EA Sports Active Wii Game Announced
Electronic Art's Wii Fit Rival Will Be Exclusive to the Wii Console
Nov 15, 2008
Electronic Arts have announced their first entry in the relatively young physical fitness video game genre with EA Sports Active, which is due for release in Spring 2009. The title is being developed by EA Sports, a branch of Electronic Arts that is known for popular sports video games such as Madden NFL and NCAA Football.
EA Sports Active is to be exlusive to the Wii console, and is expected to ship with a number of Wii attachments. These include two specifically designed leg straps with which to hold the Wii Remote or Nunchuck controller in place, and a rubber chest resistance band, to support lower and upper body Wii interactions respectively. The game offers support for, but does not include, the Wii Balance Board, which is not required for the majority of the included activities.
EA Sports Active 30 Day Challenge
One of the features of EA Sports Active is the “30 Day Challenge”. This is a fitness road map where players interact with a virtual trainer to reach their personal fitness goals within a month. Each day, a new twenty minute exercise regime is introduced that increases in intensity and individual activity duration as the player's fitness increases.
EA Sports Active vs Nintendo Wii Fit
Comparisons to Nintendo's Wii Fit are inevitable, but President of EA Sports, Peter Moore, himself an ex-PE instructor, believes the two games target different audiences based on cultural exercise expectations and preferences. Speaking to Reuters, Moore said of the Wii Fit: “...it's not really a western style philosophy of cardiovascular exercise. You've got more of a classic eastern style of balance and coordination.”
Moore suggests EA Sports Active will offer a western weight-losing flavour to fitness in the official press release: “We have a real opportunity to redefine the home fitness experience with a more Western cardiovascular approach and exercises that will appeal to a diverse audience.”
The game includes a number of intensive exercises that can be tailored to create a personal workout. These exercises do promise to be somewhat more vigorous than those offered by Wii Fit, and include running, boxing, tennis and strength training. In all, over twenty different sports are promised in the final product.
EA Sports Active Targets Oprah Demographic
EA Sports Active continues a trend of attempting to attract traditionally non-gaming sections of the population. In this case, the target demographic is 30-something mothers. Fitness author Bob Greene, who is one of the many expert contributors to the game, says in the official press release: “One of the most frequent questions I am asked is how to get fit at home, especially from busy moms. EA Sports Active is a great way to get moving when you can’t get outside or you only have a short amount of time at home.”
EA Sports Active is anticipated to have a release price of around $60, and Electronic Arts are promoting this price as a cost-effective alternative to the expense of a gym membership, a further selling point to what Peter Moore calls the “Oprah demographic”.
EA Sports Active Future Franchise
Speaking in an interview with Gamespot, Peter Moore states that the EA Sports Active title is only the first in what will be an extensive fitness game franchise: “Think of EA Sports Active as a pretty comprehensive product line. It's not just software but peripherals as well. Down the road, there will be more of a total workout game. But you can imagine there's an abs version down the road. There's a soccer version down the road.”
This suggests that in the future Electronic Arts may incorporate its other game licenses into separate but complimentary EA Sports Active games. Whether EA Sports Active can effectively improve fitness, the success of Nintendo's Wii Fit means the prospect of an EA Sports Active franchise will undoubtedly prove very healthy for Electronic Arts indeed.
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