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Pedal Your Way Through Quake
loteck writes: "Tom's previewed this latest toy that allows health savy gamers to peddle their way through flight simulators, racers and even first person shooters. Someone is providing a plethora of compatible games by which to Quake or Carmageddon yourself to that six-pack that you've always wanted." I wonder if this would burn more calories than the floor-pad from the old Nintendo system.
...for this "simcycle" is here [elonton.com].
What'dya mean there's no BLINK tag!?
I'd see the day where I'd need to be in shape to sit on my ass and play a computer game. Or the day where I could get in shape doing the same.
The first link in the story is incorrect, Tom's little preview is actually located at http://www4.tomshardware.com/technews/technews-200 11108.html#0053
I seem to remember having something similar to this when I was young. It was called, let me see now... yes... REAL LIFE EXERCISE!
I already have a 6 pack, its just hidden by my case of 24.
An optimist believes we live in the best world possible; a pessimist fears this is true.
I visited a health club that had a couple of old stationary bikes that were fitted with some kind of old tank combat game. Pedaling would determine how fast the tank moved, and buttons on the handle bars allowed for steering, firing, etc.
Usually my patience (and energy) runs out after about 30 minutes on a bike, but that day I 'played' for 2 hours.
Amazing magic tricks
From the pictures from the companies web site, it seems that the cycle is a unit separate from the chair you are sitting on that sits on the the floor with pedals sticking out. How you can apply force to the pedals without the unit sliding around, or from the angle you are sitting at - really be able to "workout" with the unit is hard for me to imagine.
To really be able to get a mediocre workout from an exercise cycle it must be solidly constructed and the "chair" and pedals must be one integrated unit. Think about how much abuse a controller takes just from your own fingers, this "cycle" just doesn't look like it could handle the kind of abuse a fragfest can generate.
They'll re-invent the "power glove" for Leisure Suit Larry.
Heck, if they really want to make it more enjoyable a force...ahem...feedback and vacuum-cleaner attach...oh, never mind.
Work + Games....yeah, that sounds like a wiener.
If it is not on fire, it is a software problem.
Here in Brazil we are also like California: Eletricity Racionalization (is that the correct spelling?). It would be nice if besides of playing games we could also generate eletricity.
It would be amazing, and the government could also lower importing taxes for this device :o)
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I know life isn't fair, but why can't it ever be un-fair in MY favor!?
OK, we all know of the existence of "aimbots" for various FPSes. I guess that how quickly you pedal this thing will affect your aim, so will pub servers now be infested with people using "pedalbots" to help them cheat at pedaling?
Want Linux games? HERE.
...but it doesn't matter how well defined your abs are if they are hidden by a layer of lard :)
then I can bind the to and to and be even more productive than today!
Arthur C Clarke once wrote a story about a race in Earth-Moon space on space bicycles. (IIRC, it was Clarke) The bicycles were really Wimshurst (sp?) generators powering ion engines to provide thrust, and the course was somewhere in the range of 24 to 48 hours long. Minimal shell to hold in air and heat, minimal supplies, Kremer-caliber athletes, etc.
It was a fun idea, though somehow I can't quite believe it would all hold together. I didn't think ion engines would generate sufficient thrust to make it to cislunar space. Nor would I expect that even a 48-hour spacecraft could be made light enough. I'd expect temperature control to be the biggest problem, between sunlight and shadow, maximum exertion and resting/sleeping.
But with this idea, we could have it in sim form, and it wouldn't take 24-48 hours to get to cislunar space, either.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
They could make a variant that generates power. Ever wanted to be your own power backup? "Don't stop peddling now! I want to finish this map!" :)
Do you like German cars?
Several times? I seem to remember breaking a sweat pretty much every time I used that thing. Granted I wasn't the most athletic kid, but given that the shortest course in that track and field cartridge was apparently 10 miles long, I don't see how you could avoid breaking a sweat.
:)
Of course we didn't cheat...much. Everytime it had you jumping some hurdle we'd quickly jump off the pad and back on. It made the game thing that you'd just jumped 20 feet in the air.
Still, remembering that pad made me wish DDR was invented sooner instead of the just plain awful Dance Aerobics cart.
I read the internet for the articles.
Instead of bicycling, how about someone hack one of those "Dance Dance Revolution" game pads for Quake. A player could put in on the floor in front of his chair and use his feet to control his movements, freeing up his left hand to type in comments about his l33t 5ki1z.
144l. ph34r my 133t l3g4l 5k1lz!
Is to actually exercise. "Tricking" your body and brain into thinking that you're moving your muscles around isn't an effective way to exercise. That's why every time a product like this comes out (remember how big the "ride your stationary bike with the fake moving digital scenery in front of you" products tanked a couple years ago), they all bomb.
The bottom line is that in order to improve your cardio or muscle performance, you have to actually EXERCISE. That means you're not playing a video game, whether standing, sitting, bouncing, or sliding from side to side.
You're running, cycling, rowing, climbing, lifting, or doing some other form of focused physical exercise. Study after study has shown that people get more out of exercise when they're paying attention to what their bodies are doing. In other words, when they're focused on exercising.
Sometimes there are no technology solutions to issues that are mental. It's difficult to stay motivated to exercise, but it's also a self-reinforcing thing. The more of it you force yourself to do, the more of it you'll want to do, and the easier it is to motivate yourself.
Plus, the real, physical experience of blasting down a single-track on a mountain bike beats any video game ever created.
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I prefer the next level, Mosh Mosh Revolution, as popularized in MegaTokyo. Full body workout, bandages not included!