EA Sports Active

Manufacturer: Electronic Arts
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List Price: $59.99
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Product Description

Developed in collaboration with fitness expert Bob Greene, best known as Oprah's personal trainer, EA SPORTS Active provides a fun, inexpensive and easy to maintain regimen designed to encourage physical fitness and healthy living. A combination of a wide variety of interactive activities and exercises, linked together into an ever-changing circuit training routine targeting the muscles of the upper and lower body, as well as providing cardio for a healthy heart, it is the perfect exercise option for every member of a modern household.

Easy to follow personal trainer.
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Two women strength training with the resistance band in 'EA SPORTS Active'

Strength training via resistance.
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Two kids using the Nunchuck leg strap to do cardio exercises in 'EA SPORTS Active'

Use leg strap for cardio.
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Gameplay
Designed around the standard Wii Remote/Nunchuck tethered controller configuration, EA SPORTS Active's interactive fitness program is more focused on physical activities than previous 'fitness' titles for the Wii, but still challenges you to have fun while developing a more healthy lifestyle. Separated into the three sections of workout, nutrition, lifestyle, and other activity, the user's experience begins with a pep talk from Bob Greene which quickly transitions into the beginnings of action as players set up profiles, choose a virtual personal trainer and enter baseline data like age, weight, gender, fitness goals, etc. Although the nutrition, lifestyle, and other activity sections add a holistic element facilitated by a mix of surveys and data input, building fitness through physical activity is the driving force behind EA SPORTS Active and as such the meat of the content resides in the workout section. Here players will find dozens of themed strength training and cardio workouts which can be customized as you choose and linked into circuit traning routines. These routines are introduced and monitored by your personal trainer, and allow for ongoing player motivation via real-time feedback on your workout form, an approximation of calories burned and the ability to adjust levels of exercise intensity.

Accessories
Although activity in EA SPORTS Active flows exclusively through the combination of the Wii Remote and Nunchuck controllers, it also utilizes a few additional accessories to maximize the functionality of this configuration. The first of these included with the game is the controller leg strap. By attaching this to their upper thigh and then slipping the Nunchuck controller into it, players can utilize the Nunchuck controller's motion sensing capabilities while it is connected to the Wii Remote to monitor their leg movements. This allows for cardio exercises like jogging and cardio boxing and strength training activities like squats. Also included with the game is a resistance band designed to increase the intensity of a variety of exercises such as bicep curls and shoulder presses and lifts. In addition, although not included, the Wii Balance board is compatible with many EA SPORTS Active workouts, but only as an optional added controller configuration.

Key Game Features:

Active Fitness Made Fun & Easy - 20 minute circuits feature a variety of familiar activities that target upper body, lower body as well as cardio. Start off with a light jog, followed by bicep curls and get your heart beating with some cardio boxing.
Benefit of a Virtual Personal Trainer - Your trainer will be the focal point of the experience guiding you towards your own version of personal achievement. Feedback will be given throughout your workout, keeping you on track to reach your fitness goals.
The 30 Day Challenge - Take the 30 Day Challenge and experience tailor made 20 minute workouts to your level of fitness. Circuits will change as you progress each day, and EA SPORTS Active will track calories, intensity and progress throughout your journey.
New Way to Play - Slip the Nunchuk into the specially designed leg strap and hold the Wii Remote in your hand to track your movements from both your upper and lower body. A resistance band is also included to increase the intensity of exercises such as bicep curls and shoulder presses.
Workout Your Way - Circuits can be customized to your interest and fitness level. Choose your duration, intensity level & set your own goals for calories burned and workout score.
Workout with a Friend - Burn calories with a friend as you both workout through routines together in a co-operative mode.
Track Your Progress - Expand your Fitness IQ and keep track of your workouts inside and outside of EA Sports Active with the in-game Journal.
Wii Balance Board Compatibility - Get more out of your EA SPORTS Active workout using a Wii Balance Board with added functionality for many of exercises.

Co-op Multiplayer Mode
Along with its single player experience, EA SPORTS Active also features a deep and entertaining two-player cooperative gameplay mode. Designed to tap into the time tested motivational factor of having a workout buddy beside you as crunch through reps and up your personal best, regardless of a player's current fitness levels or future fitness goals, this mode is sure to enhance the level of fun of players at all levels.

Working the triceps.
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Co-op gaming with friends.
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Feel the burn of cardio boxing.
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Product Details

Game includes a deep co-operative multiplayer game mode.
Engage in fitness made easy through 20 minute circuits feature a variety of familiar activities that target upper body, lower body as well as cardio.
Follow the guidance, motivation and training tip of your very own virtual personal trainer.
30 day challenge' of tailor made 20 minute workouts, that change as you progress each day, and track calories, intensity and progress throughout your journey.
Gameplay/workout options are extended with the included Nunchuck strap and resistance band accessories, and compatibility with the Wii Balance Board (not included).

Video Reviews

First Look Reviews: EA Sports Active on the Nintendo Wii

Alesha Dixon and Olympic gold medalist Victoria Pendleton using EA SPORTS Active

EA Sports Active Video Review

Customer Reviews

Finally a workout game that REALLY works me out!

Review Date: May 19, 2009

Reviewer: L. Gary, charlotte, nc USA

Initial Impression
Wii Active is AWESOME! AWESOME!! I was holding out big hopes for this game because while I love wii fit, golds gym coach and my fitness coach, this game offers full use of the wii motion controls and balance board for feedback. If you do not have the balance board, the game is just as useful.The balance board makes some exercises more "total body" and intense but the game was designed to be used without it. This game is honestly what I thought I was getting when I bought the wii fit! This game is more of a gym style workout consisting of strength exercises with resistance, cardio, and sports drills. There is no yoga in this game nor is there any abdominal work (which I find kind of strange because they were pretty thorough with everything else).

Intensity/Sports Drills
I just finished my second full 40 minute workout and it was great! I feel like I just came back from the gym. I was very surprised by how much I enjoyed the sports drills.I dont enjoy the tennis or baseball on wii sports. But the sports drills on Active are really intense, you actually have to jump to do volleyball serves and the motions are exactly as they are when you play the game.

Sports included are Baseball (pitching and batting and catching), volleyball (serving, bumping and setting), Basketball (so far I've just seen shooting and passing), Skating (with leg lifts), Tennis (serving, fore-shots, volleying,backshots). Basketball shooting involves twisting to grab a ball and then making a jump shot. It really gives a virtual reality feel to sports exercises. During kickboxing you are able to use the balance board to kick the heavy bag and do knee ups which really got my heart rate up. During running exercises, you are placed on a track and the game has you alternate between running, walking, knee ups, and kick ups. I really felt as though I had a coach with me. I used to work out with a personal trainer and this really had the same feel.

Balance Board Use
You ARE able to use the balance board with this game. For the sports drills it made me (uncoordinated as I am) less accurate but it did incorporate more total body usage. For instance, in baseball when you catch you do a side lunge before you reach up or out to catch the ball. There is an option to use the balance board with all the sports drills. I havent seen any resistance exercises that used the balance board though.

High Intensity Exercises
There are some hi-intensity or slightly more advanced strength exercises included such as jumping lunges, jumping squats, squat and hold, side to side jumps, bicep curl with shoulder press, bicep curl with kickback, lateral raise with row, etc.

Setup
After setting up the resistance band and leg strap (easy, took 2 minutes tops) I had to set up a profile. There was great variety on how personalized you can make your avatar look with very cool outfits to choose from. It doesnt let you really change the height of your avatar or age (in appearance) so when I set up avatars for my kids, they looked like adults. You set your goals such as how many calories you want to burn over a period of x number of days, how many workouts you want to complete per week or month, and how many hours you want to workout per week or month. I was surprised it didnt include weight loss goals but then I guess it would have to assume you have the balance board and it tries to stay away from that.

30 Day Challenge
I chose the 30 day challenge simply because it seemed like the quickest way to get started. The range of activities was really astounding and I enjoyed the entire workout. It was great to have the game give feedback on form. Before you do every exercise the first time, it automatically shows you a video on proper form. While I was familiar with most of the exercises, the videos are useful because it shows you how to hold the remote for each exercise. You can skip them if you really want. After you watch them the first time, you don't have to see it again. The exercises included cardio, sports drills, resistance upper and lower exercises and track. Even if you choose the 30 day challenge, you can still just select individual workouts as well, but I found the challenge to be a great motivator because it will take me through all of the exercises...not just my favorites.

Pre-Set/Customized Programs
You can also choose from more than 50 pre-set programs such as 30 minute lower body, 20 minute sports drills, 40 minute whole body, 60 minute upper body hard or easy, 40 minute cardio only, athletic exercises, 30 minute low-impact, 50 minute hi-impact and many others. Literally, I don't see potential for getting bored with your exercise routine anytime soon with this game. You can also create your own program by just picking the exercises you like. You can customize it further in that you can choose the duration and intensity for each individual exercise, and intensity and length of total time that you would like to work out for. It sounds like a lot of choices, but it was very simple and I created a very kid-friendly program in about 4 minutes.

Multi-Player Mode
The multi-player mode works really well also. It is best to have the additional player accessory kit but I found that most of the sport drills and upper body strength exercises only require that the second player have a remote and nunchuk anyway so even without it, my kids and husband are able to work out with me. My husband said he would work out with me with the Active because it looks like a real workout (He thought my wii fit and my fitness coach were cute). He was especially impressed with the sports drills.

Bad Knees/Problem areas
The great thing about it is that if you have a weak area or injury, such as bad knees, you are able to see all the exercises you will do in either 30-day challenge mode or pre-set mode and if you can't do those exercises, you can simply uncheck them. I have bad knees and so I uncheck some of the jumping exercises. It would have been nice if you could set that up in your profile and it simply took those exercises out of your program but being able to select or deselect them day-by-day is probably more flexible.

Age-Appropriate
For those of you who wonder if small children would like it, my kids (age 3 and 5) were able to do the sports drills with me like tennis and baseball very easily (they don't fare so well with the wii sports version). Since the game is not trying to simulate actual playing, all they had to do was swing the remotes at the right time. They didnt have to worry too much about moving to be in the right place.

Final Anaylsis
I honestly am in Love with this product! Of course I could make suggestions for improvements, (everything can be improved on), but I really think they did an superb job with this. This is what I thought the wii fit game was going to be from the beginning! Since this game focuses more on a gym-style workout, combining it with the balance, core and strength exercises from wii fit and the yoga and variety from my fitness coach really enables me to get a full and varied workout.
However, if you don't own the other games, honestly I would recommend getting this one. It just gives me a more realistic workout feel.

Tips
1. the resistance band that comes with the game is either light or medium. For those of you who would like to increase this, just purchase stronger resistance bands and use those instead. This really increased the intensity of my workout.
2. Make sure you insert the nunchuck in the holder face down toward the floor or else your mii positioning will be backwards (ie your mii will be squatting down when you are standing upright)
3. It takes some getting used to positioning the remote and nuncheck in the right way for each exercise so that it can properly evaluate your movements....watching the videos, even if you know how to maintain proper form in the gym, is recommended. Dont get frustrated, the game has been pretty accurate as far as I have seen, you just have to make sure you hold the remotes as they tell you to.
4. Those of you who would like to work out with weights or cords versus bands can incorporate that for certain exercises on your own (the game doesnt say anything about this...this is just what I noticed while working out). Things like shoulder presses, bicep curls and squats with ankle weights would work fine with this game.

Wow what a workout!!

Review Date: May 20, 2009

Reviewer: Southernbooklady, Georgia

Ok, so I was hesitant about spending $60 on a workout game when I already owned three of them - all exclusively for the Wii. After my first 50 minute workout though I can truthfully say that this trumps all of them. It is like Gold's Gym, the Wii Fit, and My Fitness Coach all rolled into one. After my workout, which included everything from boxing to dancing to running to shooting hoops, I was sweating profusely and feeling great!

What I liked:
- Like the Wii Fit, it incorporates the Balance Board.
- I get to pick my exercises - unlike on the My Fitness Coach
- The graphics were good, the track, courts, etc. actually made me feel a little like I was actually there.
- The running was everything the Wii Fit running was not. It counted my calories and seemed a little more responsive that the Fit.
- I appreciated the feedback I received when doing the stretching exercises... This I missed in the My Fitness Coach- there was no sensor to tell me if I was squatting to high, not jumping in the right rhythm, etc. With EA SA the control that was strapped to my thigh was able to tell the game when I was not doing something right - giving me the opportunity to correct my form.

- I also like the fact that you can work out with a friend.

Cons:
The resistant band is weak - for me anyway but that can be easily corrected with a inexpensive trip to Wal-mart.

I discovered that I may also be buying a wireless nunchuck... the wire was constantly in my way.

It doesn't track my weight loss.

It's not really a con but I wish there were step aerobics. It could have easily been worked in.

Overall impression: I'm glad I broke down and paid the $$$ for this game. It far surpasses My Fitness Coach, the Wii Fit, and Gold's Gym (though I will probably continue to use Gold's Gym for the boxing routines and the wii fit to track my weight loss). It's hard core, but I feel it will definitely give me my desired results.

Too Sweaty To Type

Review Date: May 19, 2009

Reviewer: Kurt A. Boyer, Denver, CO USA

I had my EA Active delivered today and I was itching to try it out because I quickly became bored with the Wii Fit games that focused mainly on balance and weight.

It was very easy to get set up. I configured my workout person to look a little bit like me although I hope I am a bit cuter. I kind of wish that they had child avatars for my kids who will play this soon, but that isn't my biggest need.

I chose to work out on a medium skill level for the 30 day challenge. I'm not ultra fit by any means, but I'd like to think that I could run a mile or two if someone was chasing me. At the beginning of my workout, I started to think that I wasn't being pushed enough, but by the end, I was sweating like a big dog -- which was great. I believe my perception was caused by learning each movement before I started which gave me rest time. At the middle of my workout, some of the prior activities came up again and I was able to go right from exercise to exercise and that's what I like. This is so much better than the Wii Fit.

I did the running, punching, inline skating (super fun and a killer), side lunges, squats and front shoulder raises for my first workout. Every exercise was entertaining. It did take me a little bit to get used to how you hold the remote, but now I'm a pro. I did do the "couch test" where I placed the remote on the couch to see if the avatar would do the exercise anyway -- which it didn't -- unlike some other fitness titles. It really does mimic your movements, which I like.

Time for a shower and I can't wait for day two of my challenge. I can assure you that you'll like this game if you put the work into it. The couch won't do it for you. :)

A great workout. Variety makes this game a must have...

Review Date: May 22, 2009

Reviewer: Margaret, New York

I was looking so forward to this game finally hitting the stores and I had it pre-ordered for release day delivery from Amazon. Unfortunately, I had a bad sore throat and was unable to open it up and workout with it until today.

The first thing that I noticed was that the resistance band was much shorter than one that appeared in one of the videos for the game. I could swear there was a guy using it and the voiceover said something about being able to adjust the tension by gathering it under your feet.

I'm five feet tall and standing straight up, the band did not touch the floor when I held it by the handles. I had to crouch down to get it under my shoes. That's fine. It works nicely but I was expecting it to be longer. I've never used resistance bands before so perhaps that is the way they are.

The leg strap is fine for me. When I first fastened it over a pair of jersey pants, I thought it might move down my leg as the workout progressed but it stayed put.

It's very important that you put the nunchuck in the pocket properly. The joystick part of it should be facing right towards the name on the leg strap.

Now, onto the exercises. I am not in the best of shape and am committed to losing at least 25 pounds before next fall. I'd been using Wii Fit, My Fitness Trainer and the Cardio Workout game and they are all excellent. The crown jewel of exercise game for the Wii, however, in my opinion is this game.

I read other posts where people said their legs were like jelly after their first workout so I wanted to take it easy for the first one. I chose the 30 day challenge right away, entered my name, age, height and weight and selected Low Intensity.

The workout was about 23 minutes long and began with jogging to get warmed up. As you are jogging, the nunchuk in the leg holder tracks you and will say "too slow" if you are running too slow or "perfect" if you are running at a good speed.

After a couple of minutes of running, we moved on to side lunges. This exercise did not utilize the Wii board, or the resistance bands. I think they were 8 reps on each leg. This was followed by bicep curls that were done with the resistance band.

After that was inline skating. This exercise utilized the balance board and you crouch to pick up speed and then lift and hold up your left leg while you pass some bales of hay. After you put your leg down, you continue on and raise the right leg when the bales appear on that side. Holy smokes was that a tough one. I was lifting my leg a little early and thereby had to hold it up longer to get past the obstacles. My thigh was burning.

There were other exercises peppered in throughout the 22 minutes like boxing, rowing (with the resistance band) boxing (punching, kicking and kneeing) and squats. The variety was terrific and boy was I sweating after 10 minutes. The final exercise was a medium speed run and then a short walk to cool down.

The best thing about the workout was just when you would start feeling like the exercises were repetitive, they ended and you moved on to something else. A wide variety of areas were worked on in 22 minutes and other reviewers are not kidding when they say they were sore afterward. I'm sitting here now and can feel it in my thighs and shoulders.

There are all types of exercises and activities to do in this game and if you don't select the 30 days challenge, you can create your own custom workout by picking and choosing the exercises or sports that you'd like to do, then you can name and save that set of activities and come back to it over and over.

After my workout was over, I tried a few of the sports activities: shooting baskets, batting, catching and throwing a baseball, and serving and bumping in volleyball. All were a blast but I was just awful at the volleyball one.

This title will definitely be the centerpiece of my workout. I will still use Wii Fit, My Fitness Trainer and Cardio Workout but from what I have experienced so far I think the best results will be achieved with EA Active.

EDITED on May 25th to add: Okay, so the day before yesterday, I did Day 2. This day focused mostly on lower body and had several running on the track exercises that included slow kick ups, where you kick your legs up behind you all the way to the knees. There were slow kick ups and fast ones. Whoa. After a while, the slow ones were very difficult to stay with. My legs felt so heavy and tired but I forced myself to get through them.

There were also shoulder exercises with the resistance band, and forward lunges. Every time the trainer said, "You should really be feeling this in your thighs" I wanted to yell at the TV "YES I DO! You're killing me here!" :) After Day 2's workout, I had the jelly legs feeling. As much as it's not very pleasant to be stiff and a little sore, it does show that this program is working.

I have a very small area in which to work out and so far that has not been an issue with this game. The exercises are pretty compact and there's no double side step aerobics or anything that requires a huge amount of space.

One of the exercises I did in the Day 2 workout was tennis. I've never played tennis so I knew this would be a fun one. At the beginning it said I would be doing forehands, backhands, serves, overhead smashes and something else as I progressed. Well, I didn't progress. I was terrible at the forehands and backhands and swung and missed a few so the exercise stopped and the voiceover said something about me being "uncoordinated out there today." Thanks coach! I'm determined to get better at that one.

Yesterday would have been Day 3 but it was grayed out on the calendar. You have certain off days where you can't workout in 30 day challenge mode but you workout independently. I took advantage of the day off and will be doing my Day 3 workout later today.

EDITED May 27th to add: I have been posting additional information in the comments area as to my progress and things that I notice moving throughout the game.

Love it! It works! . . . But with modifications . . .

Review Date: August 5, 2009

Reviewer: T. L. Richards, Central New York State

Let me start by saying that I agree with others when saying this is a much better work out than the Wii Fit. I own both and find EA Sports Active much more challenging and have gotten actual results from using it consistently for the past six weeks. I'm a fitness novice and I've lost 11 pounds and inches from my waist, hips, thighs and arms in 6 weeks with this and some small diet adjustments. I would like to address some issues some other users have been having that have caused negative reviews. Here are my findings. Take them or leave them. :)

1. Difficult to set up and use - Really? Using the controller and nunchuk with some of the exercises (mostly the upper body ones) can be awkward as many have reported, but there is a simple solution to this problem - PUT THE CONTROLLER AND NUNCHUK DOWN. Really, you can. It's alright. Put them down, do the exercise without them (because honestly, you can't do them properly when you're holding all that stuff) and then press the + button, choose 'skip exercise' and go on to the next one. Ok, some people are saying "But it won't register that I did my lateral shoulder raises and I won't get my trophy!" - Which is more important - a trophy that pops up on a TV screen or definition in your arms? . . . That's what I thought.
2. The music is lame - No kidding! I'm with ya there. It's like bad porn music (not that I would know!) My solution: iPod, baby. Get some sports earbuds that won't keep popping out of your ears when you jump around and you're good to go with a customized playlist of your own. Or if the sound barrier isn't a problem at your place, just put the TV on mute, put your favorite CD in the stereo and crank it.
3. The instructor's comments are annoying - see #2. Problem solved. If a virtual instructor is annoying but you can't hear her - is she still making a sound?
4. The leg strap keeps falling off/feels like it's cutting off circulation - I don't have this problem, and I'm a full figured gal. Not sure what's up there.
5. The resistance band lacks resistance - yep. Buy a new one. I know you shouldn't have to, but I did. It was $10 at Target for a Reebok one.
6. No left hand option for baseball/no left hand options period - ok, this one cracked me up. I use the batting to work on my waistline and surprisingly it's been dwindling. Here's what I do - you may want to take notes . . . I swing and lead with my right leg for 20 swings and then switch to the other side and swing and lead with my left leg for 20. I know your character on the screen doesn't move, but that doesn't seem to be an issue for me. For the record, I'm right handed, and maybe I'm missing the point here, but I seem to work out both sides doing this. . . by switching sides. . .I'm just sayin' it works. Give it a go.
7. No cardio - Umm - anyone ever heard of running? It's new. Look it up. There is also dancing, and I will go along with anyone who wants to say that the dancing on here is a bit lame. But come on - who amoung us doesn't want to bust out and 'raise the roof' and 'churn some butter' every now and then? I get an extra cardio work out from laughing while I'm doing this one.
8. Takes several minutes to set up a customized work out - not so. My 11 year old set one up faster than I did. It's really user friendly with a drag and drop method.
9. Movements aren't registering - I have found that this is always operator/equipment error. Either your legstrap isn't in the right position, which is an easy fix, or your batteries in your remote are running low. Sometimes it can help to reset exercises, too. I know it's a pain in the butt, but it just takes a second to check these things.
10. No ab specific work outs - thanks to a great follow-up comment, this turns out to not be true! See below for some great info!
11. The 30-Day Challenge is impossible - Amen! Which is why you can create your own work out. And did I mention that was easy to do? A friend of mine actually completed the 30-Day Challenge and - Spoiler Alert! - all that happens is Bob Green pops up and tells you to do it again. If you can live without that, just create your own.
Summary - are there better exercise games out there for the Wii? Probably, depending on your appetite, but I'm perfectly happy with EA Sports Active. Is it for the hard-core fitness enthusiast? Probably not. I think a real fitness freak would be bored with this, and maybe that's the problem with some people. I'm your average overweight middle-aged working mother trying to get healthy. I've seen real results with it in a short amount of time. And after a few modifications I've come to love it. I start every day with it - and my iPod. :)

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