Indoor Golf: The Geeks Sport

Many gamers don't exactly have what one could call "physical prowess". (Some don't even know what that term means!) However, I'm sure that there is an audience out there who would prefer to add a bit of physical activity to their games - after all, Nintendo is banking on us all to start hopping around our living rooms as an intrinsic part of our next-generation gaming experiences. For that group on the PC there's the Qmotions line of peripherals.

When it comes to replacing your mouse with actual sports equipment, Qmotions is the king. Beginning as what could be loosely described as a kitsch company, Qmotions revolutionized golfing games with Qmotions Golf, a PC peripheral that includes a patch of Astroturf and a tethered golf ball. When hit, the ball simply rotates around the tether pole, meaning you never have to go looking in the rough to find it. Hook the whole shebang to your computer, load in a compatible golf game, and you can use your own golf clubs to play 18 holes of virtual golf.

It's golf, without the $2,000 country club membership fee.

Next, the company came out with the baseball controller. Unlike Qmotions Golf, which allows you to use your own set of clubs, Qmotions Baseball restricts you to the 27" long bat that's included in the package. Also included is the "home plate" sensor, which looks just like a miniature baseball diamond. The sensor is used to tell the game all the other controls needed in a typical baseball game, like stealing bases and moving your runners.

It does actually incorporate full-swing batting, bunting, and opposite field hitting, so you can have all the excitement of being Rafael Palmeiro, without the grand jury steroids investigation.

All the physical involvement of baseball, but it doesn't require breaking a sweat

More recently, Qmotions unveiled their newest product, which is being marketed to the fitness and exercise market. Qmotions FunFitness is a package that can turn your recumbent bike into a game controller. Usable with a wide array of racing games, Qmotions FunFitness requires you to pedal to keep your car moving. It's easily the most physically-involved offering from Qmotions.

I love the idea of replacing the mundane push and click controls with real-life actions, which is why I was crazy about the Qmotions Golf product when I got to try it out. I'm no Tiger Woods - heck, I'm not even a Davis Love III. But I do love to just go out and hit a bucket of balls every now and then, and Qmotions Golf brings that same experience to the living room.

Of course you do have the minor worry of your 5-iron slipping from your hand and crashing through your living room window. Regardless of this inherent danger in the system, Qmotions is coming up in the world, and is one of the few companies to take what was once a niche idea and turn it into a mass consumer product.

The Qmotions Golf and Baseball products have retail prices of $150 and $200 respectively. FunFitness is not officially out yet, but the price is expected to be under $100. So these products won't go too far towards breaking the bank.