I heart pedometer games.

I also heart Nike+, but that’s for exercising.  And exercising is an event… like sitting down to go to a movie or play Wii Fit.  Walking is something you do all day long, can measure passively, can make sense of aggregate data over time.

I’ve been super excited about the FitBit for a while (network pedometer that auto syncs), but this “Walk With Me” for the Nintendo DS seems to have just slayed this space (I just ordered on Amazon!)  [demo video]

Quick nerd-out moment:  I’m a big fan of the whole “software changing the way you experince the real world” thing.  In my early days at area/code, I was experimenting with a pedometer game that would text you at a random time during the day and ask you how many steps you’ve walked so far.  The idea was that since you never knew when the text was coming (and that you were competing w/ friends on a leaderboard) you’d try to walk more all day long to bump your score up.  I was specifically trying to get to the point where there was some numerical / game mechanic-esque incentive to choose the stairs over the escalator whenever you have a chance.

Anyway, excited to play with this.  I think my Dad would love it too (I turned him into a pedometer nerd).  I have a feeling this will be more Wii Fit-esque measurement tool than an actual motivator (e.g. Wii Fit doesn’t really nag you to play… well, neither does Nike+ I guess) and interested to see if there’s any social game stuff here as well any other “wellness” crossover (see the “vitamin rich food” screenshot).  Will post more when Amazon gets here.

Related:  Pocket Sakura, Japanese + Nintendo DS pedometer game / virtual pet (!!)