Other Genres

If you now shift a little to encompass third-person perspective play, the horizon opens up yet again. Almost any sport you can think of can be simulated from this point of view: bullfighting, surfing, rugby, and sailboarding, to name a few.

One that I would like to see is a mountain-biking game. I'd especially like to see one that accepted input from a stationary bicycle! Imagine being able to ride single-track trails at Moab while buried under three feet of snow in Ontario! That would be cool. In fact, I think there is an untapped market here: hooking up the various machines in a gym to computers running games that people can play, using the exercise machines as the input devices. Exercise equipment manufacturers have put out some weak attempts at this, but there could be so much more—especially in the online multiplayer realm.

Instead of running on a treadmill hooked up to a computer with software that simulates running on a trail in Oregon, how about using the treadmill to provide motive input for your player as a rifleman in World War II Online? In fact, there is hardware that hasn't even been designed yet that could probably be used in this way.