players can both enjoy all the game? We'll know in May if Age of Conan's PvE-gameplay can satisfy gamers who don't wish to climb upon the raiding treadmill.
The DS Life: Dropping weight
The DS Life is a weekly feature in which we scour the known world for narrative images of Nintendo's handheld and handheld gamers. If you have a photo and a story to match it with, send both to thedslife at dsfanboy dot com.Planning on getting yourself in shape this year with video games? Though Wii Fit and My Weight Loss Coach look like excellent tools to help you work out, their hefty prices -- $90 for the former, $40 for the latter -- might be too much for your slim budget. Illustrator Cory Godbey has come up with a lo-fi alternative to those expensive software solutions. Join us past the post break to find out how you can lose weight and save money! In just 30 days!**not in 30 days
Omni-directional treadmill allows individuals to sashay through virtual cities
Though not the first omni-directional treadmill we've ever seen, this version crafted for the EU-funded CyberWalk Project is entirely more interesting. The 6- x 6-meter device features an active walking area of 4.5- x 4.5-meters, and later this month, individuals anxious to prance through a virtual city will be able to strap on a head-mounted display, lace up their LA Lights and indulge in escapism. Aside from giving curious persons the ability to walk through a recreated version of ancient Pompeii, the device could also be used to meander through buildings not yet created or give firefighters a way to train without placing them in harm's way. Now, if only there was an option to dissolve into pixels and teleport to locales you find particularly intriguing, we'd be sold.[Via Slashdot]
G-Trainer "anti-gravity" treadmill gets approved by the FDA
Alter-G looks to have been boasting about its G-Trainer "anti-gravity" treadmill for some time now, but it seems that it's now a whole lot closer to finding itself under your feet someday, as it has now been approved as an actual medical device by the FDA. In case it didn't pop up on your radar, the device itself makes use of a specialized air pressure regulation system to reduce the individuals' effective body weight by up to 80%, with it apparently precise enough to make changes in increments as small as 1%. Of course, Alter-G also seems to be quite confident that the rig is entirely safe but, given some of the predicaments we've seen other, seemingly innocuous treadmills get in, we'd still be a little cautious about strapping ourselves into the thing.[Via MedGadget]
Is Tabula Rasa's leveling treadmill broken?
It's no secret that MMOs operate on a finely tuned treadmill mechanic. The game offers players a succession of small goals, each of which provide the incentive for players to continue on towards the next goal, and so forth. The sustained success of games like World of Warcraft are attributable in no small part to the game's ability to continue to string the player along with new and more interesting goals. What happens though, when a game's system of rewards begins to break down? This is the question that TTH's RadarX explores in an editorial looking at Tabula Rasa's end-game. It's hardly a new question for fans of the game (additional end-game content ranked number 2 on our New Years Tabula Rasa wishlist), but the question is becoming more urgent as casual players finally catch up to their more hardcore brethren in the ranks of the Tier 4.You'd have to believe that Destination Games is at least aware of the problem, it just becomes an issue of implementation. Looking at patch 1.4, with the announcement of a new level 50 instance, it seems evident that they're at least responding to the needs of those at the farthest end of the leveling race, but there's no immediate evidence that they're plugging in content in the middle. Probably the most promising sign was when they plugged in a whole new quest hub into the Palisades in a recent patch, but until they release the final patch notes for 1.4, we have no way of knowing whether the upper-middle level range will get the same treatment.Where I disagree with RadarX is in his assertion that enemy density and the frequency of patrols should be toned down for areas like the Mires. Part of what makes Arieki so fun the first time around is the truly war-like atmosphere it generates. It only makes sense that in such a dense war zone, there would be areas that the Bane rule with an iron fist. I don't have a problem with areas like that encouraging more group activity, because frankly, it just suits the lore a heck of a lot better. Now if they just stuck in some quests for groups to do, I might stop by bitching all together and just get back to playing.
Treadmill recall stuck in endless, fiery loop
It's not every day a company has to recall their recall, but Cybex International is once again recalling six different treadmill models after first recalling them in 2003 -- because the wire nuts used in the first recall repair are causing the units to overheat and catch fire. Five treadmills have gone up in smoke thus far, and if you own a Cybex 400T or 410T, Trotter 510, 525, or 535, or just the charmingly unbranded CXT+ treadmill, you may want to unplug your rig and pick up the phone ASAP. No word on what this next recall will cause, but we're hoping for sentience with a dash of world domination.
Steelcase's Walkstation marries desk and treadmill
Anyone who reads the fine site Book of Joe knows that the man behind the blogging empire is religiously devoted to working out while writing, and prides himself on having integrated a treadmill into his workspace. Well manufacturer Steelcase thinks that this trend has grown beyond one individual multitasking in his underwear, and is poised to introduce a nicely-designed product called the Walkstation which seems more at home in a CEO's office than your messy living room. Not many details are available on this converged piece of furniture co-designed by the Mayo Clinic's Dr. James Levine (who's been working in this specialized field for at least two years, apparently), but supposedly there's an all day demo going down on October 25th at 4 Columbus Circle if you happen to be in the New York area. And if you do go, try to show up in a cab just to be ironic.Update: We've learned -- unsurprisingly, from the Joe mentioned above -- that this rig will retail for a cool $6,500, thereby making it the Rolls Royce of integrated workstations. Thanks, Joe, and keep, um, running for the stars!Update 2: Whoops, guess there's no demo going on after all. You can still show up to that address, we guess, but you certainly won't have the good time you would have had working and exercising simultaneously.
Moonwalk treadmill trains brain-injured patients to walk
Though there's been plenty of inventions that help brain-injured individuals regain a somewhat normal gait, a split-belt treadmill that oftentimes "pushes people into sloppy versions of Michael Jackson's moonwalk" is certainly one of the most bizarre. The device enables one foot to move up to four times faster than the other or throw one leg into reverse whilst the other moves forward, essentially forcing one's brain to make an "unconscious adjustment" in order to keep him / her from falling down. The goal, now, however, is to figure out how to make the temporary fixes instituted by the moonwalk machine permanent -- without forcing the disabled to live out their lives with Thriller running through their headphones.[Via ShortNews]
Omni-directional treadmill could put you in the game
Sure, you get a pretty good workout on that regular treadmill, but don't you think you could burn more calories if you had a little directional freedom? Well, thanks to the ridiculously clever people at Virtual Space Devices, you're one step closer to breaking free of your staid workout -- and one step closer to fully immersive virtual environments. The Michigan-based company has been developing an omni-directional treadmill since 1996, and they appear to have come up with a real solution -- a self-contained unit which allows you to walk (or run) in any direction you choose, without actually covering any ground. Next up the company plans to manufacture a device called the iPlane, which will not only allow you to walk and run wherever you want, but fly as well, which should make future iterations of Doom really, really interesting. Watch the video after the break and be stunned and amazed.[Via Digg]
Doggy treadmill gets your pup in shape
For those of you out there whipping your offspring into shape by utilizing the Step2Play middleman, and burning your own fair share of calories on the GameRunner, it's about time Rover joined the fray, eh? The Dog Walker treadmill helps prevent doggy obesity and apparently relieves the dog's stress, all while helping it to exert all that pent-up energy from being cramped up in the house all day. Aside from sporting a smaller, dog-friendly design, casters to enable easy transport, and two side shields to prevent minor tumbling disasters, the machine also sports a safety leash which prevents the pup from sliding off the rear (or giving up on the goal) and a devilish remote control to vary the speed from 0 to 5-kilometers per hour (3.1 mph). So if you're tired of Fido's stomach dragging the ground while crawling around in misery, you can pick up its very own treadmill (to go along with that recently-purchased pedometer) for ¥15,800 ($131).[Via TokyoMango]
