Nintendo Wii Fanboy

The boffins at InvenSense who developed the MotionPlus accessory have insisted that their relationship with Nintendo is "not an exclusive one," and haven't ruled out the possibility of the MotionPlus technology seeing other companies on the side. The cads!

There's certainly not a lack of interest, with company head Joe Virginia telling Eurogamer "I can't get into details about other folks that are interested in this technology, but as you might imagine of course there is more interest out there." Whether Sony or Microsoft will pounce at this opportunity remains to be seen. The whole internet decided that Microsoft would reveal a motion-sensing controller at E3, only for the Redmond firm to unveil a big, fat nothing.

On a more positive note, Virginia talked up the possibilities of MotionPlus, discussing adding spin to tennis shots, curve to a bowling ball, ultra-precise golf swings, and sword motions with forward thrusts. You already knew all that was possible, but reading it this morning made us excited for MotionPlus all over again.

When students in Queensland, Australia recently attempted to make exercise bikes interesting to use (surely an impossible feat if you ask us, but good luck to them), they turned to the Wii's unique controller for a helping hand. Their idea was straightforward enough: place a giant screen in front of the user which shows them merrily zipping through the countryside and other virtual vistas as they cycle.

But for this to work effectively, two Wiimotes were required -- one strapped to the cyclist's helmet (so that turning the head would allow users to take in scenery around them), and one to the leg of the cyclist (meaning the device could detect what speed users were travelling at, and adjust the on-screen image accordingly).

They're calling it "virtual exercise," and say the next step is to take the image from the screen and have it projected into a pair of goggles, before selling the idea to gyms. Presumably they'll have found an alternative to the Wiimote by then, but if this does show up in your local sweatshop in the future, know where the inspiration came from, eh?

[Thanks, Maddles!]