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

A portion of an interview between VentureBeat and Satoru Iwata. Read the whole thing, the bolded part is just emphasis.

Originally Posted by Satoru Iwata

VB: How is this going to be different?

SI: We have been trying a variety of different technologies and possibilities. We have found that a lot of information can be found through the pulse of a human being. The pulse is not the simple measurement of just your heartbeat. It provides a number of other signals through your body. It can show how your automatic nervous system is operating.

VB: Your nervousness or calmness?

SI: Not exactly that. Your automatic nerves. You can’t control it consciously, but your heart always beats. You may sweat. Your body may shiver. Those are signals of your automatic nerves. By trying to sense the nerves, it can tell a lot. The pulse can include this information. You may feel totally relaxed. Maybe you will play a horror game and the sensor can tell how scared you are. Several other things can be learned from the pulse, like if you are breathing in or breathing out. We may come up with interesting new software that we sell with the new Wii Vitality Sensor, much like we sold the Wii Balance Board with Wii Fit. Sometimes you are physically tired at night but your brain is functioning too much to go to sleep. If you can have software that helps you understand how you can shift from such a tense situation to being more relaxed, then that would help. At some point, what is invisible can become visible. You can learn your level of relaxation.

What we have inside the Wii Vitality Sensor is an optical sensor. It sends light through your finger and detects the amount of blood that it passes through. If there is more blood, the more light is blocked. We can calculate a relaxation level, through my heartbeat and my breathing in and breathing out.

If they somehow added a little cylinder with a control-stick on top of it to the Vitality Sensor (which you could hold with your other three fingers and control with your thumb, connected to the actual VS by some extra wire), then this thing could potentially revolutionize the horror genre.

Just think about it. You're walking through a deserted road, and there is visibly nothing on the road. You feel relaxed. The VS picks this up...

... and out of nowhere, a horde of zombies burst from the ground, startling you and forcing a reaction you may not be ready for.

On your second playthrough (after finishing the game once), you again enter the deserted road, expecting a mob of zombies to burst out of the ground, while you're on your toes (i.e. nervous) the whole time. But they don't come, which adds extra suspense and keeps you on your toes. Just when you're about to exit the road, you feel more relaxed because you've been encountering less enemies. The VS picks this up and... BAM!!!

What do you think? You all just see it as a heartbeat detector, but it could actually be so much more than that.

NOTE: This thing can also be compatible with MotionPlus, as it connects to the same hole that the nunchuk connects to. This could lead to some very interesting horror games.

ALL WII NEED IS THAT CONTROL STICK

Only most people don't actually get scared even when playing HD survival horrors, so I doubt this would be useful at all. There's no use in trying to use this peripheral.

Originally Posted by GK: 5895/9999

Only most people don't actually get scared even when playing HD survival horrors, so I doubt this would be useful at all. There's no use in trying to use this peripheral.

I never actually said you needed to be scared. All you need is to be "on your toes" the whole time.

If you're feeling like the game isn't posing an appropriate challenge, or if you feel like you can predict when enemies pop out of the walls, the VS can change that.

Also, it can change the game when you are too much "on your toes", as it keeps you in suspense by just giving you a few enemies. But when you let your guard down and become too complacent (that's the word I was looking for) because you feel the game has become too easy... BAM!!!

It's never going to make gameplay of any genre any better. It's an insta-fail peripheral.

Originally Posted by GK: 5895/9999

It's never going to make gameplay of any genre any better. It's an insta-fail peripheral.

What you have just posted is just like calling Sean Malstrom a jerk. It's true, but he's not an idiot.

In other words, tell me why this idea is bad, rather than dissing the peripheral.

No.

You'll be hard pressed to find anyone else who doesn't like it though, so I'm sorry.

Are you stating that the general public could actually find this a good idea?

Other than pulse, they could easily put a sensor on the controller (or have another sensor you place on your body) that measures galvanic skin resistance. Those are pretty sensitive; even tensing a little due to "stress" would probably be picked up.

I think it'd be useful for any virtual reality game. I don't play horror games, but I there's a lot of potential there. The technology (sensors and analysis) aren't really NEW, but the application to commercial game products would be, I think.

The Balance Board actually had something to do with gaming.

The first question that popped to my mind when Iwata-san introduced this new peripheral was "What does this have to do with gaming?". I want it to enhance my gaming experience, not tell me when to go to sleep.

But yeah, I won't give up on it yet.

Originally Posted by GK: 5895/9999

Only most people don't actually get scared even when playing HD survival horrors, so I doubt this would be useful at all. There's no use in trying to use this peripheral.

Don't dismiss this idea quite so fast, GK - it might actually have some merit. Not that I'd be likely to buy it myself anyway, but it could work. This thing will detect your heart rate, and can you honestly tell me that your heart rate has never risen when you're playing a video game?

(Oh - and if you do say it hasn't, then I know you're lying )

It has not.

:>

Originally Posted by GK: 5895/9999

It has not.

:>

What!?

That's terrible. I mean, there's something to be said about having your heart increase while you're playing (that terrible pounding used to make my hands tremble!). Of course, I'm the kind of person that cries when I read, so, maybe it's just me.

I was kidding, I can jump at the cheap shocks and things that happen in games. I can't see this peripheral making any difference to the gameplay though, apart from showing "LOL YOU JUMPED" on screen x:

And haha, aww.

^Exactly my thought.

I'm wondering why I need a peripheral to tell me my heart beat. I really don't care what my heart beat is at all. The only thing I could see this being used well for is Wii Fit.

Originally Posted by GK: 5895/9999

I can't see this peripheral making any difference to the gameplay though, apart from showing "LOL YOU JUMPED" on screen x:

Well I can.




Seriously; algorithms in the software could totally use biometrics to make their AIs better.

Originally Posted by Jenova

Well I can.




Seriously; algorithms in the software could totally use biometrics to make their AIs better.

And then you just put the sensor somewhere else and the AI goes haywire.

See? ... the possibilities are endless.

Originally Posted by GK: 5895/9999

I was kidding, I can jump at the cheap shocks and things that happen in games. I can't see this peripheral making any difference to the gameplay though, apart from showing "LOL YOU JUMPED" on screen x:

And haha, aww.

Blur your vision when you're nervous?
Give your character a burst of adrenaline?

Really, I wouldn't call this thing an "insta-fail peripheral", to use GK's word for it. Nintendo was pretty vague about this device, so we have no idea what they plan to do with this. I'm not excited for it, but we have to wait and see before we call it failure.

Originally Posted by Artemicion

Blur your vision when you're nervous?
Give your character a burst of adrenaline?

That actually sounds quite cool.

One thing they will do with this is check when your nervous and then alter the difficulty based on that.