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EA Sports president Peter Moore spoke to VG247 about the state of the economy, offering careful statements about layoffs, sequelitis, and PC releases of sports franchises. But of everything happening at EA Sports, Moore had the most to say about the upcoming Wii exercise program, EA Sports Active.

“I call it a platform,” Moore said. “Yes, it’s a game, but it’s bigger than a game, bigger than a franchise, bigger than a product. It’s a true platform that we can sell expansion packs, sell more peripherals, ultimately get some download on there.” Interesting choice of words, considering that EA Sports Active’s biggest competitor is literally a platform.

Moore said that he hopes to add biometric data soon. “If I can do that, if I can get your heart-rate on the screen, I mean then I can really drive towards what my vision of this product ultimately can be.”

Active and other exergames like it, according to Moore, can help EA and the game industry in general deal with “the most vitriolic press,” including the Daily Mail, who frequently “blame [videogames] for pestilence, the plague, everything, and I think it’s good that we have things to point to that say, ‘This is getting you off the couch’ and provide a little bit of balance.”

Peter Moore: EA Sports Active is a ‘platform’ originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 09:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: News

Remember Peekaboo Pole Dancing’s idea to create a Wii exercise game about pole dancing? Of course you do. We all had a laugh, while some of us got very angry about the death of “core games” or whatever. So how far has the game come since then? Well, here’s a list of milestones:

• Announced plans to create pole dancing game

A rep for Peekaboo told MTV Multiplayer’s Tracey John that they’re still looking for someone to make the game, and for someone to distribute it. “We have, however, connected with a company that is manufacturing a peripheral product and we are investigating mutual publishing opportunities.” So at least the pole peripheral is coming along. In his appeal for developers and publishers to contact the company, Peekaboo/AT New Media rep Simon Kay said that it “just needs someone with a little nerve.”

We’re actually going to adopt the unpopular position that someone with nerve should take up the challenge. With the right sense of humor, this could turn out spectacularly weird and hilarious. In the wrong hands, it could be both offensive and a junk game.

Wii pole dancing game needs a publisher … and developer originally appeared on Nintendo Wii Fanboy on Wed, 17 Dec 2008 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: News

Superstar game industry analyst Michael Pachter told the LA Times that Nintendo’s smaller North American supply of Wii Fit units can be blamed, just like everything else that has anything to do with business, on the value of the dollar. “The shortage demonstrates one consequence of the weak dollar. We’re seeing companies ignore their largest market simply because they can make a greater profit elsewhere.” Then — seemingly to make sure blogs quoted him — Pachter added, “They know that Americans will be just as fat a few months from now.” The article states that about 500,000 Wii Fits were shipped to the U.S., versus “as many as 2 million” to Europe.

We think that if the disparity is indeed strategic, it has less to do with the decreasing value of the dollar, and more to do with two other trends: Nintendo of Europe’s increased friendliness toward nontraditional “expanded audience” games, and European gamers’ acceptance of exorbitant game prices. It’s not so much that $90 is low for Wii Fit — it’s that they can get away with selling it for $140 in Europe.

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Filed under: News, Interviews

According to Time’s latest interview with Shigeru Miyamoto, there may have been some genuine upending of tea tables during the making of Wii Fit, as opposed to the metaphorical kind that Shiggy prefers.

Chatting to the publication to promote the game, Miyamoto confessed that the he and his team felt “a lot of nervousness” while developing the title, and that the lofty expectations of other people caused some stress. The article also mentions that the game’s development “nearly led his 15-person development team to quit in frustration,” though we’ve no idea whether that’s Time slightly embellishing a story, or what Miyamoto actually said.

All this talk of feeling stressed, Shiggy, and yet our letters offering slow, sensual shoulder rubs still go unanswered. He can’t complain.

[Via Go Nintendo]

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Filed under: News, Tech stuff

When students in Queensland, Australia recently attempted to make exercise bikes interesting to use (surely an impossible feat if you ask us, but good luck to them), they turned to the Wii's unique controller for a helping hand. Their idea was straightforward enough: place a giant screen in front of the user which shows them merrily zipping through the countryside and other virtual vistas as they cycle.

But for this to work effectively, two Wiimotes were required -- one strapped to the cyclist's helmet (so that turning the head would allow users to take in scenery around them), and one to the leg of the cyclist (meaning the device could detect what speed users were travelling at, and adjust the on-screen image accordingly).

They're calling it "virtual exercise," and say the next step is to take the image from the screen and have it projected into a pair of goggles, before selling the idea to gyms. Presumably they'll have found an alternative to the Wiimote by then, but if this does show up in your local sweatshop in the future, know where the inspiration came from, eh?

[Thanks, Maddles!]

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Filed under: Wii Warm Up

We know that the Wii has the potential to help people shed pounds, but we wonder how often it actually has. We suppose it's a question of dedication, but still, we're curious -- how many of you have benefited physically from the Wii? We're pretty much as lazy as we ever were, but we want to know about you. Do you use Wii Sports regularly as a means of exercise? Or are you perhaps waiting for Wii Fit to get your glutes into shape? Let us know whether or not the Wii has inspired you to get physical.

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Filed under: News

Aside from the occasional oddity, it's not commonplace for video games to actually involve, well, getting up off the couch. With Wii Fit and Wii Sports in Nintendo's entourage, however, the company seems determined to develop games that involve physical activity.

Nintendo of Canada decided to go a step farther with this approach by creating a website called "Get Up and Play." Not only is the site designed to inspire movement, but also a thing you may have heard of called family togetherness.

The site boasts weekly challenges on the weekends, with printable "Victory Certificates" (um, yay?). Things at stake include taking out the garbage, or setting the table for the week. Oh, and don't forget to "eat healthy snacks like dried fruit and granola bars" while you play.

We're completely in support of healthy lifestyles, but we don't need "Family Challenge Badges" and other crappy things for inspiration. That kind of stuff is just scary. In fact, we're very, very afraid. Please hold us.

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Filed under: Wii Warm Up

Wii Fit may encourage you to exercise, but this bad boy requires that you do it -- for real, none of this leaning crap -- in order to play your game of choice. Gamercize hooks into both the controller and a piece of real exercise equipment and unless you're actively working it, your controller won't function. That's one way to increase the difficulty on something. Metroid Prime 3 too easy? Throw in a little cycling while you're at it and see how many times you miss those jumps. We're not sure just how much the Wii Gamercize system will cost you, however; though they promise to start marketing their setup for the next-gen consoles this month, the site doesn't yet seem to be updated.

Apparently Gamercize has been around for a while, but we missed hearing about it. Now that we have, we're honestly not sure if we should just laugh or actually be interested. It could be a neat idea, but there's something about it that inspires giggles. Whatcha think?

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