Health Meter: An Open Letter to Publishers and Developers

6/22/2009 1:23 PM | 2 Comments | Page 2 of 2

Now, let's add the Balance Board to this leash-less movement and take things in a couple of different directions.

Imagine this: Your only path to freedom is blocked by the largest, nastiest, you-hating thing that you've ever encountered in a game. Parts of your former comrades are stuck between its teeth. The most powerful blast from your weapon would be a mosquito bite to this beast. The only way you're going to get past it is with stealth. The yoga mini-game in Wii Fit threw a circle up on the screen. It then tossed up a dot that told you where your center of gravity was. The goal was to keep your center of gravity -- and the dot -- inside that circle. It made yoga much cooler than yoga -- by law -- should be allowed to be. What if you had to keep your center of gravity -- essentially, your ability to remain motionless -- in a similar circle to prevent this nightmare beast from seeing you and ripping you to shreds?

But, that's only the beginning. Just like in Tenchu or Metal Gear Solid, you now have to be a total stealth-master and time your movements based on this beast's awareness. When you're confident that you're out of its view, you have to run like hell to another spot where -- with your heart rate now up and your adrenaline pumping -- you have to, once again, remain motionless so it won't see you and rip you apart. Do you know how challenging and beneficial for the body that would be? It's essentially interval cardiovascular training coupled with balance and body-awareness training. And it would be a crazy amount of fun at the same time.

Or you could combine the freedom of movement with some of the jumping in Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip and have some serious fun. The free-running concept behind Mirror's Edge was a giant whack in the head to most gamers. A movement-based version of this world-as-your-jungle-gym idea would be mind-blowing. The speed of your running could be controlled by the Nunchuk strapped to your leg. Your balance and jumping could be handled by your skills on the Balance Board. Your direction could be controlled by the directional pad on the Remote. And other actions could be handled by the remaining buttons on the Remote. It would be a full-body workout that integrated upper- and lower-body coordination -- something that most workouts generally don't do. More importantly, it would be something that gamers would want to do -- rather than something they felt that they had to do.

Moving your body is fun. Once you call it "exercise," though, most people start looking for excuses not to do it. Feel free to steal these ideas. And I have a whole mess more if you're interested. Just track me down at my Web site -- www.blackbeltfitness.com.

Thanks,

Steve