I’m so strong… in video games

Just another day at the office

You should see what I can do now.  I can scale buildings with no problem at all.  I can jump across from roof top to roof top without a drop of sweat falling on my brow.  I can even hang upside down, pick up a giant hammer and do a crunch back up to the bar, flip down and crush the next villain in front of me.  Not too bad.  And all the time, I’m unlocking more achievement badges as I go from level to level, getting more powers and having a few beers.  You gotta love video games.

Would the games take on a new perspective and incorporate some reality into the video games if it was up to your and your physical prowess to advance in the game?  With the Wii, Xbox Kinect and Playstation the players are the controllers in so many new ways.  You can run, you can punch or wield your sword so that you are becoming slightly immersed in the game.    Let’s face it, it’s a lot more interactive than hitting A, X or B.  Now that you’re the controller, is it possible to now also bring your fitness into check and find out how that can play a role in the game?

For instance, while playing Assassins Creed, it dawned on me as I’m scaling a castle in the snow storm, I was able to continue scaling the entire structure at the same speed.  I never became tired and slowed down.  Now, that last time I was scaling a castle in the real world I started to get a little tired around 100 feet in the air and I had to take a break.  Why can’t video games let you develop and train your characters, just to add a little more reality and build up achievement outside of the game?

Everyone may not want to run and jump in real life

Everyone who plays video games might not be into this idea but I would find it pretty cool to be able to head into the gym with your iPod or Android.  Start your workout and fly through whatever workout you’re doing.  Finish up and plug in your data.   From the phone, you can upload your results to your xBox or any other console.  So if you’ve improved on our pullups, your character can be that much quicker on scaling the castle.  If you increased your deadlift by 20 pounds, you can easily crush the boss on level five in four hits instead of eight hits.  Ran your mile in 7:30, guess what, you can run longer in the game before your character slows down.

The games that could benefit from this reality are numerous.  MMA games, wrestling, all of the EA Sports family of games. WII Fit and other games are incorporating fitness into the console.  Maybe it’s time to start pushing this into the other games and bring on another level of immersion.

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