Exercise + video games

For a while I've wondered why in the world we don't have better interfaces between video games and exercise equipment. With the exception of the very simple and addictive Dance Dance Revolution, game/exercise devices fall into two categories: expensive exercise machines with sucky games, or games with sucky exercise machines.

This may be starting to change. The most recent weak signal comes from the The New York Times:

Ever greater weight loss - rather than a chance to battle bigger monsters - is one goal for players of Yourself!Fitness, a video game under development for Microsoft's Xbox. The new title, aimed at women, features a computer-generated personal trainer who guides users through a customized set of exercises and diets.

It wasn't clear from the article whether the game, under development at responDESIGN, will have a special controller, or just work on the honor system. But the fact that a company is basically using the XBox as an exercise platform, rather than just a game platform, is interesting.