Do the words "Social Dance", "Social Running" or "Social Bicep" get you excited? If they do, then get ready for EA's upcoming title "Active" which is scheduled to be released for Wii one the 21st of May this year. Notice I didn’t call "Active" a game as it certainly does not fit in your typical game genre. To put it bluntly, its Wii Fit on Steroids. EA has collaborated with fitness experts (which includes Oprah's professional trainer- no comment) to make you sweat with multiple types of exercises and activities found in gyms.
Workouts feature variety and familiar activities that target upper body, lower body as well as cardio. Along with the traditional forms of exercising, Active also allows you fun stuff like shooting hoops or playing volleyball. To add to the entertainment, you can have two people doing these activities together for a somewhat competitive environment. As EA puts it, think of Active as your personal trainer in a box which is a good thing as some of the real ones are certainly quite scary and can’t be turned off.
I didn’t try out Active myself for two reasons- it looked like too much work for early morning and more importantly, I didn’t want people to hold off their noses while I walked around for the rest of the day- Active certainly looks like it will make you sweat hard. Here is a video of two much better looking people trying out Active at the EA event.
Active will be bundled with a resistance band and a leg strap that attaches to your right thigh for housing the Nunchuck which, along with the Wii remote in your hand, tracks your upper and lower body movements. The Resistance Band will increase the intensity of exercises like bicep curls and shoulder presses. If you already have Wii Fit, you can use the Balancing Board for added functionality but its not something that’s required.
Active works in a few different ways- you can quickly chose any activity, create a work out plan for yourself or take a 30 day challenge where you'll have to use it for, um, 30 days with different activities exercising parts of your body that you never knew existed.
Grand Slam Tennis
Another EA title that will get released on Wii first is Grand Slam Tennis and it will come without or with the Wii MotionPlus add-on for about 60 Dirhams more which is half the price of what you would pay for this add-on. The Wii MotionPlus allows for awesome stuff such as racket rotation for spinning the ball and precise ball placement on the court. Even the racket is raised and lowered in multiple steps which is unlike Wii sports where its either up or down.
Another first is the inclusion of all four homes for Grand Slams which means that you'll be able to officially play at the Wimbledon for the first time in a Video Game. There are 23 players that you can chose from which includes some of the current as well as past grand slam winners like Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Pete Sampras, Maria Sharapova and Martina Navratilova. John McEnroe is also making his debut and from what we saw, he brings his on-court tantrums with him which certainly made the game more realistic and amusing.
You'll be able to play Grand Slam in quite a few modes such as the Grand Slam Career mode, Social Tennis Party mode or Online that allows you to play singles and doubles against other players online. You will be able to play as any of the players in the game, or better, against them for a real challenge. The game is scheduled to launch mid July this year.
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