Speaking in an interview with N'Gai Croal, Reggie Fils-Aime talked about the competition and where Nintendo is headed after this year's E3 announcements. However, he also talked quite extensively about the Wii Vitality Sensor peripheral. Rather than asking the usual "How will it work?" question, Croal was more curious about how it can be applied to traditional games. While it might be pretty obvious, Reggie confirmed that the games that will use the Vitality Sensor will only be using the Wiimote and no Nunchuck. He also stated that right now the concept of the Vitality Sensor will confound most people, but when the software is shown, it'll make most people go, "Wow, I get it." It seems like Nintendo has a specific software with which they will achieve this reaction from the public. I'm actually curious as to how it works now.

Going back to the Wii Vitality Sensors and looking at how one might use it, I've used those sorts of sensors for relaxation, and heart rate monitoring. I get the potential for meditation, fitness, that kind of stuff. But thinking about this for traditional games, it seems like depending on where it's placed, it might take one hand out of play--

Good thing we have a one handed remote.

[Laughs] You thought ahead. I know you can't talk about specific games but do you see that as a barrier to building a traditional game that also monitors a player's heart rate?

So what I can tell you is this. You and I probably had a very similar conversation when we first showed the Nintendo DS: how is it going to work, why a touch screen, voice activation--I don't get it. We probably had a similar conversation about the Wii Remote: how is this going to work, how is it going to work with the games that I want to play--I don't get it. Now I'm hearing something similar for the Wii Vitality Sensor. And all I can tell you is, with the game developers that we have, we will bring forth an experience that you will say, "Wow, I get it."

Until you have that software, it's tough to understand. If I told you that you would be standing on an oversized bathroom scale, and having fun doing it, you probably would have said, "Reggie, I don't get it." And yet here we are with the balance board arguably as the third largest development platform across the globe.

McClubbin via fastcompany.com »