Fat and lazy? This should just about finish you off then…
You know, sitting on my backside playing games and writing all day has hardly done my figure much help. Sure, I used to have the form and muscle tone of a bronzed Adonis, no really, I did. Women would swoon as I passed by, my muscles rippling beneath my perfect skin like a bag of bowling balls under a silk sheet… now come on, stop laughing.
Anyway, since doing this gaming lark, despite watching what I put in my mouth I now have the physique and pallor of the Pilsbury Doughboy. Yes, I know… all you ladies reading this will be sobbing into your Barcardi Breezers but I have to be honest, I now resemble the Michelin Man more than Superman.
Click for larger imageSo this is where the PCGamerBike comes into the picture. This is a bit of kit aimed at those of us who are too lazy and demotivated to go to the gym and who just can’t be arsed to get an exercise bike and do something about our fitness. So that’d be me then… The idea is that you map the PCGamerBike to the forward and reverse arrows on your keyboard (or whatever the movement keys are) and then pedal to make the car or person move in-game. The PCGamerBike can be set up for progressive input, even if the game works with digital input. So the faster you pedal the faster the car goes… or the person runs or the plane flies… On top of this, you can crank up the resistance on the pedals making them harder to turn, so you need to not only spin ‘em fast but put some real effort into spinning them just to get anywhere.
Click for larger imageIn practise, I just about had a haemorrhage in Need For Speed Carbon. I settled into the chair and started spinning, not realising that the speed of my pedals and the resistance was all set up for Kevin Colburn, VP Product Development for 3D Innovations… he, of course, has been playing this for ages and is fitter than Lance Armstrong… Fully aware of a gathering crowd I spun my tubby little legs until my feet were a blur… I managed to nab first place but soon lost it as my stupendously low stamina let me down… two laps was all I could manage before the medics arrived, gave me a oxygen and charged me $400 for the pleasure.
Click for larger imageSo does it work? Well yes, it works just fine. You still have to use either the keyboard or a joypad for everything else and just the PCGamerBike for forward and backward movement, but it does the exact job it sets out to do. You natural will to win a race keeps you spinning and, prvided you’ve set it up for a more realistic workout within the limits of your fitness, you’ll actually enjoy using it. I found that the progressive input was perfect for NFS: Carbon as I could keep the power trickled on through some of the bends, which did give me an advantage… You just need to make sure some lean, muscled fitness freak hasn’t had a go before you…
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