EA SPORTS Active special at Amazon.com: Today only!

EA Sports ActiveIf you’ve thought about picking up a copy of EA SPORTS Active but haven’t pulled the trigger on the actual purchase yet today may be the day to do it.  As part of their “Black Friday Deals Week” Amazon.com is now selling the popular fitness game for only $39.99 (which is $20 off the manufacturer’s suggested retail price).

Amazon is limiting the purchases to one per customer and, if I am reading the site correctly, this offer expires after today (Monday, November 23rd). The odd thing to me is that this is being advertised as a “Black Friday” special. They are calling it a Black Friday Deals Week, but the last time I checked today was Monday, and it’s not even “Cyber Monday.”  I don’t know about you folks, but in kindergarten they taught me that there were seven totally different days in a week, and only one of them was Friday. I just don’t think Friday would be quite as awesome as it is if everyday was Friday.

It is clear that in the mad dash to actually turn some kind of profit in the wake of a horrible economic recession retailers are extending sales well beyond the traditional Day after Thanksgiving madness, but like all things Holiday related the constant push to have the shopping season last longer is getting a bit out of control. Next thing you know we’ll have Black Friday sales in January.

Nintendo Wii coming to Sports Authority

SportsAuthorityIt appears as though the line between fitness and video games is getting even blurrier.  

Nintendo announced on Wednesday that they will soon be bringing the Nintendo Wii in Sports Authority chains nationwide. Marketed by the folks at Sports Authority with the catchy phrase “We know fit.  We know fun”, the console will be displayed in an interactive kiosk that will include fitness and sports related games and accessories in select stores starting on November 19th, 2009.

I have mixed feelings about this.

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Bigben Interactive introduces new fitness accessories for the Nintendo Wii

My Body CoachNot 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.

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Researchers use XBox 360 to fight heart disease

BizarroGoodbye.  Me am Bizarro Mike.  Me am writing post from Bizarro world.  Here on Bizarro world things am different from world you live on.  On Bizarro world cigarette smoking am good for you and help fight cancer.  On Bizarro world kids am loving vegetables and cry if you am making them eat candy.  On Bizzaro world XBox 360 am revolutionary machine used to fight heart disease.

What you mean that not only happen on Bizarro world??

Ok, Real Mike here.  I hate to burst Bizarro Mike’s bubble, but I was afraid that if I didn’t take over the article soon I’d hear the sound of my editor’s head exploding in a fit of utter and complete apoplexy.  The fact of the matter is, though, that a scientist in England has come up with a way to use the XBox 360 to detect heart defects.

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Exercising with Aion

Aion TreadmillA few years ago several World of Warcraft players with way too much time on their hands decided that it would be a good idea to rig their computers to a treadmill so they could virtually “run” across Azeroth.  Unfortunately the video and the page that originally linked to it have vanished into the virtual ether, but suffice it to say that the heroes of the story soon learned that they were not, in fact, nearly as fit as their digital selves.

It seems as though these days you can’t have a conversation about Massively Multi-player Online Role-Playing Games without someone asking which one is going to be the World of Warcraft killer.  Personally?  I happen to agree with my buddy Kevin Stallard who boldly stated that there would never be a WoW killer.  Regardless of our opinion, though, people still speculate who is going to have the power to dethrone the 800 pound gorilla that Blizzard created, and many folks are wondering if the Asian inspired Aion from NCSoft has what it takes to become King of the Hill.

So what, you may be wondering, does dominance in the MMO industry have to do with a Health and Fitness blog?

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Trish Stratus gets in the fitness gaming ring

Trish StratusYou know, it’s not very often that I get the opportunity to post a picture of a rather attractive and scantily clad woman here on ShrinkGeek and still have the right to claim that my doing so is in the realm of “legitimate” reporting.  Today just happens to be one of those days.

Fitness model and former World Wrestling Entertainment superstar Trish Stratus announced on Thursday that she is partnering up with Frima Studios to produce Stratusphere, an exergame that will focus on using Yoga as a “real workout.”  The game will use the Wii Balance Board along with other peripherals and include video segments of Stratus encouraging the players on.

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Hands-free fitness gaming with Your Shape for the Wii

Your ShapeThere was a lot of buzz on the floor of E3 this year after Microsoft unveiled Project Natal, and rightly so.  The potential to have a game system that can track your movements so precisely that it can actually recognize who you are when you walk into the room is pretty amazing (and, admittedly, pretty creepy at the same time).  While attaching a camera to a console to use in a video game is nothing new, the level of interactivity that Project Natal is promising is going to be a huge leap forward if it ever actually makes it out of development.  Needless to say, this kind of tool could totally revolutionize the fitness gaming industry.

Ubisoft, however, isn’t waiting around for Microsoft to finish development of Project Natal.  This Christmas they are bringing the hands-free fitness gaming concept to the Nintendo Wii.

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Official release date for EA SPORTS Active expansion announced

EA Sports ActiveEA SPORTS announced today that the first expansion to their hit fitness game EA SPORTS Active will be released in North America on November 17th, 2007 (just in time for the holiday season).

As much as I’m looking forward to getting my hands on this particular little expansion I have to admit that the name leaves a lot to be desired.  When I first wrote about the “tropical” theme of the expansion I figured it would be something like EA SPORTS Active: Fitness In Paradise! or something along those lines.  Apparently my marketing mojo isn’t as good as I thought it was because the name for the latest addition to this franchise is a descriptive but less-than-imaginative EA SPORTS Active More Workouts.

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NewU Fitness First to be released in Europe

newULogoOne of the games we heard about while poking around on the floor of E3 this year was NewU Fitness First Personal Trainer.  Touted as an “interactive training solution focused on well-being,” this new entry into the exergame field looked interesting but did not, at the time, have a release date or distributor.

Well it appears as though Ubisoft, distributors of lifestyle enhancing games like Gold’s Gym Cardio Workout and My Healthy Cooking Coach (not to mention somewhat more traditional games like Assassin’s Creed) has decided to add yet another fitness game to their arsenal.   It was announced on Tuesday that Ubisoft would be handling the distribution of NewU in all of the PAL countries except Italy, New Zealand, and Australia.

There has been no word yet as to whether or not Black Bean has found a distributor for NewU Fitness First Personal Trainer in the NTSC regions, but with the ever growing popularity of the fitness gaming market it’s only a matter of time if the game sells well in Europe.

Something interesting – According to the press release, NewU Fitness First Personal Trainer is only the first release in the “NewU Family of products.”   No other details were included, but it seems as though Black Bean is committed to releasing a whole series of lifestyle enhancing games under the NewU line.

Those of you who live in the PAL regions (essentially Western Europe) should see NewU Fitness First Personal Trainer for the Nintendo Wii in stores this September.

Wii Sports Resort goes on tour

arc_noa_adAs part of a media campaign to celebrate the release of the sequel to their popular Wii Sports game, Nintendo announced on Thursday they would be touring around the country with a portable island straight out of Wii Sports Resort.

Starting with a huge display in the middle of Times Square, the portable islands will have plenty of fruity (but non-alcoholic beverages), a steel drum band, a reflecting pool and a lounge area.  Oh, yeah…You’ll also be able to try out Wii Sports Resort!

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