I know everyone is quick to poo-poo this concept, but I think it may have applications that "core" gamers may not be familiar with. This console generation, Nintendo has been rewarded by thinking outside the box and experimenting with controls that don't conform to standard game play. I doubt the system will be marketed towards the audience that visits video game sites. Rather, it will show up on Good Morning, America or the Today Show where (the lovely) Meredith Viera will test it out, talk about the convergence of mind, body and spirit, and do some deep breathing exercises to move the video game ball into the on screen cup. The peripheral will be seen as an addendum to the WiiFit board. The "core" may scoff at the introduction of a heart rate monitor to a game console, but Nintendo has had great success at appealing to areas of the public previously ignored by game makers. Microsoft and Sony have been expanding their consoles beyond just games to include social networking, HD video and internet radio. They want their systems to be the hub for all the digital entertainment that you enjoy in your home. Nintendo is moving in a different direction. They want to help you become a better person through exercise, mental training and now stress relief.
Below are excerpts from an article published in the Rocky Mountain Times in 2005. I think it illustrates the type of thing Nintendo has planned for Vitality.
Pixels of peace
Biofeedback game helps players build mental serenity
By Jeff Smith, Rocky Mountain News
April 11, 2005
With biofeedback sensors attached to three fingers, a player begins a computer video game journey through lush gardens, temples, reflecting pools and mountain landscapes.
Sophia and a Buddhist monk are two of the wise mentors who guide the participant through 42 experiences to teach breathing control, relaxation and focus.
In one, a person learns how to juggle balls through laughter. In another, players build a staircase toward an Asian-style temple by controlling their breathing. Completion results in a breathtaking, ground-splitting experience.
Kurt Smith and Corwin Bell, of Eldorado Springs, who founded and created the Wild Divine Project, see the interactive game as a tool to help people reduce stress and be in better balance and control of their lives.
Biofeedback is a behavior training program that teaches a person how to better control certain reactions normally outside conscious control, such as heart rate, blood pressure, muscular tension and sweating. Biofeedback can be used to reduce anxieties and stress and to improve focus and performance.
Bell believed computer animation could put some zest into the process. He already was tinkering with a homemade biofeedback system, made partly with Radio Shack components, in which a dove on the computer screen would speed up and fly off when a person got excited.
Judy Chiswell, a therapist near Buffalo, N.Y., is an advocate of Wild Divine, using the video game as part of the treatment process for her clients..."So from a biofeedback standpoint, it's very exciting," said Chiswell, who has a doctorate in psychology and a bachelor's degree in occupational therapy. She said she often chooses "chapters" of the video game that she wants her clients to experience at the time. The whole concept is enabling yourself to quiet your mind and move your energy in a new way and then get it back again. It's the kind of control that's very important in terms of helping people live a more healthful life," she said. "And there's an interesting spiritual dimension to their work, which I feel is the missing piece" in the relationship between the mind and the body.
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