Working out with Fitness and Exercise games on the Sony Playstation 3

About two weeks ago, EA Sports announced their plans to release a new version of EA Sports Active in the Fall. It looks like it’ll be a complete “reboot” of the highly successful franchise. Ironically, it also looks like they won’t be using Sony’s Move. Rather, they’ll be developing their own proprietary controllers.

New Controllers for EA Sports Active 2.0

The controllers consist of a heart rate monitor which will wirelessly transmit data to the Wii, as well as what looks to be leg and arm straps with motion sensors, a decidedly more “high tech” system than their giant rubber band and Nunchuk leg strap. Great news for those of us who constantly got tangled up with the nunchuk wires and the resistance band.

It’s good to see EA Sports really pushing the bar forward. It’s also interesting to see the platforms they’ve chosen: the Wii and the Playstation 3, but not the Xbox. One of the things I’m hoping beyond hope for is that they’ll put the same graphics quality and performance into their Active product as they do into games like Fight Night, Madden Football, and NBA Live. The biggest drawback to the Wii was that it had to stick to cartoony graphics. But to do actual sports simulations that look real would be a dream come true. And dare I say…some day to be able to do them in 3D?

As with all the other announcements, EA Sports Active 2.0 (working title) will be released in the Fall, in time for the Christmas shopping season.

One of the games you see in a lot of those previews for the Sony Move involves what looks to be some heavy hand-to-hand combat.

The game being shown in those screens is Motion Fighter, a title to be released by Sony. It looks pretty intense in a “Fight Club” sort of way. Of course, time will tell if the motion controls are truly accurate, but it looks like a promising start. And Sony says it will include a calorie counter in the game, so if you’re in a bad mood and don’t want to clobber those cute little guys and gals in Wii Boxing, this might be a good way to take out your aggression.

The game is still in development, but Sony has said that it’ll include a calorie counter. So as you beat your opponents to a pulp, you’ll be able to see how much weight you lost doing it!

Well, as I mentioned in my last post, last Sony announced the name of the new motion controller that it intends to launch in the Fall. It’s called “Sony Move”. Here’s their YouTube video (you may have to sit through an ad first, before you see…well, another ad).

My first reaction, as I’m sure many of yours were, was, “hey! it’s a Wii with better graphics!”. In the video, the handheld controllers look very futuristic, like space age ice cream cones. But as far as how they work, it seems strangely like a Wii remote and nunchuk, and the gameplay looks strangely like games found in Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort. Of course, in all likelihood that’s exactly what Sony was going for.

What the new Sony controllers (should we call them "Son-ii-motes"?) look like.

The Wii has not only set the bar, it also invented the bar in the first place (literally). That’s why over 68 million units have been sold, and it’s not slowing down soon. But Nintendo did leave the door open for someone to build a better mousetrap. For certain games, the Wii remote and nunchuk don’t perform adequately or as precisely as they should. And of course, while the cartoony graphics are endearing in their own way, there’s something to be said about realism. Admittedly, one of the things I’m most looking forward to is a day when I can swing at a baseball thrown by an actual major league pitcher instead of  facing “Sakura” for the umpteenth time.

Sony has a bit of catching up to do, with only 33 million units sold. I think the main question will be–does their technology work as well or better than the Wii’s? If not, game over.

If so, it’ll be interesting to see if users are willing to pay a premium for more realistic, 1080i graphics. And interestingly, Sony has also announced that it’ll be producing games in 3D. That’ll be a one-two punch which, if executed right, will usher in a whole new world of games.

When the Nintendo Wii first came out, lots of folks scoffed. After all, who in the world would buy a video game system that didn’t use those handheld game controllers with the little joystick and the buttons that video game players have been using for years?

You know the rest of this story of course. The Wii was a phenomenal hit. It didn’t just change the video game industry, it changed the cultural landscape. Everyone suddenly had to have a Wii. Video games were no longer just limited to teenage boys, but suddenly the whole family got into it. And unlike video games of the past where the only exercise would be to the thumbs, some of these video games actually worked out the whole body.

Well, the good folks at Microsoft and Sony finally got it. Last year, both of them announced their plans to update the Xbox and the Playstation 3 to support motion controllers.

Microsoft code launched a research project code-named “Project Natal”. Microsoft engineers are aiming to make a video game system that doesn’t use controllers at all. It’ll just use cameras and sensors.

Sony has decided to go a slightly more traditional route. They’ll use their existing camera system (the PlayStation 3 Eye) and introduce new wireless controllers with sensor lights on top which the camera will detect.

In all honesty, I’m a bit skeptical that Microsoft will be able to pull off a system without any controllers at all. If they can, more power to them. But this past week, Sony has already started demonstrating its technology, and it looks great.

So come Fall, there should be a lot of PS3 games using this technology. And as with the Wii, chances are we’ll see a lot of games that can be used for fitness and exercise. And I’ll be sure to review those games on this site.

As for the future, it’s anyone’s guess. Will Nintendo release other improvements to their motion controls? Will they release a high definition Wii system? Will Sony’s technology work? How about Microsoft’s? Whatever happens, I’ll keep you up to date with what I hear here.

And thus begins an exciting new journey. Stay tuned!