While Wii Fit was an amusing physical romp, with a few pretentions to toning your body, it was never going to replace your daily/weekly/annual trips to the gym. But Electronic Arts is about to take the physical activity genre to the next level.
Announced today EA Sports Active is a 'customizable and personalized fitness product' endorsed by fitness experts, including Bob Greene (apparently Oprah's personal trainer). It's a more serious challenge, providing a structured workout that targets different parts of the body, as well as a 30-day fitness roadmap so you can accurately measure your progress. Before blowing it all on a Mars bar and a tall latte.
From the press release (because I don't have the energy to re-write this stuff):
EA SPORTS Active features a wide variety of interactive activities combined into a circuit that target both the upper and lower body as well as cardio, and supports two players to allow family or friends to get fit together. EA SPORTS Active provides a new level of motivation with on-screen, real-time feedback on your workout such as calories burned, while also allowing you to adjust intensity levels. EA SPORTS Active will include two specially-designed leg straps that hold the Wii's Nunchuk controller to track lower body movements, as well as a resistance band to support a number of upper body strength training exercises.
EA SPORTS Active features a "30 Day Challenge," a fitness road map for players to reach their fitness goals with the guidance of a virtual trainer. The Challenge provides a new, 20-minute workout every time a player exercises, including clear instruction, feedback on technique and positive encouragement throughout the workout. Each circuit will feel different and increase in intensity as fitness levels improve to help you work up a sweat and work toward your fitness goals. Users can also create their own custom workouts that vary in activity, duration and intensity, and the Wii Balance Board will add functionality to many exercises.
EA Active is out in the spring and promises to be just the beginning of EA's onslaught on the lucrative 'oh my god, I'm enormous' market. It's something other big players are looking in to. During its game summit in Rome last month, Nokia mentioned that one of the markets that mobile entertainment wasn't reaching was the fitness fanatic. The company mentioned plans for mobile titles that set up fitness challenges for users, allowing them to keep track of their performance statistics.
When someone manages to graft a decent first-person shooter into a fitness gaming dynamic I might be interested: Gears of War + Balance Board = lots of cracking locust skulls with a well-placed foot jab, or strafing round corners by actually leaning. Can't see me losing too many calories, but at least I won't be sitting down.
Any other suggestions for fitness games that us sedentary cynics would actually really like to play?
