I was once a semi-champion for the Nintendo’s Wii Vitality Sensor, but now even I have given into reason and rationality: This vaporware peripheral, for me, is all but dead on arrival.
When it was originally revealed to a skeptical E3 audience more than a year ago, the sensor promised an interactive experience that was previously available only to hospital patients. It would seem that this is where that experience will stay, however, as we haven’t heard a peep from Nintendo regarding the sensor in quite some time.
At this point, the conspiracy theorist in me has to wonder if the sensor was a feint, designed to see how far competitors would go to copy Nintendo and attempt to capture some of the company’s wild success in a bottle.
Unfortunately, if this was the case it doesn’t appear to have worked, as the copycatting has only gone as far as the Sony PlayStation Move commercials, set in the sterile IKEA living rooms. There’s nary a Sony PlayStation Vitals or purple case Microsoft Kinecticality health game in sight.
This is a good thing, in hindsight, as Nintendo hasn’t exactly been blowing the socks off the industry as of late. I see the direction-less, incredibly peculiar Vitality Sensor as an embodiment of that staleness, confusion and perhaps a little arrogance as well.
Maybe now, with the Vitality Sensor DOA, they can focus on freshening up their image a bit.