Nintendo explains Vitality Sensor delay

By Fred Dutton Published 2 May, 2011

Wii add-on suffers "difficult" development.

Nintendo has revealed that the Wii Vitality Sensor peripheral, first announced in 2009, is still in the works but a number of problems are delaying its launch.

CEO Satoru Iwata told investors during a Q&A (translated on Nintendo's website) last week that the gadget was still being worked on but required additional fine-tuning before it would be fit for launch.

"I imagine that you are worried about that because it hasn't been put on the market even though a long time has passed since it was initially announced," he said.

"This is a totally new type of entertainment, and there are large individual differences in the biological information of humans.

"For example, if it was acceptable that only 80 per cent of the users thought the result was natural, then we could propose this to consumers right now. However, we are aiming for a level of quality in which 99 per cent of consumers feel comfortable, and that is why this project is taking time to complete."

He went on to promise that Nintendo was still trying to get it right, but wouldn't commit to a launch window.

"I feel that this project has a lot of interesting potential, and we would like to continue this project without giving up," he continued, "but it is difficult to overcome this hurdle, so please understand that now I cannot clearly say when we will be ready to put this on the market.

First shown off during Nintendo's E3 event in 2009, the device will apparently clip on to your finger and somehow monitor stress and nervousness.

More information was promised at E3 2010 but that came and went without a mention.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (24) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • el_pollo_diablo #1 1 year ago

    Can't they just license some existing medical middleware to interpret the data?

  • Mister-Wario #2 1 year ago

    Why do Nintendo even bother with extra peripherals any more? They're either hardly utilised (Motion Plus, Balance Board) or utterly useless (Wii Zapper). This Vitality sensor will be used by one decent game (with Wii in the title) and never be used again.

    Things like Motion Plus and the Balance Board are pretty interesting developments, and I want to use them again but there simply isn't anything decent out there for them except a couple of choice titles: hell, even Nintendo themselves don't encourage their use. It's money-making gimmickry at its worst and we could all do without it.

  • JeroenZM #3 1 year ago

    Playing Jungle Beat with the DK bongos was a great experience, it's too bad Nintendo didn't release more games like that. Nintendo's hesitation to release the Vitality sensor suggests to me that it will probably meet the same fate as the Super Scope, Virtual Boy, Motion Plus and other underutilized peripherals.

  • JonFE #4 1 year ago

    It only makes sense to release it bundled with Project Cafe now, if at all...
    Edited by JonFE at 02/05/11 @ 21:10

  • kadooosh #5 1 year ago

    This is te first I've heard bout it.. So this is something that will go, yes, you are nervous. Or yea, you seem stressed.?? Wow, how times are a changing!

  • Capa26 #6 1 year ago

    "I imagine that you are worried about that because it hasn't been put on the market even though a long time has passed since it was initially announced"

    Nope.

  • joelstinton #7 1 year ago

    I think it could be a great addition to the cafe, especially if they spend time getting it right. To be honest a lot of companies would release this at 80% working efficiency, and be done with it. People harp on about gimmicky, but i think the vitality sensor, could actually have a deep and lasting impact on gaming. Input, and output are the two most important devices in gaming, and this sensor effects both of them. - Accuracy, rate, movement, steadiness, etc. It all depends on how it is used.

    Again it depends on how nintendo push it, to hard, the developers won't bite, but show it can add real value to a game and it could be a surprise success. Motion controls are for the most are pathetic- waggle ware, but the actual pointer on the wii mote is superb, but as Mister Wario says there is far to few games utilising them. RTS, and FPS should really be fully utlising pointer controls by now.

  • Whizzo #8 1 year ago

    It's probably not been released because no-one has the foggiest about what the hell it's for and that includes virtually everyone at Nintendo.

  • carrotcake #9 1 year ago

    There was a lot of scepticism every time Nintendo unveiled a new peripheral like the wheel or balance board, but I could instantly see how all of them would be fun and commercially successful. The vitality sensor was pretty much the only thing that I couldn't imagine having fun with or benefiting my life... it's a much less appealing concept than anything they revealed before. I just assumed they realised they can't do anything with it and sort of gave up.

  • Eoin #10 1 year ago

    "there are large individual differences in the biological information of humans."

    I'd guess so, because it seems like the brains of the people who thought up the Vitality Sensor work quite differently to my own.

  • Reedo #11 1 year ago

    @Mister-Wario

    Nintendo have always done this. It's just what they do as a company. They invented the rumble pak, analog sticks, just look at the DS and you can see what their amazing R&D departments are capable of when they have the developer support. Difference now is that the Wii is simply not powerful enough for big developers to even consider using it, even when Nintendo offer the peripherals that they do (motion plus, anyone?). They have really hurt their reputation despite massive sales figures driven by their now slightly-pissed fanbase.

    They must know this, which is why the big rush now to get project cafe released whilst everything else has been shelved in the meantime. They need to give third parties exactly what they want this time around, which will be tough for them especially now the ps3 and 360 are reaping the rewards of cross-platform gems which would never be possible or worthwhile to port to the underpowered wii.

  • deez #12 1 year ago

    It's never coming out.


    I love the fact they bother coming up with bizarre stuff like this, similar to the bongos/powerglove... keeps things interesting beceause they are sometimes so off kilter..

  • PhoenixElemental #13 1 year ago

    Probably be moved to the Wii2/Project Café/Stream.

  • midnight_walker #14 1 year ago

    Don't worry, Nintendo, nobody gives a shit anyway.

  • schnide #15 1 year ago

    @deez

    TELL THAT TO DUKE NUKEM! YEAH!

  • Shinetop #16 1 year ago

    "I imagine that you are worried about that"

    It's so cute! They think people are actually awaiting this with baited breath.

  • L0cky #17 1 year ago

    Or probably just "You're probably asking because", but lost in translation.

  • Shakey_Jake33 #18 1 year ago

    Even if they released it now, it would simply be too late. The kind of audience that they were hoping to target with this has already moved on. Something to put on the backburner for now and maybe revive with the Wii 2, methinks.

    Personally, I assumed it was already avaliable. I certainly haven't been following the device, and I'd imagine many other people here haven't been following it either.

  • Subdominator #19 1 year ago

    LOL, I thought I'd never here from it again. Of course it's never coming out. We all know that it's sole purpose was for Nintendo to show anything at all at E3 2009. Ok, besides Wii Music and that hilarious on stage performance. :D But it was ridiculous then and it still is today. The reason why it's not coming out is not because the hardware doesn't work. The same thing was available ten years ago for PCs in various polygraph gadgets. The reason is that they have no clue what kind of games they can do with it. There are only so many things a sensor on your finger can check. If you want games you have to use brain waves instead of transpiration and pulse. But I expect Microsoft to be first in this area - because they are already experimenting with it on a larger scale and it would be a perfect addition to Kinect. Truly controller free gaming.

  • arremelle #20 1 year ago

    They should forget it as a peripheral and have it built into the controller for the project Café system.

  • sonicyoda #21 1 year ago

    This whole post can be summed up as "we're delaying it until Project Cafe comes out".

  • AOFanboi #22 1 year ago

    <em>Probably be moved to the Wii2/Project Café/Stream</em>

    /Feel

    Let the rumours continue

  • matsumoto #23 1 year ago

    We already got similar stuff. does anyone remember Tetris 64 from SETA? i own that but never put in on my ear. thinking about it now, i probably should have.

  • grussbarbar #24 1 year ago

    I'd love to see Nintendo get this working well. A possible use could be a survival horror game which could throw a scare at you whenever you get too relaxed. Or a game like Heavy Rain with interactions circling around your head, in which you have to stay calm to keep them circling slowly.
    It could be a problem to press a trigger button with the sensor on though.