We here at ShrinkGeek are clearly not the only folks excited about the latest fitness game for the Nintendo Wii, EA SPORTS Active. Nintendo announced on Monday that the game sold more than 600,000 units in the first two weeks of being on the market.
With numbers like that it shouldn’t be much of a surprise to learn that Nintendo is already planning to roll out the first expansion for the game in time for the holiday shopping season.
In addition to the game itself, EA SPORTS Active comes with two additional accessories – A leg strap and a resistance band. My first half an hour or so with the game was spent reading the instructions on how to use these two contraptions. The resistance band has two canvas hand grips that will need to be attached to it but the process is fairly straightforward. The leg strap, however, was a bit more convoluted. I don’t feel it was difficult to figure out at all, but finding the right placement on your leg so that it’s comfortable AND doesn’t slide is a bit tricky (at least it was for me).
Once I proved I was more intelligent than some rubber and velcro I fired up the game itself. EA SPORTS Active does not use the default Mii avatars that are standard in the Nintendo Wii so when you’re setting up your profile you’ll need to create a new one. I don’t consdier this a bad thing, personally. One of the features I do not like about the Nintendo Wii in general is the overly cartoonish facet of the Mii’s and how they dominate many of the games from Nintendo itself. Call it a psychological hang up if you will, but the Mii’s make me feel like I’m playing a game designed for children and it just doesn’t work for me in Wii Fit.
I recently had the chance to catch Wall-E for the first time with Krystalle thanks to the magic of Netflix-On-Demand through the XBox 360. It was an absolutely delightful film, but I walked away from it slighly troubled by one aspect of the film – The state of humanity thanks to technology. I don’t want to give away too much of the plot, but let’s just say that the advances in technology as depicted in the movie are not quite so beneficial to the overall health of mankind. Wall-E was a very clear warning sign about the dangers of living a pleasure-based disposable lifestyle.
Unfortunately it appears in some ways as though the predictions made in the movie have the potential for coming true.
Give me the opportunity to do so and I will sing the praises of Weight Watchers to anyone who cares to listen. I’m not going to rehash my entire Weight Watchers story here, but I firmly believe that the program saved my life in a very literal way.
Weight Watchers has gone through several changes since I started the program. Heck, there have been a lot of changes since I became aware of the program back when I was a kid (you know, back when if you were following Weight Watchers you had to eat liver every week). While they haven’t done anything quite that extreme with the latest iteration, they’ve made a few changes that, in my opinion, have really added value to the diet and made it even easier to live with on a day-to-day basis.
Krystalle: OMG CHIBI WOLVERINE
http://www.joystiq.com/photos/marvel-super-hero-squad/2040025/
me: oh my
WHERE IS CHIBI SPIDER-MAN?!
Krystalle: isn’t he already chibi?
ahem
/hides
me: zomg
RELATIONSHIP BREAKING FIGHT BEGINS NAO
lol
Krystalle: OMG YOU STEAL COVERS!
me: OMG YOU MAKE FUN OF SPIDER-MAN
Krystalle: OMG YOU HAVE MOAR SOAP THAN BATH & BODY WORKS
me: OMG YOU ATE ALL OF MY CREAM PIE YOGURTS
/relationshipquit
Krystalle: QQ
me: I’M SO FLAMING YOU ON THE FORUMS
Krystalle: I don’t go there.
NYAH
Editor’s Note – This is not a serious fight at all. We’re not that bad.
I feel like I need to put a disclaimer out before I write this particular post, and so I shall.
Despite appearances to the contrary this site has not been taken over by the Nintendo Fanboy network.
What sparks me to state that before continuing is that I’m about to heap praise on Nintendo yet again for supporting video games that promote health and fitness. This time, however, they’ve done something that I personally wouldn’t have seen coming. This new contender in the “getting gamers healthy” game is for the Nintendo DS.
If there is any one console on the market today that has the greatest potential for helping video game fans get in shape it would have to be the Nintendo Wii. The interactive nature of the motion detecting controllers practically forces you to actually get up and move while playing many of the popular games available on that system (I mean, you COULD sit on the couch while playing Tennis in Wii Sports, but that might just make you a toolbox). Nintendo took the fitness potential of the Wii one step further back in 2007 with the release of Wii Fit and the game buying public couldn’t get enough of it. The game and balance board combination was so popular that one creative individual came up with a website just to track when and where it was available. Soon similar games followed, including one from fitness expert Jillian Michaels (of The Biggest Loser fame).
On Thursday, May 21st, authorities in Baltimore arrested Jerri Althea Gray and took her son, Alexander Deundray Draper, into protective custody. A warrant was issued for Mrs. Grays arrest in South Carloina on Tuesday after she failed to appear at a court ordered hearing. During that hearing the judge ordered that the boy should be taken into state custody due to medical neglect.
With the way things have been going in the economy recently I’ve been thinking a lot about where I spend my money. Specifically, where it goes after I spend it. I’ve been doing a lot of my grocery shopping at Sam’s Club recently, which in the realm of “keeping your dollars local” is about as far off the mark as you can get. I realize that, but I also realize that I have to feed my family and that right now every dollar I spend on groceries has to go as far as it can (I am determined to be out of debt with the exception of my house in the next five years and must stick to my grocery budget).
All of that being said, when I do find the occasion to actually go out and spend some money I’ve had a very strong desire to make sure that it’s going to stay here in the community. When Alex and I went out for lunch a few weeks ago we went to Evo’s, for example. I got a cake earlier today from a place here called Cakes by Carolyn and I’m very excited about the fact that there is a new book store near my house called Books at Park Place that carries a decent selection of gaming, science fiction, and fantasy books.
My desire to do this really makes me wish there was an active St. Petersburg blog and I’m half-tempted to start one myself.
So those of you who live in the ‘burg…tell me…where should I be going?
We here at ShrinkGeek are not scientists. We are not doctors. The closest we come to being official “health experts” would be our resident personal trainer, Rob, and he is the first person who will point out he is not a dietician. Much of the advice that we give here is based strictly on our own personal experience and the struggles we have had dealing with our own health and fitness issues. Whether you agree with us or not I can promise that you’ll never see us make a claim or give advice that is in any way based on anything but what we truly believe is the healthiest option available.
Those humble statements aside, it’s really nice to have folks with fancy letters behind their names confirm one of your core beliefs.