Innergy was revealed by Ubisoft at their E3 2010 Press Conference for PC and Mac released in 2011.
Driving home their focus on “Games You Can Feel”, Innergy is a computer product that ships with Ubisoft’s own version of the Wii Vitality Sensor, a peripheral Nintendo debuted last year but has yet to release. “Early bird gets the worm” as they say.
“Innergy is a new generation of video game, designed as a daily solution to transform bad stress into positive creative energy and allow the player to enjoy life more fully. The game ships with the Innergy Sensor, a cutting-edge biofeedback tool that measures heart rate variability, blood flow and pulse, developed in collaboration with leading biofeedback specialists Mind Media B.V. The Innergy Sensor can be plugged into any computer to play.”
Once hooked up to this “wellness game”, you’ll find breathing exercises and “games” that help you to deal with stress and relax. Breathing exercises will allow players to reach cardiac coherence, a documented state in medical research that counters the negative impact of stress on the body and mind. An illustrated diary helps players to track their progress.
The game demonstrated had you breathing in and out to make a fish swim in a perfect line, up and down, along a wave.
Ubisoft called upon a group of select partners to create Innergy. The design of the Innergy Sensor is the work of Patrick Jouin, a former collaborator of Phillipe Starck, whose creations have been exhibited at MoMA and the Centre Pompidou , among others. Innergy’s graphic design was created by pop artist Rolito, who previously contributed his talents to Sony Computer Entertainment’s Patapon.
“It has been an exceptional experience creating this game in collaboration with such leading talents,” said Sebastien Kochman, creative director at Ubisoft. “Our creative and technical teams are working together to build a game that is unlike any other product on the market: entertainment that offers real benefits that players can feel everyday in their body and mind.”
Here is the Innergy on-stage demo.