The Wii Vitality Sensor, which was meant to measure a players pulse rate and biometric stimulation, was shelved by the company as it was not very reliable.
The Wii Vitality Sensor was first demoed at E3 2009. Nintendo initially thought that it would be interesting to understand how the human autonomic nerve functions while using the Wii Vitality Sensor, and developed trial software and showed the media some of its features. Nintendo's developers pushed forward its development on the academic assumption that by observing the wave patterns of the human pulse, they could quantify how tense or relaxed a person is, or how much the sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves work as functions of the autonomic nerve.
However, after a large-scale test of a prototype inside the company, Nintendo found out that for some people the sensor did not work as expected, said Nintendo president Satoru Iwata and in a recent investor Q&A.
"..We have not been able to launch it as a commercial product because we could not get it to work as we expected and it was of narrower application than we had originally thought. We would like to launch it into the market if technology advancements enable 999 of 1,000 people to use it without any problems, not only 90 out of 100 people," Iwata said.
In the meantime, Xbox One's new biometric Kinect sensor is a reality and rumors of a mood-sensing Steam Box on the way.