The Powergrid Kilowatt is a full-body videogame controller that functions as an isometric exercise device. William Huber and I tried it out at E3 2004, and we've talked about it before.

The problem with the Kilowatt is that it's freaking huge, and pretty damn expensive. No normal person without a special room dedicated could really fit the thing, and it requires a pretty large financial outlay, even for an exercise device. Brian C. over at Kotaku has been using a Kilowatt for a while now, and he just reported that Powergrid is introducing a smaller version of the device actually suitable for home use. Here's what Brian says about it:

Great news. Based on the picture at top, the new smaller device appears to be a kind of pogo-stick like gadget that one would hold on the ground with one's feet. The people are actually sitting on a long IKEA Pastill bench, which clearly doesn't come with the unit. I know it's a Pastill because Perry Wang and I bought a bunch of these for our office a few years back. They were cheap and we used them as visitor chairs in our offices. They're felted and inviting, but uncomfortable enough that visitors wouldn't be tempted to stay too long. Anyway, it's hard to tell if this new smaller device will offer the same upper body workout as the large one, which has a rear bar to apply pressure against. I remember that rear stabilizer being rather important to counterbalancing the foreward pressure put on the control gizmo.