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  • 2007 Serious Games Summit GDC: Jane McGonigal On ilovebees, ARGs This latest Serious Games Source feature covers a keynote by alternate reality game creator Jane McGonigal presented during the recent 2007 Serious Games Summit, during which she stated “I design games from the future,” and offered insight into the creation of Halo 2 ARG ilovebees.
  • Serious Game Engine Shootout In the march up to the Serious Games Shootout panel to take place in March during the Serious Games Summit in San Francisco, writer Richard Carey presents a comparative analysis of several prominent engines currently used for developing serious games, as well as quotes from the companies behind the technologies.
  • Playing with Fire: Enemy Dolls In this latest Playing with Fire feature, Powerful Robot Games' Gonzalo Frasca offers his unique insight into the perception of conflict in games, as well as in other media, and notes how looking at events through the eyes of the opposition could lead to better understanding.
Nintendo Announces Wii Vitality Sensor Peripheral[06.02.09]

One of the most unconventional announcements at Nintendo's E3 2009 conference is the Wii Vitality Sensor, a finger-mounted sensor, which likely measures things such as pulse and skin conductance.

Although no technical details on the device were revealed -- nor a release date or any games for it -- Nintendo president Satoru Iwata made it an important part of the Nintendo press conference at E3 today.

Showing the small white fingertip-interlocking peripheral, apparently designed to be operated alongside the Wiimote, he explained some of the things it might try to work out: "How nervous am I? How focused am I on remembering my script?"

Iwatan commented that "these things are normally invisible", but the Vitality Sensor will "have you see the information relating to the inner world of your body."

He also mused, as part of the Vitality Sensor's concept, that perhaps "everyone under pressure in our stressful society could use this as a way to relax."

This alternative approach to 'game' controllers and the curiously anti-stimulative attitude that it conveys is another attempt from Nintendo to further broaden the market of interactive entertainment.

Previous attempts to use a similar sensor in games and relaxation methods have birthed titles such as Journey To Wild Divine, which also attempts to use a biofeedback sensor for game and relaxation-related reasons.

[Thanks to Gizmodo for the image.]

By Staff
June 2, 2009 10:24:00 AM PT