Wii Vitality Sensor - A horror-genre gamer's dream?

Originally Posted by GK: 5895/9999

Those games could fall into the last part of what you quoted

So if you don't find those games "super scary", no one will?

I said that those two could fall into the category of being legitimately atmospheric and scary games. I'm just saying that adding gameplay mechanics linked to your emotions in the game mightn't work for some people who aren't effected by shocks these kind of games try to give you. On the other hand, if you're much more susceptible to that kind of stuff (I generally am), it could work wonders. I still have no idea what they could actually do whilst picking up your pulse or whatever though.

Really, if you don't get shocks from games or feel much emotion at all, this peripheral will do nothing for you. That's a pretty big thing to say considering how little we know, but that's my take so far. I'm surprised at how many people are defending this thing to be honest, I mean, it's not like people were excited and thought "day one" when they saw it at E3.

Quick question. Isn't this basically what the AI director already does in L4D? By sending out enemies based on how well/quickly etc that you are performing?

For me horror isn't enemies charging at you, its fear of the unknown. One level in Thief 3 had me really tense based on atmosphere alone, and you know, there wasn't a single enemy in that level.

So my opinion; I really can't see this thing working all that well. Besides the fact that people will just take it off if they want an easy game.

Originally Posted by squall24

Quick question. Isn't this basically what the AI director already does in L4D? By sending out enemies based on how well/quickly etc that you are performing?

Yeah, it seems like that's what they want to do. They're doing something similar in Silent Hill: Shattered Memories too. It analyses how you play and "uses that against you", to make things more frightening. I'm guessing that means cautiously looking around every vs run like ****. No need for some peripheral on your finger, and it works fine.

For me horror isn't enemies charging at you, its fear of the unknown. One level in Thief 3 had me really tense based on atmosphere alone, and you know, there wasn't a single enemy in that level.

The only thing I can see them adding with this sensor is more jump noises. I mean, take your Thief setting. How, in that environment, would this peripheral make things better having detected your being tense? I really have no idea.

So my opinion; I really can't see this thing working all that well. Besides the fact that people will just take it off if they want an easy game.

I didn't even think about that. Lol.

Originally Posted by GK: 5895/9999

The only thing I can see them adding with this sensor is more jump noises. I mean, take your Thief setting. How, in that environment, would this peripheral make things better having detected your being tense? I really have no idea.

Here's a video of the place to show what I mean, though it loses something if you don't play it yourself. Also, just one enemy would simply ruin it imo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG7_6Vf_xCs

Would also be cool if you could hear your heartbeat/heart rate through the speakers if you're playing a horror game.

Like the vitality sensor would measure your heart rate and input it into the game, which would cause the heartbeat sounds to match your heart's rate.

Walking along a nice quiet corridor...badum...badum...badum... then OMFGMONSTEROUTOFNOWHEREANDRAAWWRRR BADUMBADUMBADUMBADUM

Yeah, then you wouldn't be able to lie about whether you got scared or not LOL.

I don't think I'm ever going to buy it though.

If we had this thing back when Dino Crisis came out, my character probably would have had a heart attack and died when you're walking down that quiet corridor and the dinosaur bursts through the window. I know I almost did.

I think that was the only moment where a game has actually made me jump and scream, and I always pinned Silent Hill as the scarier of the two. Didn't realize dinosaurs could freak me out that easily.

Originally Posted by squall24

Quick question. Isn't this basically what the AI director already does in L4D? By sending out enemies based on how well/quickly etc that you are performing?

No. The Director in AI is pretty much just an algorithm that creates a number between 0 and 1, based on shots fired, accuracy, health left etc., and uses that as a seed to randomly generate entities at specified spawn points. It does make the game more interesting, but if the algorithm isn't working perfectly, it's still not the best. For example, I can be flying through the game, having absolutely no problems, but because my "stress" seed is high, the game will back off on the spawns and make it easier. With the VS, the game is changing on biometrics, not an estimate based on game triggers.

It's an interesting idea, although I doubt it has much practical worth.

Measurements of the autonomic nervous system's functioning can provide a lot of information regarding mood regulation and emotional states, although I doubt that Nintendo's vitality sensor is going to be able to pick up on this - or even decipher it.

In the lab, if we want to measure autonomic functioning then it requires an experimenter to strap on a couple of rather uncomfortable electrodes to the wrists and ankles. Even then, the data that you get is still really quite ambiguous and requires some pretty heavy analysis before you get anything meaningful.

Hopefully Nintendo will go down that route, if only for the hilarious adverts that we'd get of Beowulf Knowles trying to keep smiling as the other members of Destiny's Child rip the selotape off her leg.

Something tells me that sticking your finger into Nintendo's latest hunk of plastic isn't going to be much better than buying a key-ring lie detector from the Gadget store.