Give the finger to Nintendo

There were a few surprises at Nintendo's E3 press conference this year: A direct sequel to Mario Galaxy; an action heavy Metroid game, with help from Team Ninja; a second New Super Mario Brothers, this time on Wii. And in amongst these juicy pieces of news, they casually slipped in another announcement, one of a brand new peripheral. "Additional peripherals on Wii?," I hear you cry. "Surely it can't be!". Oh, but I'm afraid it is.

The Wii Vitality Sensor plugs into the bottom of your Wiimote, and your finger plugs, well, into it. This allows it to read various vital signs about your body, causing games to.... well, that hasn't exactly been revealed yet. One function that they clearly have in mind, though, is for relaxation exercises, a natural progression after the physical workout of Wii Fit. Yeah, I see where this is going: Now you can exercise you body and mind, only on Nintendo Wii. Very New Age.

But what else could it be used for? Well, believe it or not, Nintendo actually released a similar peripheral in Japan, back in 1998. It was designed to be used with Tetris 64 (on N64, duh!), specifically in a mode called Bio Tetris. Although it measured your heart rate in a similar manner to the Wii Vitality Sensor, it did so by attaching to your ear, freeing your hands for play. This is where it gets cool: The speed of the falling blocks was determined by your pulse. If you started to sweat it when thing began piling up, it only got harder for you. If, on the other hand, you could keep yourself calm under pressure, you stood a much better chance of surviving. Neat, huh?

I hope that Nintendo have something like this planned, but I'm worried that it may amount to nothing much more than a way of checking your vitals in the next edition of Wii Fit. It's also important to note that it's quite a large addition to your finger, limiting play to one-handed only. Well, I suppose you could try holding the controller with both hands, but it doesn't look as though it would be too comfortable. This is a shame, as it could be used to great effect in a title like Silent Hill: Shattered Memories; reading your fear level and providing shocks when you least expect it. Assuming it works like that, anyway.

So is the Wii Vitality Sensor just another way to appeal to Nintendo's new target audience - active-lifestyle-seeking non-gamers - or do they genuinely have something clever and unique up their sleeves? I admit it's probably the former, but you never know; Nintendo have surprised us before....