I'm sure someone's working on this, but why not combine a treadmill with a shoot-em-up like DOOM? A handle-bar like contraption steers the virtual you, and has buttons for weapons, etc. The treadmill reacts to your virtual location, for example by increasing force when going up stairs, and stopping cold when you hit a wall. Gameplay is set up to encourage excercise rather than carnage, for example you are rewarded more for sucessfully running away than for blowing bad guys to bits. A rearview "window" shows the bad guys behind you so you can escape. For those who prefer a non-violent approach, could do a simulated marathon, Flintstone drag race, Pacmanesque treasure hunt, or even simulate 7-league boots or flying.
-- rmutt, May 07 2000

Prop Cycle http://www.klov.com...tter=P&game_id=9139
Probably what [alfrede01] remembers. Pop balloons on a flying bicycle. [jutta, May 07 2000, last modified Mar 09 2006]

VR Sphere http://www.ndirect....systems/sphere1.htm
No force feedback, but more fully immersive. [Eeyore, May 07 2000, last modified Oct 21 2004]

(?) Slot Machine Treadmill and Excercycle http://www.nando.co...502728501-0,00.html
Shoulda thunk the gamblers would get there first. Still, it needs to reward excercise by, say, increasing jackpot probability the faster you go. [rmutt, May 07 2000, last modified Oct 21 2004]

I'm pretty sure this already exists. I'm sure it does with bikes, at least.
-- alfrede01, May 07 2000


Maybe place a weight sensor under the running belt and simulate different gravities on the screen. (In reality, you jump a little; on the screen, you fly across a mountain.)

Maybe project an image on the belt and be able to jump across obstacles, mines...
-- jutta, May 07 2000


Maybe provide an area of tread which can move in all directions (a circular surface, the tread joined with itself underneath the walking surface) and display the game on a round display, or the top half of a sphere, or on an ordinary display which swings around as the player changes direction.

Better yet, do as jutta says and project images. Hang-time might make different gravities strange, though.
-- Monkfish, Nov 22 2000


I remember Nintendo had something like this. You ran on a pad and raced the computer or a friend. The computer had really inventive names like Lepord, Cheeta, etc. For the life of me I can't think of what it was called, but I remember having parties and we would all stand around and watch a couple race, then the winner and the next person would race. I also remember that sometimes when I raced the computer I cheated and had a friend hit one sensor and I hit the other. There were seperate tracks you had to run on, one had hurdles. I'll have to go and see if I can find a link or a picture of it and I'll be back.
-- barnzenen, Dec 14 2000


This idea would also work outside of a treadmill design by providing the user with an total virtual experience of running around a warehouse with a virtual helmet on. Instead of relying on quick hand movements to jump shoot and run, the user would have to physically move their whole body around to advance or retreat from the enemy. Special sensors in a suit could inflict a mild shock on the user to let them know when they are hit and to further motivate them to avoid being so in the future. Within a year there would be buff nerds from coast-to-coast.
-- RobGraham, Dec 28 2000


"... (no shooting) ..."

Well, duh, no wonder they weren't very popular. How much fun can a "running (no shooting)" game possibly be?

Not to say that games must involve guns to be fun, but I'm guessing they didn't involve a whole lot of tricky puzzle-solving, either.
-- egnor, Dec 28 2000


Eeyore: The VR sphere tracks the observers movement by tracking the rotation of the sphere that it causes... It's a giant mouse ball! (Or maybe a giant hamster ball)
-- mwburden, Dec 29 2000


i once saw a really cool downhill mountainbike game in an arcade but some bastard had jammed the return coin button down so i couldnt play
-- chud, Feb 04 2001



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