a single click. All you need is Adobe Reader.
For use with either a modern browser, or an RSS program.
Should games push us to lose weight?
Microsoft patents fitness aware avatars, but do we really want or need our 360 to tell us what to do?
Written by Andy Griffiths, 21 December 2009
1UP reported last week that Microsoft has registered a new patent which talks about the potential of using real world physiological characteristics to create avatars. The new generator would utilise, "a physiological characteristic of the user, injecting a degree of reality into the capabilities or appearance."
Microsoft will harvest the necessary information through a "third party health data collection repository, a health care smart card, a real-time physiological sensor (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate, blood glucose, peak flow, pedometer, etc.)." In order to, "avoid the inconvenience or unaccountability of voluntarily supplied information."
This proposal doesn't sound too radical in itself, after all it could be used to determine accurate skin and hair colour etc. It's not until you read what Microsoft propose to do with the information that it becomes slightly more sinister:
"Physiological data that reflect a degree of health of the real person can be linked to rewards of capabilities of a gaming Avatar, an amount of time budgeted to play, or a visible indication. Thereby, people are encouraged to exercise."
It is likely that this system will be implemented to co-inside with the launch of Natal, and is part of a wider strategy to capture the Wii Fit crowd. But here's the thing, as a Wii owner you can choose to buy WiiFit, whereas this proposed system which implement this feature at a system based level. Which means that this new feature would become standard on your 360, whether you want it or not.
Patents get registered all the time by the big console manufacturers and there's no guarantee that we'll see this system in the short-term, if at all, but the fact that Microsoft are considering such an invasive procedure to provide gamers with more immersive entertainment is very troubling.
Games are escapists at heart and if you're constantly reminded of the real world whilst playing, it has the potential to break the entire experience. This sort of philanthropy is the exact opposite of what gamers want. There are enough indicators in the world about fitness, the last thing we all need is another one.
What do you think? Is this a good idea, or an example of a monolithic company going too far?
