Came across this very interesting link today:

http://www.gametab.com/news/872497/

Now I (as many other people) was expecting Wii Health pack to be some form of jazzercise game- maybe with weights included - and maybe with a pulse monitor attachment (or something like that).

But according to this story, Nintendo may have other ideas. This takes the Wii completely out of the category of games - PCs - and even "training" games. It also sounds like it is more actively targeting elderly people..?

- "game" will collect biometric data on users, and upload it to Nintendo via WiiConnect24. Designed to be used regularly/daily.

- A "Health" channel will give feedback on your health (or all users? country summaries?)

- *** Nintendo will send this information to contracted HOSPITALS, (pay doctors to analyse it?), and send you the results back. No doubt if they discover a (serious?) problem you will be informed, and told that you should see a doctor.

...

If this is true (and I sort of suspect it is - its very Nintendo.. :P), I'm sort of in shock. Not only *would* this actually save lives, it opens a completely new market that no one has ever ventured into.

Opinions?

(I wonder about the economics of this, how much would it cost Nintendo? then again, the publicity only would be worth it?? Shudder to think what would happen to the demand for Wii's when this comes out...).

I doubt this system would be very... depth. Like the link you put at the bottom, it would likely watch simple numbers and give results. As I have trouble seeing a system like that happening. It simply put. Has never happened before. Well it has, it just never worked. (not on consoles)

It would be really neat if they did it tho, and it worked right. 

As interesting as this sounds, I just don't see this happening in the USA. The medical liability environment here is just too insane.

 That is what I was thinking, I just didnt think on how to word it right, so I didnt say it.

@shams:

"- *** Nintendo will send this information to contracted HOSPITALS, (pay doctors to analyse it?), and send you the results back. No doubt if they discover a (serious?) problem you will be informed, and told that you should see a doctor."

Actually, this is very Japanese. They have had, for about two decades now, toilet seats (yeah, the ones you sit on at home) taking samples of your "wii" (awful pun intended) and your PoS (again) and sending the sample readouts to your doctor.

In terms of liability, I don't think this represents any legal issues, as it's an aid - it's not like it's something where your life depends on it.

And then when I have a problem that the Wii is supposed to diagnose, and it didnt notice it, and I have to spend 100,000$ to fix it. I will sue nintendo for millions for the pain endured because of it, and the fact that I didnt get prevenitive treatment beucase of the nintendo diagnosis.

You have heard about disclaimers, right?

You know, like the ones about epilepsy that show up in every single game manual? Or all the warnings that Nintendo give you on the Wii (take a break, wear the strap, wash your hands, brush your teeth)?

Nintendo are not going to diagnose anything. At most they will deliver medical data to your hospital or doctor of choice. They are not replacing doctors or the medical industry. They will still warn you that "Wii Health is in no way a substitute for regular checkups, and if you feel sick, please contact a doctor immediately (like Skype warns you that their service is no substitute for traditional phones so don't count on it in an emergency; that's also legal speak for "don't come looking for us if your child died because you used Skype to call for an ambulance").

Good luck suing Nintendo, because you'd be a fool to think they, or any company, would in their right mind expose themselves to such litigious possibilities.

Yeah, I don't really see any issues regarding liability. Its one thing if the system starts saying "YOU HAVE CANCER AND WILL DIE IN A WEEK" - when you definitely don't - that would cause legal problems ;)

But the Wii would be "soft" in terms of wording .. things like "You health is poor", or "You may want to consider more exercise and a better diet", etc.

...

As for the Japanese toilets - that sort of thing may be part of the reason the Japanese are one of the healthiest nations in the world. I was talking to a friend here, and she let me know that Australia has now overtaken the US in terms of "per-capita fatness" (using body/mass ratios and other tests) and is now effectively one of the least healthy (non-3rd world) countries in the world.

I agree with Kwaad, in that it will depend heavily on how "good' the system is. Blood pressure tests? Heart rate? Body temperature? Do you manually enter your height, weight, etc?

I can see something like a pulse/heart rate monitor working? - in conjunction with some basic exercises (so it measures your effective fitness by how well your body adapts to exercise, etc).

I don't think Nintendo will have to actually pay doctors to analyze the data. I think if the trend hits big enough, at least in the USA, plenty of universities would love to study the incoming data from the consoles.

I also agree with the others when saying this won’t break any medial liability laws. Most likely the customer will have to sign, perhaps using Wii’s new browser, and online contract and waiver that keeps Nintendo or the Dr.’s / Universities responsible for any possible diagnosis from the persons own doctor.

In fact that is all I see possibly being said by the people who will analyze this data: “Go get a check up at the doctors.”

Plus Nintendo will dress this up as entertainment and not a major medical use. Ofcourse keeping their rear safe in the meantime.  

I don't think there will be much more than a heart rate monitor used in this game. After typing in your weight and height, analyzing your heart rate can tell a lot about ones general fitness levels.

The game might then just apply certain exercises/games to your daily routines in order to help achieve your desired fitness goals. More or less a fitness trainer program that is able to track real time data. It reminds me of the very general, yet useful, system used at Freetrainers.com

Also I think depending on how popular this is, there are many peripherals we have seen in the past that could easily be adapted to this type of game-- The old Olympic NES game / DDR floor mat for example.

The basic health assessment that the Wii could provide really wouldn't provide enough data to make any good judgments on a person's health or physical fitness.  I think the whole concept is a bit 'out there'.  What's next?  Will Nintendo send your Brain Age to a local school so teachers can evaluate your intelligence?  LOL.

Wii Health is coming.  Wii Health will probably have a solid group of activities and will probably be along the lines of Kinetic for PS2.  And the title will sell a decently.  But Wii Health will not solve America's obesity problem or cure cancer.  Go sign up for Folding@home for the latter.