The Quest for the Perfect ExerGame

It is that time of year again when I need to start thinking about projects for the forthcoming academic year. I am currently investigating a possible project involving a snowboarding game. I managed (via the web of course) track down a Playstation 2 compatible “sportsboard” and a snowboarding game (SSX3). I plugged in the sportsboard controller and away I went – well not quite… In fact not at all! A few jerky moves were all I could muster. The on/off light didn’t seem to be very bright and on closer inspection appeared to flicker on and off in a random manner.

I was beginning to despair as I came across a number of stories on the web of various controller problems deemed to be due to faulty hardware. I had enough difficulty tracking down the board so I wasn’t going to give up that easily. A couple of reports of dim lights on some controllers pointed me towards the voltage being supplied to the controller. What on earth could be wrong? To cut a long story short, I had the idea to test the sportsboard with another PS2. I plugged it in, the on/off light positively glowed and away I went down the slope at high speed…

So why does one PS2 supply enough power and the other PS2 doesn’t? Well I guess there are tolerance limits in all these various pieces of electronic circuitry. As more and more controllers become available for different forms of “ExerGames”, it looks like we need some form of connectivity standard to ensure compatibility.