Not too long ago I wrote a story about how several programmers hooked up a treadmill and a Wiimote controller to their personal computer in order to play the Massively Multi-Player Online Role-Playing Game Aion.  I’ve also written several articles about how the fitness gaming industry is exploding and more and more companies are coming out with innovative new ways to help players get fit using their consoles.

I knew that game designers were going to continue to push the envelope to find the “next big” thing in the fitness gaming arena, but I wasn’t quite prepared for the step that Bigben Interactive decided to go in.

On Monday, October 12th, the company announced two new games that would soon be released in late 2009 and early 2010.  The first, My Body Coach, sounds like the fairly typical fitness game we’ve come to expect these days.  You enter your vital statistics and fitness goals and the virtual personal trainer, Valérie Orsoni, guides you through your daily workouts.  The game comes with two 500g dumbbells that you insert your Wii controllers in to, but we saw that innovation earlier this year.  My Body Coach sounds like it could be a fine product but I don’t see anything revolutionary in the initial press release.

The game that caught my attention was Cyberbike, the first exergame to come with an exercise bike.  That’s right, folks –  A full sized exercise bike with an adjustable seat and handlebars.  What’s even more…interesting…about this particular game is that it doesn’t just have a fitness mode.  There is also a story mode where you, as an “eco-citizen” work to rid the planet of pollution using your legs.

No, it’s not April Fool’s Day.

While I’m not entirely sure I’m sold on the story mode having an exercise bike that allows you go travel through different locales sounds like an enjoyable way to get your fitness on.

My Body Coach is scheduled for release in November.  Cybebike is due out in January of 2010.  Bigben Interactive has not released pricing information at this time.