Weight Loss with Wii Fitness Games and Nutrisystem

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I got the chance to two different parties, and it happened that one had the Xbox Kinect, and the other the Wii. And of course, I already have the Playstation Move and have been posting game reviews on Nutwiisystem’s sister site PS3Fitness.com (where you can read full accounts of my early impressions and the setup process for the PlayStation Move).

My friend Sandy had purchased Kinect Sensor with Kinect Adventures! for her Xbox. I helped her set it up. It was pretty easy to set up; like the Wii you just take a long camera device and put it in front of the TV facing the group. The Xbox will automatically detect the camera, and one thing that’s really cool is that the camera will move to track your progress. On-screen prompts will walk you through configuring the system, which basically consists of waving your hands. A tiny image of you will appear in the lower right-hand of the screen.

The technology had a definite “coolness” factor about it. Within minutes, I was navigating the Xbox menus like Tom Cruise in “Minority Report”, just waving my hands. We spent the better part of the night playing it, to the point where I feel pretty comfortable telling you my impressions of each.

I should preface this by saying that comparing the Wii, Playstation, and Xbox can be a dangerous undertaking, as many owners of each system tend to be fanatical and will defend their system with near-religious tenacity. And for good reason: once you choose a system, chances are you’ll be investing hundreds of dollars in hardware and thousands in software within a few years. The last thing anyone wants to do is admit they didn’t make the best choice.

The manufacturers of these products don’t make it much easier. You’ll see news reports about how such-and-such has sold such-and-such number of units, and somehow that’s supposed to mean that it’s better. You’ll also read reviews online and on Amazon which you’ll quickly find are dubious: half are written by fanatics who will stick to their system no matter what, while the other half are written by shills paid for by the companies’ PR agencies.

Anyway, I felt I owed it to you to give you my take, as unbiased as I can make it. So take these impressions with a grain of salt, and do your own comparisons of the three systems when you’re at various holiday parties this year.

Technology:
Wii: B
Playstation Move: B+
Kinect: A

I have to admit that the technology for both the Playstation Move and the Xbox Kinect are impressive. Both system track movements with incredible precision. There’s a definite “ooh” factor the first time you rotate a Sports Champions ping-pong paddle in your hand, or contort your body to plug holes in an underwater tank for the Kinect. The Wii remote still gets the job done, of course, but as developers for the Xbox and Playstation start to tap the potential of the more precise motion controls, the Wii will start aging.

Graphics (Quality):
Wii: C
Playstation Move: A
Kinect: B+

I split graphics into two pieces: quality and gameplay. This is because as beautiful as the graphics are, if a software developer places form over function, that ruins the game. For this category, the Wii is definitely showing its age. When I look at the photo-realistic vistas in Sports Champions, it makes attempts at photo-realistic scenes in Wii games look very old. I noticed that the graphics on the Xbox are excellent, but the Playstation just had an edge, probably due to its use of Blu-ray discs.

Graphics (Gameplay):
Wii: A
Playstation Move: B
Kinect: B

The game we played at the Wii Party was, well, Wii Party. Overall, games that are produced by Nintendo (as my niece says, ones that “start with the word Wii, like Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort, Wii Fit) are phenomenal. Even though the Wii lacks in graphics processing horsepower, Nintendo’s developers do the most with it. Their use of graphics is imaginative, creative, and downright hilarious (there’s a tree-swinging game where everyone in entire room was literally doubling over with laughter). This is a personal bias (which didn’t factor into my grade), but I much prefer the “cute” approach of Wii’s characters and the “realistic” approach of Playstation’s characters versus the “smart-alecky”, “impish” look of the characters on the Kinect. Put another way, I want to hug the characters on the Wii, shake hands with the characters on the PS3, and punch the living daylights out of the characters on the Xbox.

Games:
Wii: A
Playstation Move: D
Kinect: C

This is another place where the Wii shines and for good reason–the Wii has had a four-year head start. The number of quality games for the Playstation’s games is nothing short of disappointing: games like “Start the Party” and “Kung Fu Rider” are terrible. The only “showcase” games I’ve seen so far areSports Champions and The Fight: Lights Out. The Xbox fares a little better, with positive reviews coming in for games like Kinect Sports and Dance Central (although unfortunately, the game we played was Game Party: In Motion which evidently isn’t the best to showcase the Kinect). As time goes by, no doubt these grades will change–I do hope that the increased competition will start to put an end to awful “shovelware” games for the Wii, and force all developers to start producing quality stuff.

Precision and Response of Controller:
Wii: C
Playstation Move: A
Kinect: B+

This will probably come as no surprise, but the Move and the Kinect both get stellar scores on this one–as long as the conditions are perfect (see the next section for how things can go horribly wrong). As long as you’re one player standing exactly 6-8 feet behind the camera, the controls are phenomenal. With the Wii, on the other hand, we’ve all gotten used to games where controls are not as precise as they should be (on that note, Nintendo should seriously consider either improving the nunchuk as a motion detection controller or putting it out of its misery).

Group Play:
Wii: A
Playstation Move: B
Kinect: C

Here is where the Wii shines brightly and will probably continue to do so for some time. With both the Playstation and the Xbox, you’re physically limited to the number of people that can fit within the camera’s range. This is why the vast majority of early titles for these games are for a maximum of two players; in fact, for the Xbox games we even had to move furniture out of the way and tell people not to stand in certain places. For both the PS3 and the Xbox, players had to physically get up and stand in a confined area to play–and when they got too excited and moved out of the camera shot, their scores would suffer. With the Wii, on the other hand, we had players sitting on sofas, sitting on the floor, and we just had to toss the controller to them when it was their turn.

Fun:
Wii: A
Playstation Move: B
Kinect: B+

To me, this is the most important criteria. Once the “wow” factor is done with, how much fun is each system to play? For this, the Wii still stands apart–for now. A game is most successful when you DON’T notice “coolness” factors like the graphics or the controller. If game manufacturers for the PS3 and Xbox are smart, they’ll focus more on immersing the players  into game play and less so on making their games the slickest or “coolest” games out there.

Affordability:
Wii: A
Playstation Move: C
Kinect: C

The Wii is anywhere from 30% to 50% cheaper than what the Playstation 3 with Move and Xbox with Kinect cost out of the gate. Factor in that Xbox and PS3 games tend to cost anywhere from $40-60 each (compared to $20-50 for Wii games), and you’ll find that the Wii is much, much more affordable over time.

And so when tallying up the grades, here are the results:

Wii: B+
Xbox 360 with Kinect: B
PlayStation 3 with PlayStation Move Bundle: B

I suppose it’s somewhat fitting that the Kinect and the Move should end up in a tie. A lot of this is, of course, because game developers have not yet produced stellar titles for either of them. This should change over the coming year. In the meantime, hopefully Nintendo will do what it takes to keep its system on par, if not through their graphics and controller, then through accentuating the things that do give them an edge.

Bottom line, when choosing a system for yourself, see which of the components above are most relevant to your needs, and judge accordingly. I’d also love to hear your experiences with each of the systems. Bottom line, the fact that there are three strong motion gaming systems out there now competing against each other is a good sign that we’ll see much better quality in the future.

Which system configurations to buy?

A question I hear a lot for each of these systems is which configurations to buy. It gets confusing, because most of the game companies sell different configurations, with  or without motion controllers. Here are the ones to get:

For the Xbox Kinect, I would recommend the Xbox 360 250GB Console with Kinect. It comes with the Xbox 360 console, a handheld controller, the Kinect camera, a headset, the awful Kinect Adventures game, AC cable, AV cable, and a built-in 250 GB hard drive (you can save some money by buying the 4 GB version).

For the Playstation, I would recommend the PlayStation 3 320GB System with PlayStation Move Bundle. It comes with the Playstation 3 console, a handheld controller, a Move controller, the Playstation Eye camera, the excellent Sports Champion game, an AC power cord, an AV cable, and a USB cable.

For the Wii, I’d just get the Wii Hardware Bundle – White, which comes with the console, a MotionPlus-enabled Wii remote, a nunchuk, Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort, sensor bar, AC cable, and AV cable. To maximize your workouts, I’d also add on the Wii Fit Plus with Balance Board.

We interrupt our Video Game reviews to let you know that Nintendo will be releasing a limited edition Red Wii, complete with Red Wii console, Red Wiimotes (with red MotionPlus and red plastic Wiimote holder), two games (Super Mario Brothers and Wii Sports), and a red nunchuk.

The release is to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros, which was released for the NES in 1985. Of course, those of us who follow video game trivia know that Mario himself was born 29 years ago in a little game called “Donkey Kong”. He’s changed his looks over the years, but that red hat always remains the same.

If you’ve been holding off on buying a new Wii, now’s a great time to jump (no pun intended). This red edition of the Wii is not going to last long, and is sure to be a collector’s item.

Here’s some late breaking news about the Red Wii.

Kmart has announced that between November 7 and November 13, members of its Shop Your Way reward program will receive a whopping 50,000 bonus points if they purchase the Red Wii. That’s a $50 value.

Sign up for the rewards program here, and then visit Kmart’s Red Wii page to order. But hurry–these things will be flying off the shelves for this one week!

Now available: Review of EA Sports Active 2 for the Wii.

As those of you who follow the Top 10 Wii Fitness Games list know, EA Sports Active shot up to #1 on the list as the best Wii fitness game the day it was first released. It was bumped by Wii Fit for a short while, but quickly regained its position when the follow-up EA Sports Active More Workouts was released.

When you’re #1, it’s sometimes tough to improve. But I’m happy to say that from all early indications, EA Sports has done just that with its upcoming new titles EA Sports Active 2 (available for Wii, PS3, and Xbox) and EA Sports Active NFL Training Camp (available only on Wii).

I had the pleasure of getting a “sneak peek” look at both these titles yesterday. I’ll give you the skinny (that pun never gets old, does it? )

My thanks to Matt and Justin at EA for the sneak peek (I think that was their names–my Blackberry crashed, so I wrote this all from memory). I am definitely looking forward to both. Both EA Sports Active 2 and EA Sports Active NFL Training Camp ship in November. These are going to be hot, so order yours early!

…head on over to my review of Playstation Move on our sister site PS3Fitness.Com.

Bottom line: the PlayStation with Move is a phenomenal piece of technology that will really bring motion gaming to the next level. The graphics and sound are phenomenal, and the precision of the motion controls is amazingly accurate.

As for those people who say the Wii is doomed…well, as Mark Twain might say, “reports of its death are greatly exaggerated”. First of all, the Playstation and its games are much, much more expensive than the Wii, so shelling out a few more hundred dollars is probably beyond most families’ budgets. Secondly, while the Playstation is certainly elegant and refined, it does lack a certain personality that Nintendo did so well with the Wii. Long story short, I think there’ll plenty of room for both, just like there’s room for a Peter Luger’s steak and a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder with Cheese in my life

As for Microsoft we’ll see. Sony has set the bar very high, so we’ll see if Microsoft truly surpasses it, or if Kinect will go the way of the Kin and the Zune.

Regardless of who prevails in the “motion control wars”, I think we’ll be the winners. My guess is that you should see the quality of Wii games improve as publishers realize they have competition now. Rest assured, this site will continue to review the best Wii fitness games out there, and there will be a lot of them coming in time for Christmas 2010.  Stay tuned!

As most of you have heard by now, Sony and Microsoft have both been working feverishly to jump on the motion control bandwagon. On September 17, 2010, Playstation will be releasing the PlayStation Move to the Playstation 3, while on November 4, 2010, Microsoft will be releasing Kinect for the Xbox 360. Neither are new video game systems: both are just add-ons to existing systems.

For those of you who haven’t heard, here’s a brief description of each:

The Playstation Move is, to put it bluntly, works almost exactly like the Wii. It has the “Playstation Move Controller” (like a Wii-mote), the optional “Playstation Move Navigation Controller” (like a nunchuk). There are of course areas where it’s different than the Wii. First of all, it uses an actual camera (Playstation Eye) mounted on top of your TV instead of a sensor bar, which theoretically will give it much more precision. Also, the graphics of Playstation 3 games are much higher resolution than the Wii (meaning that you may be able to play photo-realistic games as opposed to just with cartoon characters).

The Xbox Kinect will attempt to take it a step further. It will also have a camera mounted on top of the TV, but will not use controllers at all. Instead, it will detect where your body is at all times and essentially use your body as the controller. Like the Playstation 3, its graphics are much higher resolution than the Wii.

Since I have a Playstation 3 already, I’ll be getting the Playstation Move. I’ve even started up a sister blog to this one in which I’ll share my thoughts about the best fitness games for Playstation Move. As for the Xbox Kinect, I’ll admit I’m a bit skeptical as to how well it’ll work, especially after my experience with Your Shape.  Still, Microsoft has a lot of smart people working for it and they’ve poured a lot of money into it, so I can be convinced (I’m not nearly rich enough to own three video game systems, but if someone from Microsoft is reading this, I’ll be happy to start a blog for you if you send me a review unit ).

Anyway, don’t worry–this is the first time and the last time you’ll hear about Sony and Microsoft on Nutwiisystem. My first love and loyalty will always be to the Wii, and so as always this blog will continue to be solely dedicated to new Wii Fitness games. And there are a lot coming down the pike in time for Christmas 2010, so stay tuned!

In fact, I see the new competition as an opportunity for Nintendo, not a threat. As you’ve seen from this blog, the quality of Wii games (and particularly Wii exercise games) has gone way downhill for the past few months, and we’re seeing more copycat games than real innovation on the platform. I’m convinced that this is because Nintendo has had a virtual monopoly on motion control games, so whatever awful games publishers put out, people will buy them. But now that there’s competition, we should see the quality improve if the game publishers and Nintendo want to stay relevant.

Anyway, it should be an exciting few months! Hold on to your seats!

It’s no secret that Blockbuster has been struggling mightily financially. Chances are there’s an empty storefront in your area that was once a Blockbuster store bustling with activity. After Netflix, Redbox, and cable company video-on-demand, it seems that Blockbuster is getting a little stale.

Today, Blockbuster announced that they were starting to offer video game rentals as part of their Blockbuster Online service. Even more surprisingly, the price won’t increase: it’s still $8.99 a month for unlimited numbers of rentals (assuming you get one at a time).

Now, as someone who reviews video games, this was welcome news. While most very nice publishers will send me copies for review, there are others (ahem, do you hear me Ubisoft?) who ignore my pleas for review copies.  So I end up having to shell out money to buy a game. And when the game ends up sucking being overpriced and sucky (ahem, Your Shape at $60), it hurts.

No doubt you’ve experienced the same thing. You’ll head to Amazon, see a bunch of fake five-star reviews, buy the game, and feel like those Bugs Bunny Cartoons where your head transforms into a big donkey or lollipop.

The problem, of course, is that up to now there’s been only one game in town (no pun intended)–GameFly. I’ve always felt the $15.95 monthly charge was a bit excessive–after all, there are a lot of games out there you can outright buy for only a few dollars more. So I was happy to see Blockbuster provide a little competition.

Question is, which should you choose, Blockbuster or GameFly? I signed up for both services and I’ll give you my honest assessment of each:

1) Title Availability

Rather than pontificate, I’ll go through the Top 10 Wii Fitness Games list, as well as five titles on the Upcoming Wii Fitness Games list, and see which is available on each site.

• EA Sports Active: GameFly-Not in Catalog, Blockbuster-Not in Catalog
• Wii Fit Plus: GameFly-YES, available now, Blockbuster-Not in Catalog
• DDR Hottest Party 3: GameFly-Not in Catalog, Blockbuster-Not in Catalog
• Walk It Out: GameFly-YES, available now, Blockbuster-Not in Catalog
• The Biggest Loser: GameFly-YES, available now, Blockbuster-Not in Catalog
• Just Dance: GameFly-YES, available now, Blockbuster-Not in Catalog
• We Cheer 2: GameFly-YES, medium availability, Blockbuster-Not in Catalog
• Active Life Outdoor Challenge: GameFly-Not in Catalog, Blockbuster-Not in Catalog
• Gold’s Gym Cardio: GameFly-YES, medium availability, Blockbuster-Available Now
• The Cages: GameFly-YES, available now, Blockbuster-Not in Catalog
• 10 Minute Solution: GameFly-YES, available now, Blockbuster-Available 10/21/2010
• Nickelodeon Fit: GameFly-Available 11/30/10, Blockbuster-Available 03/01/2011
• Active Life Explorer: GameFly-Not in Catalog, Blockbuster-Available 1/25/2011
• Family Party: Fitness Fun Game: GameFly- Available 9/30/10, Blockbuster-Available 01/12/2011

Looks like there’s no competition here. As far as Wii fitness games are concerned, GameFly puts Blockbuster in the dust.

2) Website Speed: GameFly very obviously copied NetFlix on a lot of things. Their search results come up lightning-fast, and they use AJAX technology to ensure a very fast site experience (this is a fancy way of saying that when you click a button, the Web page reacts instantly instead of making you wait for the page to reload). The result is a quick, very easy-to-use site.

Blockbuster’s Web site is  painfully slow. In fact, when putting up the list above, I literally finished all 15 of the GameFly searches in the time it took for one search to be completed on Blockbuster. It is a hair-pulling experience.

3) Website Navigation: This is another area where GameFly’s advanced Web design (similar to NetFlix’s interface) was a very smart move.

• Log in.
• Search for your game in the search box.
• Instantly see all the games that match.

• Click “RENT” to add to your queue. You’ll instantly see a window overlaid that says the game has been added to your queue. From here, there are very clear links letting you know what you can do next: continue browsing, go to your queue, or select options they recommend for you.

• If you go to your queue, you can remove games or change the order you’d like to receive them with drag-and-drop efficiency. Everything is quick and pleasant.

I’m not sure why it’s so difficult for Blockbuster to just duplicate the same thing. Here’s what I experienced with them:

• I log in and search for my game in the search box.
• I wait, and wait, and WAIT for the search to complete, cursing all the while at the hourglass icon.
• The search results are often amazingly poor, just a mess of seemlingly random movies and games, often which don’t match what I typed in at all. I have to search through the whole list to find if what I want is in there. Worse, the buttons and icons are terribly non-intuitive.

• When I do add to the queue, I have to put up with the hourglass icon yet more. Then, I see a nondescript blue popup.  While GameFly’s pop-up was fast, clear, and well-designed, it’s clear that Blockbuster’s pop-up was designed by people who don’t understand user experience interaction. There are two “close window” buttons and an almost apologetic message that says you can turn off the pop-up. Having worked on big company Web sites before, I can guess that their Web team was forced to put this in by some higher-up who read in a magazine somewhere that pop-ups are bad. Here’s a news flash for that person: if a pop-up is done as well as GameFly did it, they’re not bad.

• When you visit your queue (which is almost impossible to find), it just seems like a very, very poor imitation of GameFly’s. Trying to adjust the order of your items or remove items is more a chore than a pleasure.

4) Community: GameFly is much stronger than Blockbuster at soliciting reviews from its members, on their Web pages and in their emails. As a result, you get an extremely unbiased reviews from a large enough sampling of people that you know that A) the ratings can’t be manipulated like Amazon reviews, and B) it’s a pretty good consensus on whether a title is good or bad.

5) Price: Blockbuster is the winner here. At $8.99 a month for one-game-at-a-time, it’s almost half of GameFly’s $15.95.

6) Flexibility: Blockbuster is unique in that it offers both video and games. It’d be nice if NetFlix and GameFly were to merge one day and offer the best of both worlds, but until then Blockbuster’s the only game in town.

The verdict? Sign up for Blockbuster if you are willing to put up with poor choice of titles and an extremely subpar Web site. Sign up for GameFly if you don’t mind paying a little more for great quality in a Web site and selection.

In a few days, I’ll share with you my experience of receiving the games.

8/11/10 Update

Today I logged back into the Blockbuster site. The problems with site slowness seemed to go away, which leads me to believe that their site was just inundated with traffic on 8/10 when they announced that they were starting to support online video game rental.

That’s the good news. The bad news? Take a look at this screen:

This is Blockbuster’s list of “New Wii Releases”. Notice a problem? The date is 8/11/2010, and the earliest available date for most of these is either October, or the game is not available yet! This applies for games that have already been out for a while, including 10 Minute Solution and Lego Harry Potter!

I’m hoping these issues with site speed and product availability are just growing pains on Blockbuster’s part and not an indication of how their service will be run, or it may be a very short run indeed.

8/30/10 Update

After a few weeks of experience with Blockbuster Online, I’ve found their selection has gotten a bit better. In all fairness to them, they probably got pummeled with a huge amount of demand, more than they could keep in stock.

I’d still say they’re probably not the ideal choice if you want to have the exact title you want immediately. On the other hand, they are the ideal choice if you rent DVDs by mail and ever find yourself out of movies to rent. Chances are you can put a video game you’ve never played into your queue and enjoy that while you’re waiting for the next batch of movies to come around.

It’s been a big week for announcements of new games for Wii fitness, most likely due to the big E3 conference out in Los Angeles (this is the big conference where video game companies show off their new stuff for the next year).

The biggest news came out of Microsoft and Sony. It took them a few years to figure out that Wii motion control is the wave of the future with video games. So they introduced two different approaches to copying the Wii.

Microsoft introduced “Kinect” (Kintec? Kinetic? Kentic? Kinnect?) for the Xbox. From the same marketing geniuses that brought you names like “Zune” and “Kin”). This is a system that uses only a camera to sense your body position and movements. It’s a bold experiment, and time will tell if Microsoft pulled it off.

Sony introduced “Playstation Move” for the PS3. This is a system that pretty much mimics the Wii–it has a “Wand” which acts like a Wii remote and a “Analog Controller” that acts like a nunchuk. It also uses a camera to interact with a bright ball of light on top of the wand.

I see this competition as a good thing for the Wii. Wii game makers have been getting decidedly lax in making great games. While games like Wii Fit and EA Sports Active pushed the genre ahead, lately all we’ve been seeing are copycat games with substandard motion controls, which the public would eat up simply because there wasn’t anything better out there. Maybe this will be a wake-up call for Wii game manufacturers and Nintendo to improve.

Perhaps not coincidentally, several game manufacturers announced upcoming Wii fitness games too, most of them arriving in the Fall in time for the holiday shopping season.

Majesco announced a while ago that they’re developing Zumba for the Wii.

Ubisoft will be coming out with Just Dance 2 and Gold’s Gym Dance Workout.

2KPlay is launching Nickelodeon Fit, a promising game targeted at young children.

I’ll keep the list of upcoming Wii fitness games updated as I hear more. But it’s looking like we should be set for another influx of games to try out.

Konami announced today that there will be a brand new version of Dance Dance Revolution for the Wii coming in the Fall of 2010 to replace their solid yet admittedly aging Dance Dance Revolution series.

The new version of DDR features a new “Choreography Mode” which will feature actual dance moves from choreographers. If this sounds familiar, it’s because you’ve seen this already in the wildly successful Just Dance from Ubisoft.

This is where competition can be a great thing. As fun as Just Dance is, the most frustrating thing about it is its imprecise motion tracking, and given Ubisoft’s track record with motion and exercise games, they haven’t seemed to have the expertise nor the will to improve it. Konami has always done a great job with precise motion tracking due to its dance mat controller–but after 11 years, jumping on squares is admittedly getting stale. Can they extend their technology to track real dance moves?

And so the race is on. Who will come up with the best game featuring real dance moves for Fall of 2010? And will it be one of these two companies or a dark horse who will produce the best game for the PS3 Move or the Xbox Kinect? I’ll be reviewing both games when they come out in a few months. Stay tuned!

Here’s the full press release from Konami:

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – June 15, 2010 – Konami Digital Entertainment Inc. today announced DanceDanceRevolution for Wii™. Featuring an all-new Choreography Mode, a wide variety of hit music, and enhanced multiplayer capabilities, DanceDanceRevolution makes its triumphant return to the family-friendly platform with over 11 years of dance history.

“DanceDanceRevolution is back and better than ever, combining entertaining and physically engaging gameplay with all of Nintendo Wii’s interactive capabilities,” said Shinji Hirano, President of Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. “The newest addition to the DanceDanceRevolution family will offer fans the complete DanceDanceRevolution package full of movement, fitness and fun.”

DanceDanceRevolution will have players back on the mat with the introduction of the all-new Choreograph Style mode, allowing gamers to move with the model dancer on screen utilizing their body, mat controller, Wii Remote and Nunchuk, simultaneously. Completing the traditional style Wii gameplay, DanceDanceRevolution will also bring back the use of the Wii Balance Board™, taking the dance party to the next level with both beginner and expert dancers. As an added bonus, everyone can join in on the fun with a new multiplayer mode that allows up to four players to become the ultimate dancers using their upper body to follow the on-screen dance moves.

Here’s an upcoming title from Ubisoft, set to be released in the Fall. Gold’s Gym Dance Workout looks like a really promising game.

For a long time, Dance Dance Revolution was the king of the hill as far as dance games go. But of course, hopping on a plastic mat isn’t really dancing. I found this out the hard way at a wedding when I tried to participate in a dance-off using DDR moves. There were a lot of copycat games like High School Musical and Dancing with the Stars that were variations of matching movements with arms and legs. Great exercise, great challenge, not really dancing.

Just Dance proved that people want to has enjoyed a resurgence in recent months. Perhaps buoyed by popular TV shows like So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing With the Stars, suddenly, people wanted to exercise but also learn real dance moves and choreography.

Gold’s Gym Cardio has had a long-time place on our list of top 10 Wii Fitness games because it taught “real” boxing moves. If all goes well, Gold’s Gym Dance Workout should do the same (it was developed in collaboration with fitness and dance experts). There’s still no official song list, but hopefully there’ll be plenty of popular songs.

Here are some other highlights:

• The game will include mini-games such as rodeo bull riding, karate, rowing, kangaroo boxing, and sword fighting.
• Support for creation of circuit program, which are continuous dancing or mini-game sessions lasting up to 30 minutes.
• Tracking of  your exercise history, including play time, calories burned, and BMI.
• Support for two players, so you can workout with a friend or loved one.

While Ubisoft’s recent history of exercise games has been a little spotty, this one should be another good one.

Namco-Bandai just announced that this Fall they’ll be releasing the third in the Active Life series: Active Life Explorer.

Active Life Outdoor Challenge, of course, has been a mainstay in the Top 10 Wii Fitness Games list with its innovative use of a mat controller. Active Life Extreme Challenge was a bit of a disappointment. But let’s hope Explorer redeems the series and drives it forward.

The early screenshots look pretty promising:

Admittedly, I was a bit disappointed they didn’t bring back the “cutsie” characters of the first series nor allow use of Miis, opting instead for the gangly awkward looking cartoony characters from the second series. But if these screens are any indication, it looks like they may be bringing some new innovation to the gameplay, which the first had in droves and the second lacked.

Here’s the text of the press release:

NAMCO BANDAI GAMES ANNOUNCES

ACTIVE LIFE EXPLORER™ FOR Wii™

Exploration, Discovery and Thrilling Adventures for the Whole Family Abound in Newest Addition to Pulse-Pounding ACTIVE LIFE® Game Series

SANTA CLARA, Calif., (May 25, 2010) – NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc., today announced ACTIVE LIFE EXPLORER™ exclusively for Wii™, the newest installment in the popular ACTIVE LIFE® series. ACTIVE LIFE EXPLORER takes players on a fun-filled, heart-pumping adventure as they use the Wii Remote™ and ACTIVE LIFE Mat Controller to explore exotic locales and complete a variety of energetic activities with modes for one to eight players. ACTIVE LIFE EXPLORER is scheduled to be released throughout North America this fall.

Jump into action as a fearless adventurer searching for treasure the world over. Explore an array of intriguing themed locales including dense twilight jungles, ancient ruins, lava-flooded caves, frozen ice packs and more each with their own traps, hazards and challenges. A veritable thrill-ride of activities will keep the whole family moving as they run across falling bridges, dodge perilous booby traps, escape from savage beasts, chase down bandits, and much more as they ride off into the sunset with a bounty of loot and rewards.

ACTIVE LIFE EXPLORER includes dozens of action-packed adventures with support for up to eight players in fun cooperative or competitive challenges with multiple difficulty options to cater to all skill levels. In the multiplayer Party Mode, up to eight players can play in a series of activities that gives everyone a chance to get in on the action. One to four players can play through a Treasure Adventure Mode filled with dozens of missions as they uncover new uncharted lands on a world map. A versatile Free Play Mode offers easy access to individual challenges, while gamers looking for a challenge can put their skills to the test in the Treasure Trials Mode with a variety of objectives to complete. With plenty of rewards such as medals, different outfits for their in-game characters and high score rankings, players will want to play again and again.

“ACTIVE LIFE EXPLORER takes the ACTIVE LIFE series’ signature full-body motion gameplay to new frontiers,” said Todd Thorson, director of marketing and public relations at NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. “With a fresh set of challenges based on exhilarating treasure hunting quests, great escapes and thrill-seeking crusades, the game keeps pulses pounding and offers a fun way to get everyone active.”

ACTIVE LIFE EXPLORER for Wii will be available as a bundle including the game and one ACTIVE LIFE Mat Controller, or as a stand-alone game by itself for Active Life fans that already have the Mat Controller. For more information, please visit www.namcobandaigames.com.