Lose Weight, Gain Extra Lives

Just do it. One of the most successful marketing slogans of all time, the
phrase conjures up images of young titans in Lycra running, jumping, hitting,
kicking and splashing their way through life, all with a strange tick shape on
their shoes.

Yet look for the champions of tomorrow and, we are told, they prefer to just
sit, eat crisps and play video games. Especially the video games. The average
school pupil fiddles with them for two hours every day and scientists have
blamed this for the explosion in childhood obesity. Increased “screen-based
entertainment” was highlighted as a pitfall of modern British childhood in a
headline-grabbing letter signed by more than 100 experts last week.

Nike, however, thinks it has the answer. The US sportswear giant has invented
an electronic gizmo that sits in the shoes of video-game players and rewards
their exercise in the real world with prizes in the virtual one. The company's
“game pod” would measure distance run, walk, hike or cycle and transmit this
information to a video game, to trigger extra playing time, hidden levels or
special features.

Nike has filed a patent on the invention, which it calls “a system for
promoting physical activity for video game players”. The technology relies on
a pedometer, pressure sensors or GPS tracking to record the amount of exercise,
and a detachable memory chip to plug into the game console. Slackers and those
tempted to cheat by driving their shoes round the block a few times should
beware-the patent says the game pod chip could be configured to measure
increased heart rate or even blood oxygen content instead.

In a neat twist on survival of the fittest, sweaty activity could be rewarded
with on-screen changes to a user's video game character, with extra “virtual
strength, endurance or speed” on offer. And games could be made impossible to
play until the chip registers a specified level of activity.

Guardian