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Games Controlled By An Exercise Bike
Fidigit writes "I know that most people reading this won't be _that_ interested in exercise, but given there's tech with it ... What do you think about computer games controlled by an exercise bike in your house?
It sounds crazy, but it might just work." Update: 01/14 00:14 GMT by T : An anonymous reader points to another example of the same concept.
I thought that there was something likes this for the NES way back in the day.
FP btw
stay lazy playing video games or burn calories? The choice was never more easy than now.
This was done years ago...plus it's Playstation, kinda outdated, although Burnout is actually for PS2 so who knows.
Games via the ol excercise bike have been around well over 15 years. Granted, I'm not sure there was ever a mass market product, but it's been done. Nobody cared.
Know what would work? The 'Dance Revolution' game. (I apologize, the name escapes me...) That's already out and in stores. I think I could stand to exercise that way. Riding a bike, unless I'm actually going somewhere, is not fun.
...Not only was there an NES/PC (more?) version of this at _least_ five years ago there have been various networked versions of competitive cycles and rowing machines for even longer.
They have those bike things in that place(where Body Wars is) in Epcot.
Only if the game is Paperboy.
I wear pants.
Didn't I ride on one of these sort of things at Epcot center a decade ago? It was a recumbent bike with a monitor above my head, showing a
"tour" of famous cities + Disney parks, the speed of which varied by the speed I was pedaling.
Of course it wasn't interactive beyond speed, but it was something...
This has been done several times before. For instance, there is this SNES/Sega/PC/whatever else you want bike which is basically a fancy looking controller and then there's this SNES specific bike, the Life Cycle which I recall being issues in some back issue of Nintendo Power. I think there was even a Pacman-esque game that was supposed to go with it.
You like splinters in your crotch? -Jon Caldara
See here for a commercially-available product for interfacing turbo trainers and Playstation (2)s that has been around for a while...
I think this Reebok bike will become a clothes hanger just like any other exercise bike... unless they figure out how to require it for GTA Vice City play.
for being the least newsworthy or interesting item posted on /.'s frontpage thus far this year
lol
So all the overweight types who claim they have no time nor desire for exercise will have a motivational shift? Will the next generation of geeks be in shape and well-desired by women? And I thought this was a sign of the apocalypse...
Even cooler: an excersice bike with an internet terminal. There's nothing like burning calories while reading /.
Article reminded me of this.
i wonder how long it is until someone grabs a simple electric motor and hooks it up to the motion sensor on the bike.
bam! instant super bike!
This has been done before, on a Nintendo Super NES!
Check out a page with some info here: Exertainment
Heck, you can even download the ROM and play it on the SNES emulator of your choice.
"this is stupid...go ahead, mod me down. its my honest opinion"
You won't get modded down for having an honest yet harsh opinion. What will get you modded down is a lack of reasoning as to why you think it's stupid.
I agree with you, it is stupid. But at least say what about it bugs ya the most.
*preach preach preach*
Back in the Net Bubble, something similar was installed at a gym in my city. Two bikes were rigged up so that you'd have to maintain a speed above a certain threshold. Except it didn't power games, but just a plain old browser. The only problem was that the threshold was too high, and as soon as you were able to get a page, you'd be moving too fast to read or use it at all, and as soon as you slowed to reach for the keyboard and type, the screen would go blank again.
Read more about it here.
-Bryan
free ipod? yeah.
Peh, why not play DDR or something similar? Alot more challenging, and alot better workout. Don't like the high impact? Why not try PPP? Like ddr, only with hand waving and arm movements rather than alot of stomping.
the only bike i'd want to ride is a PCJ while playing vice city. running people over virtually would really get rid of some unwanted stress.
It's the Korn shell, not "corn".
A guy I used to work with (word up, Glen) put sometihng like this together wihle he was doing a master's in CS here at UNB. He rigged up his exercise bike so that as he pedalled it would move him forward and backwards, and he just has a mouse by the handlebars to take care of any other input (turning, shooting, etc)
Definitly the best use of an exercise bike I've ever heard of, but I still prefer the kind that you can use as transportation.
___
Cogito cogito, ergo cogito sum.
I wrote a game in 1989 for a Mac 512. A racing game that pitted your bike against Lemond and a grey lobster. The biggest hangup: I measured my speed by attaching my MOUSE to the flywheel on the exercise bike. I have to admit it did reduce my mouse lifespan by a couple years :)
A beginners' guide to Portland, OR?
Perhaps you need a gym with equipment newer than 1990. Rowing machines and exercise bicycles have had games integrated into them for a long time.
Are they available at home? Sure. Go to any good exercise equipment store and buy one.
People have been powering their TV with exercise bicycles for a long time now. Wanna watch Friends or wanna play Gran Turisimo? Start peddlin...
I have been using the http://www.exertris.com/>Exertris for over a year know... Its Great. I personally find exercise quite boring but this does help me get through. The problem is that the number of games are limited.
You can take a tour at the website to see if one is right for you...
I do not understand how this is remotely interesting. I had a gym membership (because of my wife, not because I wanted to join) and they had a whole bank of cycling machines with different "games" setup.
/. user as one who has never seen a gym before???
Granted, I only tried one (some scenic thing biking around and racing others) but there were a couple others that I am sure were more "interactive".
This was a year or so after the birth of my daughter, which would make this FIVE YEARS AGO.
Is the poster of this story trying to stereotype the typical
--ngoy
There's a project called Hank supported by the NSF and Ford that would make a nice environment for such a thing.
Here is a link to the official site, rather than the click-thru store link given in the article.
http://www.reebokcyberrider.com/
...to frag that bastard! Unreal biker 2004!
Check out this article for an example from 1995. For those of you who don't get out much, that's like 8 years ago.
I still think the idea is great, and that anything that can potentially better motivate fat americans to get their lazy butts in motion is a positive thing. It's just up to the marketing department to really get these things distributed to the masses.
-Bryan
free ipod? yeah.
because of all the beer and cheetos I spit on the screen from laughing so hard.
Reminds me of the time I played Dance Dance Revolution - I was sore for a week.
But yea, I'm sure they'll do great in the market.
This looks fun. I hope they come out with a version that lets you just sit down in any chair and maybe push buttons to simulate the pedaling. Or maybe the pedaling could be automatic in the game, and you just steer with buttons. Yeah, that would be even better.
Ah, crap, I just noticed I'm out of doughnuts.
..a crazed fan staying up 32 hours straight playing this game. Instant death for sure.
mund freud.
I'm sure you all know what Dance Dance Revolution is, the game that combines a dance pad with arrows on the screen that you dance to -- it's spread like wildfire, and even though it's only available for a competitor's platforms, I secretly admit to playing it to keep myself in shape. :) Some of you may also remember the old Nintendo Power Pad as well, even.
Anyhow, Nintendo is taking the integration of physical activity with video games to a whole new level... we're researching motion tracking in 3-D using purely computer vision techniques, and using no sensors worn on the body, like traditional mocap techniques require.
We've got some interesting preliminary prototypes of this technology, such as Swing Swing Revolution, like DDR, except you have to do swing moves, not merely hit the arrows with your feet, and Kung Fu Master, a remake of the venerable NES game, where you guessed it, need to do real punching and kicking.
We look forward to commercializing this and making Nintendo the first and foremost choice of overweight geeks everywhere!
-- Samir Gupta, Ph. D. Head, New Technology Research Group, Nintendo Co. Ltd., Kyoto, Japan.
"For a more relaxing session a title like Pilot Wings on the N64, where the controls aren't too complex but you have to peddle to stay in the sky"
Well, not only that... I can pretend that I'm Elliot in ET the movie! Put a little basket and a stuffed ET there, play the ET movie on the 42' plasma. It's perfect for that "you have to peddle to stay in the sky" or else ET and I go flop on the ground.
Yeah, it's a really good workout. Right.
:P
That's why at the local arcade, the horrid sight of a dozen fat people standing in line, with two sweating like greased pigs, is visited upon shoppers.
Here's a free tip for those trying to lose weight: Unless you exercise 24/7, you still won't be able to eat five McDonald's cheeseburgers, a super sized coke and a large order of fries as a 'snack'.
Are the game bikes recumbent? It doesn't seem like it. I think it would be easier to integrate them into the rest of your gaming environment if they were.
--naked
Very popular slashdot journal for adul
For a long while I've day-dreamed of a workstation with an integrated recubant exercise bike. Not for serious cross-training necessarily, but enough to keep active and burn a few calories while sitting endless hours in front of the computer. It would have to be sturdy enough not to shake with mild exertion. I'm sure it's doable and I'm sure there's more than just me that could benefit from such a device!
-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
How about a video game controlled by eating donuts?
Diabelch III, brought to you by Donutech. "Mmmm... Sprinkles..."
I've always dreamed of a home port of Prop Cycle...kind of like N64 PilotWings that the guy mentioned. I like the idea of exploring, it seems like races are too dependent on wherever the computer decides to handicap you.
SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
"What do you think about computer games controlled by an exercise bike in your house? It sounds crazy, but it might just work."
Wow, exercise bicycles with video games attached to them? I can't wait until Slashdot covers Rob the Video Robot!
"Derp de derp."
I could totally get into actually racing other people on an exercise bike. It's something i've always wanted to do, but the local racing scene is way too competetive for someone like me who doesn't have alot of time on his hands. Imagine networked races at the gym - that would be freakin awesome. Of course, it wouldn't be the best exercise for you (who cares about following your heartrate when you have someone to out-pedal?) but i could see competition being a great way to get people to go to the gym on a regular basis. So, i've already filed a patent on this, and claim the idea as my intellectual property.
"Upon attaching the waterblock to my penis, I began to notice that I know nothing about computers." -- JRockway
One example of an arcade game employing a stationary bike was Prop Cycle from Namco. You flew a pedal-powered flying bicycle around, running into balloons and flying through hazards to score points.
I thought it was whimsical and a lot of fun, but it never showed up at many arcades.
Schwab
Editor, A1-AAA AmeriCaptions
Just purchased a road type bicycle on Friday. Wow, have things changed. The last time I rode a half decent bike was 15 years ago. It is all high tech mechanics nowadays: Aluminium Alloy light weight frame, Gear Levers integrated into the breaks, High pressure tires. As a result the thing accelerateslike hell even bearing my unfit body. Adrenalin rushes to your head, while you zip in and out of the traffic, overtaking traffic jammed cars - you are the true king of the road! How can a mere home training bike compete?
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- Map the Muscles to Manhood
Special features are also included, like charisma, in which you subtly brag about how much you bench, flex your manhood for the ladies, and start your workout WITHOUT ANY WARMUP!! Get "Body by Jake" today!...oOOo..'(_)'..oOOo...
What do you think about computer games controlled by an exercise bike in your house?
What do I think? I think I saw this at the gym about 15 years ago.
That's funny. The dude posts a comment suggesting that folks here might not be interested in exercise...yet the evidence suggests he is the one that hasn't been interested (at least for decade).
Instead of a simple numeric readout of calories, why not allow the victi^H^H^H^Hexercise enthusiast to select the high-calorie food item of their choice, then as they work out, have a proportional piece of the food item consumed. You select a pizza/chocolate cake/french fries/nachos and as you burn up, say, 100 calories, you see 100 calories worth of the item vanish.
If your children ever found out how lame you are, they'd murder you in your sleep
Reality is in much higher resolution than any computer game.
My other first post is car post.
Next thing you know someone is going to create a video game of someone exercising on a video game exercise bike. The object being to stay on the bike by balancing correctly, pedaling continuously, and by consuming huge doses of angel dust and heroin to ride the snake into the world of high points and virtual death/health.
It could be called "Fa(s)t Crack: The Game." Just like a virtual pet it would be something that you would have to nurture. You would get a budget, a host of drug dealers, and you could upgrade the bike. The only thing missing would be emulating the game yourself, which is only expected and natural.
--"The perfect example of the man of action is the suicide." - William Carlos Williams
It'd have a police theme?
I was thinking about this the other day while pondering a completely immersive VR environment.
Applied to a, MMORPG this sort of idea could eventually lead to a skill advancement system based upon physical reaction time and endurance rather than mathematical formulas derived from levels and attributes. It could also enhance the gaming experience immensely!
Furthermore, if you included exercise benefits, people could ALWAYS find the time to play their favorite game.
More conservatively, using the human physiological responses to a gaming environment (excitement, endorphins, sustained concentration) could allow for intense exercise and fuel the desire to continue to exercise once the novelty has worn off.
In other words, I think it is a *good thing*.
When the only tool you have is a claw hammer every problem starts to look like the back of someone's skull.
Maybe now all you fatasses will loose some weight! Get off your ass!
Not trying to flame, but I would think that there are plenty of 'us' that -are- into exercise for precisely the reason that we sit in a chair for 8-10+ hours a day.
Initially, it may not be noticable, but after several years, one begins to feel quite unhealthy, if not dull mentally - if they -don't- do something to keep in shape.
Cycling, swimming or a quick walk are the things I look forward to the most after a stressful day. It really helps!
Basically, these stereotypes display ignorance.
IMHO.
I know this story says *computer* games, but it appears some of the posters here haven't been to an arcade in a while..
.. That hurt too.
.. 8 of those horses side by side... Way fun.
:)
There is a downhill bike game now, which is way fun. You get done, you're hurting.
Anyone ever see that two-person rafting game?
The horse-racing game?
The new motion-cap (I guess this is what you'd call them) games are WILD too -- there's this one that you stand in this one place and hold a gun - and to duck around corners to fire, well, you duck around a corner. If you need to drop to the floor to avoid gunfire, you drop to the floor. I didn't think it would be that much of exercise, but wow.
At home - I've fallen in love with DDRMax on the PS2. I have two of the hard dance platforms now -- it's the most exercise (aerobic) I've gotten in a long time. When my friends come over - it's turned on automatically - huge party hit. Mix beer with it, it gets really fun.
Ok - ramble stops now. I just love video games.
In fact, the only cardio I get is from Dance Dance Revolution. I can't stand jogging, riding a stationary bike while watching TV is dull, and riding a bicycle around these parts is a drag (I'm in Vancouver, and it rains a lot lot lot). Now if they could just give me XP in Asheron's Call for every KM I bike...
It would have to be sturdy enough not to shake with mild exertion.
How'd you know I sha--oh...nevermind.
What's this Submit thingy do?
...exercise bikes do in soviet russia.
Ya really. Not all people who are into "nerdy" things are fat slobs or rail thin stick boys. In fact, I think I read somewhere that statistically speaking, people who are above average in IQ are also physically fit people as well. So the stereotype that geeks must also be fat asses or walking toothpicks is just that - a stereotype. Healthy in body and in mind, I guess.
If you get a bad score it just puts this image on the screen.
Check you guys later, I'm going to work out.
I think most people would enjoy just taking a regular bike and riding it outside more than some video game.
Someone you trust is one of us.
you suck. slashdot is a whore
Bad at what?
Cricket? Yes. Tennis? Definately but who gives a shit. Ski Jumping? yes, but Eddie the Eagle was kinda cool. Running an empire that spanned every time zone? yeah but that was 100+ years ago. Giving shelter to the oppressed? Liberal bastards. Bestowing an international language to the world that can be abused by every ignoble fool on the planet? Yeah they bad.
The TV Pedaler is a product that you can hook up to your TV or PC and then you have to pedal to watch it, or the signal goes out.
This company has also developed the "Interactive Computer Exerciser," in which you hook up your existing stationary bike to your PC using a censor. Check it out here.
blog & fiction: jd87
1) Creating a game that is actually compelling and find to play. Game designers already have a lot of expertise in creating more traditional games with more traditional methods of control: gamepads, joysticks, keyboard/mouse, ect. Making the shift to designing games meant to be played on a cycle could be difficult for some.
2) Getting people to actually buy the (probably expensive) peripheral control device (unless of course it's an arcade game.)
But I love the idea. Even without the fact that of course it'd be a heck of a lot healthier than playing most games, it would also introduce what is (to me at least) a new and novel type of gameplay. It takes a really outstanding traditional game to keep my sustained interest these days, but when something's fresh and new (and yes, I know this concept isn't entirely new, but it'd be new to most gamers) it scores a lot of points for fun just for being something different.
Unfortunately, I have difficulty imagining enough gamers shelling out the cash to buy the expensive controller for what is probably going to have an extremely limited selection of games that support it. I don't even think some of the more recent console systems have the familiar light gun yet, let alone something as out there as a "controller-cycle".
How about networking a series of exercise bikes to add the competition element to exercise? It'd be fun to have such a setup at my local gym/health spa. I know you're probably asking, "Well, why not simply race on real bicycles instead?" The answer is simple, convenience. The people and equipment are already setup, and I don't have to maintain a $1K+ street bicycle.
Anybody know of anything similar setup around where they live?
I can't help noticing that you also don't mention why you think it's stupid. That's funny.
I've come up with an alternative exercise program that fits my sedentary lifestyle. It goes as follows:
My nearest tissue box is placed across the room on top of a bookshelf. This way, when I'm *surfing* (wink) the web, each time I'm forced to get a tissue, I must walk across the room and reach up to get a tissue. This way, in addition to tremendous forearm strength, I'm developing other musculature! Next step: splat mat.
This morning I spent some time on this "Liferower" at the local gym (dive) I go to. I rowed an awful lot in college to am used to real rowing machines (not this one). But this one, while it has no resistance, has a little (circa 1982) EGA-esk computer screen where I row against this "olympic" opponent. And every time you pull on the handle, the red of the monitor aligns and then disaligns. Crazy little thing. But I don't think these things are that new, in the end.
Still, I'd trade it for a Concept 2 any day.
When I was staying in Phoenix (I believe), the hotel we were staying at had a fitness center. We checked it aout and they had two stationary bikes with TVs in front of them. You could use the bikes to explore the different maps. The graphics were very, very low quality (it was an old system), but it was 3D. It took me a while to realize it, but both were networked, so my brother and I raced. Another cool feature was that it had two fans built into the cabinet that would change speed depending on how fast you pedeled and would blow air on you to simulate wind. I thought it was very impressive and would be really cool if was updated. The fans were a great addition in my opinion.
I built one of these for my new wife about 15 years ago.... Even coded a cute little game (Trash-80 style) to try and keep her interested but alas... it ended up in the same place as my infra-red controlled robotic cat chaser and the computer controlled, heated doggy house..
*--- Sometimes a majority only means that all the fools are on the same side. ---*
we're researching motion tracking in 3-D using purely computer vision techniques, and using no sensors worn on the body, like traditional mocap techniques require.
I am curious why you are spending time trying to develop motion tracking without using motion-capture sensors. I would guess that trying to develop a computer vision algorithm that can determine what the hell a fast-moving gamer is doing in real time and then converting that into inputs would be a mighty challenging problem. Is there some drawback to using traditional motion-capture approaches? I would think your research dollars would be more wisely spent by leverging off existing technology. Is the computer vision approach going to get confused if the gamer plays in a "noisy" environment like complex wallpaper and lots of furnature? Would the gamer be allowed to wear all black or would that also confuse the computer vision? I would think that requiring gamers to wear a few sensors wouldn't be that big of a problem. Or are the games going to be frantic that there's a danger of the sensors actually falling (or flying) off the gamer when s/he performs a fast move?
Just curious. Sounds interesting but it also sounds like it might take many years before it comes to market.
GMD
watch this
While staying in Las Vegas (1998), in one of the hotel excersise rooms, the excercise bikes were linked in a race. Even had nintendo style joypads that allowed you to punch the rider next to you.
I remember reading about a unit that connected to the NES in Nintendo Power back in the day.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
I saw this one demoed on CNN-HN. http://www.cyclefx.com/
Get back to me when it uses electricity generated by the bike to power the PC.
"I can't help noticing that you also don't mention why you think it's stupid. That's funny."
0 76 695
Sorry, don't see why it's funny. I was responding to his post.
Since you're going to troll, though, I suggest you look here at this post I made. You'll notice it's on of the early comments:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=50556&cid=5
I guess I could have been redundant and covered that in this post too just to save you from finding it funny. If my comment displayed sort of fault, I might.
All geeks are going to turn into very fit health freaks.
Being boring and dumb won't be synonym to being fit anymore.
I've been doing a video game/exercise for almost a year now... many of you know it, Dance Dance Revolution... and it's far funner than just about anything I can imagine done with just an exercise bike.
Quoth the zombie, braaaaaaaains
FOR CHRIST'S SAKE: GO OUTSIDE
First, we invent the video game system, so you can get the thrill of sports without moving. Then, we pair it with an exercise machine... and you have a very expensive, not as good version of a bicycle... whatever.
A better idea would be have the bike hooked to a generator instead of a wall outlet. Now you have to pay for your time playing by riding a bike. The more power your game consumes, the longer you'll have to ride to earn those precious moments. This will create a whole new generation of athletic nerds, the likes of which has never been known to man.
Does anyone remember those mats that you could use on Nintendo with games like Track and Field?
Called the Power Pad.
I really ought to figure out how to work with NES hardware and the Power Pad so I can port DDR to the NES.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Those real SUVs that don't really want to share the road with you are WAAAY too high resolution. Seems like every day in the summer here some bike-riding hippie runs into some cell-phone-yacking soccer mom in a Maibatsu Monstrosity. The hippie inevitably loses...
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
in the early 80`s Atari had plans for a "exercise-bike". Look at a picture:
j pg
http://www.atarihq.com/othersec/puffer/puff521.
that was fora 5200 videogame, but Atari intended to make models from the VCS to the 400 and 800 computers.
More info at http://www.atarihq.com/othersec/puffer/
I'm sure you all know what Dance Dance Revolution is
Yeah. It's that knockoff of Nintendo's own Dance Aerobics for the NES.
All Nintendo needs to do to compete with Konami's DDR for Sony's hardware is re-introduce the Power Pad, adapt it to the GCN's joybus, rotate it 90 degrees anticlockwise, and publish "Mario Dance Party".
Will I retire or break 10K?
I've played enough online games to know how quickly the concept can be ruined by cheaters. And trust me, there IS someone out there bored/lame enough to ruin the fun for others just because they can.
And how discouraging would it be for someone legitimatly using this as sincere motivation for excercise, to see cars jamming around the track at mach 2.
I think it's a good idea, but it could so easily be ruined.
Adam
My old apartments gym had a SNES hooked up to an exercise bike. You can play a tank game, speed racer, and one other that I don't remember. Speed racers car was powered by how fast you pedaled, the same for the tank game.
It was a brand made fitness machine that I'm sure others have seen before. I have seen them in some gyms... but they are all old.
This is just not right game playing is supposed to be bad for you, next thing you know they'll be trying to fob us of with healthy MacDonalds, wouldn't that make Ronald mad? :-)
in my life God comes first.... but Linux is pretty high after that
Francis Smit
Nothing beats a real bike, but a good indoor trainer gets close. Computrainer [http://www.computrainer.com] has 3D courses (real ones from TdF) integrated with CompuTrainer's feedback, and you can race your friends, etc. Lots of pro triathletes/cyclists swear by it. It's no toy.
Sorry, didn't mean to troll. I didn't notice the earlier comment.
Just thought the arguement "It's stupid." followed by "You should really say why it's stupid. BTW, I think it's stupid."
Was ammusing.
Just reminded me of an old high school English teacher telling me to give further explaination on a paragrpah but couldn't explain any more herself.
Sounds indeed all so familiar. Back in 2001 I did a little research on bikes and games for an installation. It started in the beginning of the '80 with Atari Puff. My contribution in 2001 was Power Pong http://www.xs4all.nl/~oertijd/ppong/index.html Based on an old Pong video game and two rebuild bikes. This installation combines a healthy exercise with pure green energy production. By peddling the user provides the power to the game and by peddling faster the Pong game gets into advance mode. The bike steers -yes it is a 2 people game- are used to navigate.
Forget about integrating it into the game! I think that most of us would be in a lot better shape if we had to power the TV or game console via an exer-cycle or something.
Perhaps not the sole power generator, of course, but stop the pedals and the TV goes off...
If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
I'll wait until they have one that has an auto-pedal feature.
"Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"
Moderation Totals: Wrong=2, Stupid=3, Total=5.
Personally, I'd rather run or bike in the real world. But my wife is looking to get on the old excercise equipment and I was thinking about what she'd like. What would motivate her.
I think Asteroids would be cool. Vector movement and the panic it can cause would be great as you try to pedal away from a near-certain doom. But that's not her - and I think she'd be in the solid demographic.
Not even Pac-Man. Although it might be a natural, it's got to be a game where losing is not an option. Just progressively getting higher points. Like some form of Tetris.
Yeah... you're right. Now that I think about it, I should have at least pointed out my previous post in that reply. Heh.
Oh well. Cheers!
It's too damn cold to run outside (being it is winter, and I live in frigid New York), so a few months ago I picked up a 1up Trainer which attaches to the rear wheel of my bike, in effect turning it into a stationary bike. However, it has the advantage of feeling like you're riding a real bike and not a stationary bike (which I never quite jived with).
While it doesn't "control" a video game, it allows me to be right in front of my PS2 while pedaling. Hence, I can now play all those 100-hour RPGs and countless hours of Vice City while biking. The latter is especially fun, as you tend to pedal faster when there's a lot of tension going on in the game -- it gets the adrenaline pumping. I guess this is how I got to level 132 in Vigilante mode (the car flipped over and there was not another to be found... damnit!), and managed to pedal over 50 miles while doing it. Fun.
--
#nohup cat
I think Pump it Up or DDR would be more fun. Depending on the game ...
:3 )
But yeah, I think he's right. People with interesting ideas should mix video games with exercise more often. I'd go for it. (I do already
The Maryland Science Center had (may still even have) a bike that powered a generator which lit a few lightbulbs. There was a really simple closed circuit cam too. As you pedalled harder and faster, you lit the lights and the camera was able to discern more and more of your face.
The idea was to teach you about power and electricity. Pretty cool when you're only 5-10 years old.
Mordor...a magical, mythical land where women are more rare than dragons--but where every man would rather find a dragon
I actually have an old bike that was made by Life Fitness on which you could play Mountain Biking games with. It was for the Super Nintendo and it came out around 1994.
The gym I go to in Maryland has had 4 exercize bikes with built in video games for a few years. They are all-in-one units with built in monitors and choices of several low-res games. It works.
Last year, someone posted a story of this nature. I recall, because I suggested that the exercise should be "self-abuse" instead of riding an exercise bike. True to /. form, someone had already made the suggestion, so my post was marked "Redundant."
I think that the only responsible thing to do here is to mark my current reply "redundant" as well, since it is doubly so.
GF.
Lots of petrified grits
Wow, this is incredible. My fathers company, epicsoftware.com actually had an idea similar to this back in 1994 (or 95) when Doom I was at the height of its popularity. My fathers company is located in Houston, TX, which is about 4 hours away from where iD software is located (Mesquite, TX). Thus, my dad and his lead programmer went up to iD, spoke with Jay Wilbur and John Carmack about the idea. If I remember correctly, they thought it was a cool idea too. In their prototype, instead of a bike, they used a treadmill in which walking on the treadmill would move you through the Doom level. A prototype was developed and semi worked, but iD soon gave up on the idea (I believe, it might have been epic). Nevertheless, it was really cool.
Also, this was when I was 9 or 10 (8 or 9 years ago), so I don't recall everything, but it was cool.
-Vic
Winter of 1997, I spent a lot of time in the gym at Ft. Carson, Colorado. They had these cycles hooked up to displays, and you could pedal around this little game world. You steered by shifting your weight left and right. It was sadly non-violent, but you could race or just explore. You could even go underwater, but it was a lot harder to pedal.
I don't remember the brand of the cycles, but they were pretty cool.
You want the truthiness? You can't handle the truthiness!
Every 15 mins I'll get /. to post a story that's at least 10 years old.
The adrenaline rush and the speed typing of "Seen it", "Old News", and "OMG slashdot is repeating news!!!!111!!" will be the most activity many of us are likely to get. :-)
this sound sinteresting..
you on the exercise bike chasing the video game image of Laura crofts ass..
Now what modern teenager or overweight human male would turn down buying a game like that?
Or better yet chasing Ms Twain..
Don't Tread on OpenSource
PropCycle was fun, but as a coin-op, it's not a useful exercise device. It was a lousy flight sim, too.
For cyclists out there Cat Eye makes a add on to your trainer that allows you to play PSone, PS2 games with your bike (ie racing games) and soon they will have xbox and gamecube adapters. Its around $150, pretty cheap add on and you can still use your own bike.
Ok to follow the theme. Pedaling to the oldies:
Joust would lend itself quite well to the pedal-for-your-life concept.
Now, if somebody would just brew up an easy interface for MAME, we'd be set!
A lan party of these type of games...
Doing a quick look on the web, I incidentally came upon quite a few astronomy sites about projecting stereo images, but the results always came out about the same: The cost of a "low cost" VR system runs around $20 grand. Cheap glasses that use a shutter effect seem to run at about $200. But, well, use your own judgement. This is just about a half hour of research:
You like splinters in your crotch? -Jon Caldara
The second model I bought was the Eloton SimCycle along with its GameBox accessory. This lets you plug the SimCycle into a gameport as the Y-Axis, shared with another gameport controller. This finally offered the experience I wanted.
It's a matter of trial and error to find games that let you configure the Y-Axis as your speed or throttle. The reaction of the PC to changes in your pedaling speed is not instantaneous. I'd estimate there to be a .7 seconds delay. So it's best to use it in games where you are usually going forward but you would like to vary the speed. That generally means racing and flight sims. With a FPS like Unreal it's just not precise enough.
Some of the games I've found to work well are:
Most importantly, it works very well with Battlefield 1942, controlling my forward motion whether I'm an infantryman or driving a vehicle. In fact, because Battlefield 1942 is such an addicting game, I've been getting a lot of exercise lately! I like it a lot.
This is a very cool idea, but it would probably get old pretty quickly. Then it would become like most every other piece of exercise equipment... a place to hang clothes off of.
Real (read racing) cyclists have been racing against each other over the internet for several years now...
Takes some hardware and software, but the setup is not that hard, although the racing certainly is...
Um, it's a little more than just 'barely lifting your feet'. People who get into that game rarely stop without breaking a sweat. It'd certainly do me more good than the exercise bicycle that's covered in a protective layer of dust.
DDR is now one of my three forms of exersize. (The other two: A membership to the gym which I use for weightlifting, but can't stand things like the bikes. The other is my wife. *Nudge Nudge, Wink Wink*) It's pretty easy to become a Code Potato, setting there in front of the computer not getting any exersize. Working for a computer related company during the day, and owning a game company at night does bad things for your physique ;-)
Anyway - it's a hell of a lot of exersize, even when you learn how to dance 'optimally'. When you start out, you're jumpin' all over the place, trying to get the beat, etc. Once you've got it, you tone it down a lot, but, you start moving faster and faster, picking more complicated songs to work with. I own my own home setup (modified some Playstation pads for use on the PC, and grabbed StepMania to use with it) rather than dump tons o' quarters into an arcade machine or buy a PS. Plus, and overweight 31 year old white guy tryin' to DDR is NOT a pretty sight. Luckly, it improves the more time you spend on the pads. (IE - less overweight, a little more coordinated. However, I'm still a 31 year old white guy lookin' like a dork ;-)
For anyone who's wondered if it works for weightloss, keeping you in shape, etc... I have no real clue. I assume it does. I work up a hell of a sweat, and have a lot of fun doing it. But I've also got a membership to a gym four blocks from here, so, it's hard to tell what makes the most difference.
But I will say this in general for the idea o' workin' out and how it affects your coding skills - I always feel sharper and can work a lot farther into the night after I've been going to the gym consistently. :-)
Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr - looking for something to read? Check out my three free novels at MidnightRyder.org
My soph year of college on spring break (96? 97? somewhere in there) - I was with the track team and we were in Florida... maybe it was my frosh year?
Anyway, we had no money as we were travelling around and racing at different colleges. We ended up either staying at the houses of various alumni, or at the very least eating there.
One family that was high up at Seagrams (sp?) had us over and while wandering through their house, I recall being amused that this couple in their 50s had a SuperNintendo.
Then I saw that she had it hooked up to her bike - she was a triathlete and there was some program on there that she would use - not sure if it was a true game where she raced, or something that would just track what she did - but it was most certainly a Super Nintendo connected to her bike and it was specifically for that - not as if she were playing Super Mario Cart while biking.
I recall thinking the whole thing silly even then.
I want my PS2 hooked up to some sort of exercise device. But not one I'm using - I want my score in GTA3 to control the speed of random treadmills in a Balleys in Porter Square.
There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
Game interfaces are cool and whatnot, but wouldn't it be cool if I could bike around a city and my laptop got charged as I looked for warchalked areas? Anyone know of any R&D going into that?
c-hack.com |
Yes, this idea has been done before, and done pretty well by the CycleFX guys. I have one, and it's great. It's nice to be able to bike indoors in inclement weather, and racing around the track in GTA3:ASpec is a blast.
Link - http://www.cyclefx.com/
You won't regret it.
Now that's what I call an EXCITE BIKE!
uh uh any takers fatty's
I like things that are sweet and not things that are lame. --
This is the best advancement to exercise bicycles ever! The next should be to get rid of all that peddling. Then maybe replace those uncomfortable seats with a sofa.
Idunno... I've been a cyclist in both LA and NYC, and although you describe the circumstances in such a way so as to make me believe you were really taking good precautions, I can't help but notice that you mention reflectors, but not lights.
Am I understanding this? If you mention the reflectors, you're talking about night riding, no? You ride at night in LoCal without lights? You're lucky you didn't end up like your motorcyclist temporary-roommate!
Just for the record - 5 LED red blinker in back, 5 LED white blinker on the leg, and some battery hog halogen thing on the front, and then you should be pretty noticable. Combine this with decent choice in your route, and you should be safe as houses.
When I lived in the Big Fruit, I made do with a whole lot of luminescent wire and a few strobes. Ate batteries pretty bad, but EVERYbody noticed where I was!
to control my parents QVC habit!! Maybe wire the receiver to a treadmill....
"If you're interested, I came second..."
Wait a second... Maybe this game is up my ally...
try
eloton - minimal
exergame
fitcentric
cyclefx
velotron
graber
reality keeps interfering with my plans for world domination.
looks like we're still an integration of all the required variables away. close though. 1 year maybe. (ignoring that this still includes no tilt sensing, and no force feedback. ahem)
well, we still don't have pc's capable of playing unreal within the myst world. so...
.
. hmmm
He recreated his company and it is progressing nicely apparently. The software is ported to pcs and more and he has strong partnerships and some good patents on the flick rate to wheel speed stuff. Check it out at Exerscape.com
Stuff like this has been around since the 80's. You could buy trainers with a LED display that allowed you to do pursuits and race the computer, all from the comfort of your own bicycle.
This really reminds me of Power Pong.
It may be an interesting thought for to have such a trainer for children who need this kind of exercise very badly, but dont want to ride the bike because its no fun.
Children in this group could be motivated this way, to do their exercises. Being destracted by the game, they might preform better.
Ofcource it would be cool if the preformance in game depended on your preformance on the bike.
That way it would also motivate to ride better next time.
Dammit, I was hoping this was a story on how to make your own. Why hasn't someone made one yet?? Can't you put a monitor to detect the rate of the tire rotations, and adjust the speed of the character on the screen accordingly? If the UP arrow causes the character to move, then each rotation could be one instance of the pressing the UP arrow, right?
I mean sure that's not the way Need For Speed is suppose to go, but I'd be willing to bet it'd work.
FYI, Konami has an exercise bike that plugs directly into the TV (PDF document). No console necessary.
Unfortunately the document doesn't have too much information on it, but check the bottom-right of the first page for a picture. It simplifies things a bit if you don't already have a compatible console machine and just want some extra kick to help you exercise. Not sure where you can get one, though.
There was a setup for the 8-bit NES that connected a exercycle type thing. I think it was called Computrainer, and if I'm not mistaken, it's still around in a more advanced form.
The i-Magic virtual reality cycle turbo trainer has started appearing in the cycling press over the last year or so. Details at:-
Tacx web site
This is not aimed at the game player, and rather more at the hard core cyclist who wants to train in the winter, but the principle is the same.
http://www.johnlewis.com/stores/product.asp?sku=23 0169666&str=940 is a direct link, if you want one. Its quite amusing really, and works pretty well with Gran Tourismo 3.
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
A friend (Johnny NG) and I had this idea in 1993 and were going to develop a system based on a Nintendo console. Objective, to ensure you kept peddling to continue playing the game! Not sure what stopped us, but many are doing it now. Be cool to have an Xbox or other latest generation console connected to a running machine, gun in hand, to add total realism to the Halo experience! It will happen.
O'WONDERWe're working on it.
A few months back, in October 2002, we organized an Open Source promotion event on our Campus. It took place during a well-known (in our country) 24 hours bicycle race.
We had an indoor training bike connected to a game interface and we ran Tux Racer GPL under Debian. Great fun ! You had to pedal at mid-speed just to release the brake (i.e. no pedaling meant actually clowing down) and you had to pedal real fast to start paddling in the snow. Then of course steering was, well, steering.
Younger kids liked it a lot... So did drunken students later at night !
Ceci n'est pas une signature
Don't knock it. This works. A month or so ago, they brought one of these babies to the gym where I work out. As many here have said, games fitted to exercise machines aren't new.
;)
But I was impressed with the new models. Instead of crappy-ass little LCDs or blinkenlights, they've got good-quality 15" TFTs, and the games are pretty neat. From puzzles (pedal faster to slow the bricks coming down) to shoot'em ups (pedal faster for speed and/or ammo), the graphics are good, and the combination of exercise with an IMMEDIATE goal is immersive.
The first time I started playing, at some point I felt really tired. I checked my watch, and I'd been pedalling away for thirty(!) minutes. I usually can't interest myself to stay on a bike more than fifteen minutes.
So yeah. Bring it on. Now all we need is a Quake mod where all the bikes in the gym are networked, and the faster you pedal, the more ammo and respawns you get.
So long, and thanks for all the fish
1. Hook up XBox to bike
2. Pedal
3. Lose much poundage
4. Pick up women
5. ???
6. PROFIT!
7. Install Ninnle
This was my concept - about 5 years ago I thought of it. I saw people watching MTV while they rode an exercise bike or did the threadmill, and I thought "what if you could explore a detailed replica of world famous cities each time you take a run or ride?" My concept would be to replicate the cities street by street in high detail so you could see each building and newpaper box, etc. just as if you were in the city you choice to jog or ride in. This would make the exercise less dull, and give a person an incentive to go further and see more of the city. I'm thinking places like Paris, not Baltimore.
Tacx I-magic, Computrainer et caetera. The I-Magic even allows people to train and race with others over the Internet! These trainers may not be a hit with the general populace, but they are certainly an object of desire of every bike racer who has to train through winter.
Been there, done that too.
. ph p3?record_id=102
The "Legible City" by Jeffrey Shaw is quite a venerable piece of Multimedia art.
http://on1.zkm.de/zkm/werke/TheLegibleCity
I've worked on a portable and connected version when at the ZKM a couple of years back.
http://www.jeffrey-shaw.net/html_main/show_work
Get on your real bike, hit the road, and play dodge 'em with all the SUV-driving cell-phone-yakking homicidal maniacs. If you win, you are rewarded with more physical fitness, and if you lose you get a long period of rest and relaxation as you recover from your injuries. Such fun!
I used to play this game a lot until I had to take the R&R. Now I play a different game - playing dodge 'em with the headphone-listening unleashed-dog-walking oblivious folks on the multi-use trails.
No sig? Sigh...
The bike has more options, the tank bit, a bike race, and some car thing that I barely remember. The graphics were horrible but the concept was good and the tank battle thing was decent enough to take my mind off of the tedium of peddaling a stationary bike.
They had this sort of thing at Disney WOrld like atleast 10 years ago. It was by that 'journey to the center of the body' ride. It's an exercise bike with a video screen attached to it to go through different scenes. You can be a mouse etc and biking faster makes your tour through the scene faster... is this what your going for? :)
There is a software out here that controls you bike etc. ifit input.
Sure the thing will help you burn fat, but most games aren't marketed with a focus on health. They are marketed 2 ways: long-term playability OR alternate reality where you are a super-human demi-god and not the flabby/wimpy/pre-adult guy you actually are. You achieve demi-goddedness with hand-eye coordination only and not actually being Bruce Jenner (just dated myself right there didn't I...)
A 5 hour death-match on a bicycle? Yeah right. _I_ would die! The hand cramps and back-aches are bad enough! A 12-year-old putting in an entire weekend on bicycle Zelda -- HAHAHAHAHA! Pedalling for 40 hours to complete the entire BarCraft extended mission pack before final exams? That's an emergency room visit, people. Good luck marketing THAT sucker! This is a niche market at best.
The driving game concept sounds great -- until you are so physically tired you can't win anymore (insert your own pain threshold number of minutes) and are getting further and further behind. You then switch back to the hand controller and suddenly you can win again -- immediate and repeatable gratification so why go back to the bike? You could play Quake with a 250lb mouse to build up your forearms -- but I play Quake to kick some ass, folks, so bring it on, you fraggable rock! I have picked a variety of controllers over the years to make my game play easier, not harder! If the controller gets in the way of my gaming experience, I give it to my enemies.
The marketing would have to be EXTREMELY clever to make you feel like you WIN at the end of EVERY exercise session. The game would actually have to do that, probably. Set a 30 minute workout with a graduated system that, if you perform even a fraction of a percent better than your last game, guarantees a first place finish. It must pit you against yourself! If it pits you against folk around the world, well either you're a pro athlete or a great hardware/sensor hack to stay on top and that's a pretty small market.
Another programming/marketing strategy would be to make it such that your performance on the bike gets you extended play time with the controller. You bike for 15 minutes in a little "pre-game" scenario that is always a little different and performance-based as I described above (do the same or better each time to "win"), you get to play something else for 2 hours. If this were actually a POWER-generation system that charged a battery that powered the console it would have environmental benefit as well!
It is a neat idea, but very limited to those who actually want a pretty interactive picture to help them burn fat in the privacy of their homes (I would!), have the console for which it is designed (I don't), and don't mind the concept of being a loser when you're tired (I mind).
I'm thinking about it, therefore I might be.
Slot machine attached to exercise bike.
"Karma can only be portioned out by the cosmos." -Homer Simpson
a better idea for getting your exercise through video gaming - a motion capture suit.
imagine everquest - but when you go to cast a spell, you have to perform an intricate gesture with your arms and hands.
K.
Thought the concept was interesting to say the least. Although more modern exercise equipment, such as treadmills or bikes have built in monitors where you can browse the internet, watch TV and even make a phone call.
The unexamined life is not worth living
This sort of thing should be marketed to wealthy parents that do not take the time (sad but true) to ensure that their kids are involved in regular physical activity.
Make them feel guilty (they are probably already uneasy about their kids resultant girth) if they don't buy it for their kids well being.
I always wanted to hook up an old toy as an input device for Doom. I remember it from the 70's or 80's. It had two large, plastic wheels you sat between. You grabbed the handle and rotated the wheels to move around, much like tank treads. Add some pedals for your feet and stick the whole thing on rollers and you'd get a heck of a full-body workout. A higher level of fitness (instead of spasmodic keystrokes) would actually give you an advantage against similarly equipped players. Come to think of it, maybe
I can't remember the name of the toy but I found a modern knockoff: Whirly Wheels
But we all know you have never been to a gym you overweight geek.
Now THAT was a fun game!
:)
I wonder if there's a way to make a PC version.
Even better: Multiplayer Combat Prop Cycle. Now THAT would be cool.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
It's called step aerobics...
:)
But DDR would be much more fun.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
"It sounds crazy, but it might just work"
Huh?
Such designs have been around for ages. I remember trying one during the mountainbike world cup in Åre, back in 1999. Yes, it was rather rudimentary, but the speed was adjusted after how fast you were pedaling and pedaling up slopes was heavier than going downwards. And I can't see how adding more advanced features, like steering sensors could be that much harder work.
"Everyone who believes in telekinesis, raise my hand..." - James Randi
Are there any open-source multiplayer combat flight simulators?
Preferably not using jets.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
This makes me think of a location in Dark Age of Camelot. (For those that play: The area containing the road near West Downs in Albion). I call it the halfpipe...
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
The first example of this I saw was Diamond Park in 1995, a 3d virtual world from Mitsubishi ER Labs that you navigated on a bicycle. Then Georgia Tech published a bike race virtual environment based on the olympics in '97, that project is still going. My gym at work has 2 Tectrix VR exercise bicycles with video monitors and left/right turn by leaning that give you the option of a winter tour, island tour, or basic games, you can do any of the above with 2 players, and you can set it to pay attention to hills or not... I find that using it instead of the regular exercise bike I will get a lot more violent, as if I were playing a real sport, a lot more cardio workout, and it's fun when you go to the gym with a friend, whereas with the other I just plot along reading my magazine or book... but they don't make them anymore, according to the gym, so when they break, we're SOL. www.bodyquest.com claims to still sell them, but I think their website is just out of date.
I, too am rather ticked-off by this SWEEPING generalization of the geek population.
I have been working with computers since I was 8 (am now 23), run Linux, WinXP, a PocketPC, write apps for my cell phone, work in tech support, have my ham radio license and also happen to be a personal trainer at my local YMCA, weighing 170 lbs at 16.5% body fat.
Geeks are entirely capable of learning to be fit - especially when they realize how beneficial it is for cognitive ability, reflexes (my Quake game got better when I started working out), and general state of mind.
I really don't think I'm alone here. Speak up, all of you!
+++ATH0