Nintendo Confirms Wii Vitality Sensor Was Nixed Due To Consistency Issues
If the Wii Vitality Sensor escapes your memory, you're not the only one – it was announced back at E3 in 2009, and has since then seen very little in terms of development, raising speculation that Nintendo had given it the kibosh. Such was confirmed at the company's 73rd Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, where the company said that due to inconsistent accuracy among different users it won't be launched.
The idea behind the Wii Vitality Sensor was intriguing – gamers would place their index finger in the device, allowing for measurement of the player's heart rate. Further expounding on that, Nintendo's Iwata stated this would help develop an understanding of "human autonomic nerve functions," thereby showing the state of tension or relaxation the player was experiencing.
Aspects of this functionality were demonstrated to the viewing public, and the company made it known that it was excited about the possibilities of the device. Unfortunately for Nintendo, the problems for it started with mass testing of Vitality that took place within the company. For whatever reason, it was reported, some individuals did not get "expected" readings from the sensor.
Though specifics weren't given on the inconsistent results that happened with the device, Mr. Iwata said: "We wondered if we should commercialize a product which works as expected for 90 people out of 100, but not so for the other 10 people. Though I am sorry that we did not give any specific updates after this product's initial announcement, I would say that knowing that a product has a problem we should not launch it for the sole reason that we have already announced it."
In addition, the Nintendo boss says that upon further work with the Vitality, it became apparent that the device's various possible applications were smaller than the company had first estimated. For these reasons, the launch has been slated as "pending," with Nintendo saying that it could see the light of day in the furture if technology advances to such a degree that its results are accurate for a higher percentage of users.
SOURCE: Nintendo