Rumor: Patent Reveals PS3 Fitness Exercise Gaming Device

[PS3 News]

Today PlayStationLifestyle.net (linked above) has uncovered a http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2010/0004061.html (http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=/netahtml/PTO/search-adv.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PG01&p=1&S1=468904&OS=468904&RS=468904) which may be for an upcoming PS3 fitness exercise gaming device.

To quote: The fitness controller is described as such:

"The present invention embodiments promote performance of exercise by users during a computer simulation or game. An embodiment of the present invention includes an exercise device with a plurality of effector or gripping members in the form of handles to be manipulated by a user.

A coil steel spring provides the resistance for the handles that may be compressed together or pulled apart for resistance-based exercise. The device further includes additional input devices to interact with a simulation or gaming scenario.

The user applies forces to the handles to interact with the scenario, thereby requiring the user to perform exercises during the simulation or game play."




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[B4rtj4h]

Lol ... first they make a Wii- alike gun in Time Crisis 4... now they make a complete copy of a Wii Sports tool.

Well... i like TC4! So go on Sony! Good shot! Wondering though how to operate the device...

[PS3 News]

When I saw the illustrations of it the first thing that came to my head was... it's the Bun and Thigh Max infomercial device!

[heartagram62]

This was an inevitable step for Sony to take what with Nintendo having the current grip on fitness related console games. I totally support the idea and will probably invest in this or Sony Fit?? equivalent.

[Warrorar]

This system is to fitness orientet.. the fitness system of nintendo can also be used for games.

i dont think that this system from sony will ever be used in a game

[Raze1988]

Oh wow. I hope this will have a good end for sony.

[aries2k6]

When I saw the illustrations of it the first thing that came to my head was... it's the Bun and Thigh Max infomercial device!

lol, your not the only one.

well, I guess alot of guys wouldn´t mind watching their girl doing a bit of exercise with this.

[revel8n]

Heh, it is both funny and interesting watching the various companies now try and play catch up in areas they once quite vocally scoffed at before. If it had not been made a viable market with recent successes in this area, things like this would more than likely never have been green lighted.

Now they start to see how much of the big picture they were missing before by being so set in their ways and not thinking outside of the box. But if those images are even remotely close to what they are actually proposing it will be very interesting to see the consumer response to the product.

The balance board and wiimote combination already imposes some interesting ways of making you look foolish/silly/uncomfortable/etc. while at the same time being somewhat effective at allowing for other takes on interactive mediums and control schemes, but like someone said above, this device looks to be a little too one dimensional in terms of use. i guess with this and the "new" motion tracking devices, only time will tell where things will end up.

[sftbdiablo]

Well Time Crisis has made guns before for the original time crisis games so it wouldnt be really copying the wii. Anyways, lets hope this goes well for SONY.

[thering]

Well I can't blame them for wanting to muscle in on the market, Wii Fit has sold pretty well. On the other hand, I don't know if it's going to work so well for Sony... fitness in HD? Seems a little overkill to me.