wiivitalitysensor
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Nintendo confirms Wii Vitality Sensor's death, says it produced inconsistent results
Oh Wii Vitality Sensor, we hardly knew ye... in that we didn't know you at all. Nintendo introduced the pulse-sensing Wii peripheral at its E3 2009 stage show, and said we'd hear more in "the future." That future never came, despite occasional assurances that the device still existed. During a recent Q&A with Nintendo head Satoru Iwata, an analyst brought up the device once more, and Iwata said it encountered too many issues in quality assurance testing to bring to market. "We have not been able to launch it as a commercial product because we could not get it to work as we expected and it was of narrower application than we had originally thought," he told investors. According to Iwata's estimates, approximately 90 out of 100 people were able to use the Vitality Sensor without a hitch, though he (thankfully) requires that it work with "1,000 of 1,000 people." However, he admitted "but [since we use the living body signal with individual differences] it is a little bit of a stretch to make it applicable to every single person." He'd still love to make the Vitality Sensor a reality "if technology enhancements" allow, but thus far, testing renders it "insufficient as a commercial product." In other Nintendo news, Iwata assured investors that he will continue to monitor employee cafeteria quality-related concerns. Seriously though, that was a question.
Nintendo Wii Vitality Sensor still coming to a hand near you, says Iwata
For a product with the word "vitality" in its name, Nintendo's forthcoming Wii peripheral doesn't seem to have much of a pulse these days. The oddball controller certainly piqued our interest when the gaming giant showed it off way back in 2009, but aside from some false alarms and an uncovered patent application, we haven't heard a peep. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata addressed the Vitality Sensor's conspicuous absence during a financial presentation, chalking the delay up to "differences in biological information in humans." The peripheral is still coming, according to Iwata, but it won't be released until the company can make it work well with 99 percent of consumers -- a tall order indeed. And what about the other one percent? Well, perhaps they can try these on for size.
Wii Vitality Sensor detailed in patent application, fires righteous beams of light
How does Nintendo's oft-delayed Wii Vitality Sensor work? According to a new patent filing, it's actually quite simple -- the unit fires infrared light right at your fingertip and reports how much passes through, just like the pulse oximeters the pros use. Games then translate the result to the unfortunately-named "relax fluid" number, which is the Vitality Sensor's equivalent of your Brain Age -- the more fluid you've got, the calmer you are. It's also allegedly sensitive enough to detect when you're breathing just by measuring the changes in your fingertip, as evidenced by a concept game where you have to closely adjust your inhaling and exhaling to get an avatar safely through a tunnel without hitting the presumably deadly walls. And now you know.
Nintendo sez DS successor will sport motion control, better graphics; Wii Vitality Sensor in July
In an interview with Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper, Nintendo prez Satoru Iwata provided some rare commentary on what we might expect from a DS successor – not just another DS revision, mind you – whenever the gaming giant gets the urge to upgrade its golden goose. "[It will have] highly detailed graphics," Iwata said, giving ample (but obvious!) fuel to those NVIDIA Tegra on DS rumors. "And it will be necessary to have a sensor with the ability to read the movements of people playing." Now, before you do that annoying cough thing while saying "iPhone" under your breath, we'd like to remind you that Nintendo isn't really an also-ran to this motion-controlled gaming thing. Iwata made a point of saying that an iPhone-esque monthly cellular data plan wasn't in the works; however, that doesn't rule out a Kindle-like data service for the future handheld, as the executive previously mused about, providing for "free" gaming downloads on the go. Now that the boring kid stuff has been put to bed, we can take the mature news out of the cabinet: The pulse-detecting Wii Vitality Sensor will make an appearance at a press conference in July (hey, that's E3 time) with plans for a release "as soon as possible." We trust you guys can take care of the old people jokes yourselves, right?
Nintendo's Iwata says Vitality Sensor is coming "not too late" in 2010
We know, it's been tough waiting for word of a release date for Nintendo's Wii Vitality Sensor. Almost as tough as figuring out what it actually does. Nintendo's Satoru Iwata now looks to be clearing up a few details on both fronts, however, telling investors that the company "would like to deliver the actual product not too late in the year next year," and adding that the first game for it will have a "theme of relaxation, which is completely opposite from traditional ones, to enrich the users' lives." He also again mentioned the idea of using it to measure "how horrified a player is in a horror title" as another possibility, and compared the device to Wii Fit, which he says also initially caused people to doubt how well it would sell.[Via Joystiq]
Nintendo promises 'very creative ideas' for Vitality Sensor, declines to name any
The kids at the Mercury-News have just had a sit-down with our old pal Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo's legendary head of game development, for a chat about the recession, game controllers, and trust. The company's plan for dealing with the ebbs and flows of the international economy is simple: "We're really just concentrating on creating something that people want... something the whole family will use." Does that include the admittedly silly Vitality Sensor? Of course: "[A]ny sort of changes to interface that allows people to get into games and enjoy games is a great trend." Any clues as to the exciting new forms of gameplay this Vitality Sensor will provide? "I don't have any indication for you (of what we have in the works) other than to say that we have lots of very creative ideas." It looks like we'll just have to trust the man with the sword for the time being.[Via Joystiq]
Nintendo Wii Vitality Sensor detects your pulse
And it looks like Nintendo's answer to Microsoft's Project Natal is... a pulse detector. Yep, Ninty's just announced the Wii Vitality Sensor, a finger sensor which attaches to the Wiimote to read your pulse. Details on how the accessory is going to be used in games are pretty vague, but it appears the idea is to check stress, help you relax, and just generally chill out and be groovy. That won't happen for a while yet, though: the Vitality Sensor was described as a "look into the future," so we're guessing we've got a wait in store.Update: Check out the full press release here.
