In 1998, a device called the Bio Sensor (or Bio Pak depending on who you believe) was released in Japan for the Nintendo 64. Admittedly, it wasn’t made by Nintendo, instead being brought to us by a third-party company called SETA, but the idea was the same. Basically, this device measured your heart rate as you played, the only difference being that it attached to your earlobe, not your finger.

And what games were compatible with this device? According to Wikipedia, Tetris 64 (released only in Japan) is the first and only game to ever make use of it. It featured a special mode where the speed of the game changed depending on your heart rate, so if you’re one of those army sharpshooters who are trained to slow down their heartbeat, you might find it pretty easy. It sounded like a fun idea in theory, but in practice, not so much (according to reviews).

This raises an interesting idea. What if someone at Nintendo was looking over old releases and lamenting the missed opportunity of SETA’s original device? What if Nintendo have plans for the Vitality Sensor beyond Wii Fit?

Maybe we’ll see puzzle games that change according to your heartbeat. Maybe we’ll see FPS games where the higher the heartbeat, the harder it is to steady a sniper rifle. How about a game where your enemies can sense fear and react accordingly? Or a survival horror game which springs surprises when your heartbeat is low to maximise the surprise factor?

Or maybe it is only for Wii Fit, and this is all wild speculation that will never amount to anything. But we can dream, can’t we…

The Legend of Zelda. Brilliant series of games and I’ve owned and played every single one. They’ve served me well and yes, they may all be very similar, but as they say, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

However recently, this series has not been the faultless wonder it once was. The two most recent games have been huge disappointments to me. I wondered why, maybe I was getting Zelda overkill or just too much Zelda saturation, so I decided to fire up a Link To The Past. After playing Link To The Past I can safely tell you, there’s no such thing as too much Zelda. What has turned me off Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks is that they’re too different from the older games in too many ways to really be considered proper Zelda games. It’s not as though they’re all bad though. The utilisation of the DS’ features are brilliant. Controls are fun and it’s a while before you notice the games flaws due to just how much fun it is. But when you do notice them, and you will, it make you very very angry as a Zelda fan.

Now, this isn’t a whinge post, it’s partially reminiscing about what made the older Zeldas such brilliant and timeless games.

One of the greatest things about a Zelda game was exploring the world, finding the different areas, opening new paths and seeing how the world joined together. Now you’re stuck on train tracks. Each train stop area is quite small with very little area to actually explore. Plus the train is very restrictive. The boating is the same, each island is very small with very little in the way of exploration, at least with the boat you could go where you wished to. I want worlds again, not freaking islands! I want to ride my horse across plains, explore forests, climb mountains and vast caverns. Stop giving us these tiny areas (Mario Galaxy is another offender in this regard) we want worlds to explore.

Another gripe is how easy and simplistic the games have become. Look at puzzles in dungeons. Previous Zeldas would always have several puzzles that would need to have actions performed in alot of different rooms to solve it. Also most rooms would have more than just the one puzzle. Now, each puzzle is contained to one room, and they’re all obvious and easy. Going and playing older Zeldas that I’ve finished more than once the puzzles cause me more head scratching and confusion than the new games. Subsequently they also are more rewarding when they’re solved. These two issues, some may think they’re minor issues, but they’re not, they’re very, very large issues. Zelda games are all about exploration and the fiendish puzzles the dungeons provided, removing these two critical things means they’re not really Zelda games.

While I’ve never skipped a Zelda game before, I will be considering my purchase prior rather than having it pre-ordered ahead.