Wednesday, September 28, 2005

That's Exertainment!

This rather appalling coinage comes from an actual product:
The Life Fitness Exertainment system was a collaboration between Nintendo and Life Fitness, a maker of exercise equipment...It was first scheduled to be released in the fall of 1995. The heart of the system in the original design was a special adaptor that allows Life Fitness Lifecycle to be connected to a Super Nintendo. With this setup, pedaling on the cycle is transmitted as digital information to the SNES.
[...]
There are two games that were released for the Exertainment system...Mountain Bike Rally and Speed Racer. In both games, players have the choice of either flat or hilly terrain, with hilly terrain offering more pedaling resistance. In Mountain Bike Rally, produced by Radical Entertainment, you have a choice of eight riders, bike type, steering ability, resistance, and courses. Races last several miles, making the game an endurance test. You can punch other riders in the game, which makes for some action other than pedaling. The game also features stuff like ramps, different riding surfaces, and guys throwing stuff at you while you're trying to bike. Speed Racer is essentially the same game that Accolade released in 1994, though I doubt they kept the platform action parts. Radical Entertainment kept the Boosters, gripping tires, and, naturally, the MACH 5, and they added some hills.
Yup, it's basically the Expresso Spark using the best home gaming technology that 1995 had to offer. Yeesh.


Exertainment. Rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? Are you being sufficiently exertained? Is your home system extertaining enough?

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