Nintendo Wii Fanboy

We think we've figured out Active Life: Outdoor Challenge's niche. We know it differs from the 800-pound gorilla of Wii exercise games, Wii Fit, in that it's more game-based and less pure exercise activities. It also has a bit of an "adventure" setting. It also features activities like jumping that don't show up in Wii Fit, which may be better for aerobic exercise. Also it looks cute and fun.

But more important than any of that is the fact that, starting next week, Active Life will distinguish itself from Wii Fit in that you'll be able to find it in a store. Enjoy the latest trailer, which is one of the most toy-commercial-like of any game trailer we've seen. We think it's the narration.

Commercials that show people having fun while playing the Wii are a dime a dozen, so this Active Life: Outdoor Challenge trailer doesn't score any points with us in terms of creativity. We also think the narrator sounds as excited for the game as she would about an enema (fake enthusiasm is fake), but that's neither here nor there. Yet the game itself -- dare we say it -- looks pretty interesting.

Don't take "interesting" to mean "good," but we can't help but be intrigued by some of the activities and the use of the mat. Granted, the last thing we need is yet another peripheral in our households, which will probably be enough to keep us away from Active Life. If Nintendo doesn't have its Wii Fit stock act together by the fall, though, we wonder if people will turn to Active Life instead. Granted, this game won't have even half of the hype that surrounded Wii Fit, but the situation does present an opportunity for Namco Bandai. Who knows, families might even buy into the whole "working out together" angle.

On the other hand, there's yet another obstacle in the way of Active Life. It looks to us at least that if you're going to go with a game with a mat, DDR would probably offer a better workout. But what do you lovely readers think? Does Active Life: Outdoor Challenge have a place in the current gaming market?

Hey, don't feel too bad. Just because you haven't heard of Active Life: Outdoor Challenge is no reason to shed those tears. Wii Fit is great and all, but you need something more. Something to do with a big island of fun, apparently. With a bunch of games and a new mat, it's pretty obvious that peripheral-crazy Wii gamers will dig this latest installment into no holds barred gaming fun.

It's your fun-loving responsibility to check out the new official gallery with the latest and greatest in Active Life images. Hit the link below for river-rafting, see-saws, and a traditional mine cart ride. Despite the notable lack of Short Round on this ride, the characters are stumpy enough to be somewhat passable.


[Via press release]

MTV Multiplayer's interview with Active Life: Outdoor Challenge producer Yusuke Sasaki barely touches on Active Life: Outdoor Challenge at all, and instead focuses on the really attention-getting part of the package: the new Family Trainer mat!

Apparently, compared to the NES mat, the technology has been refreshed a bit. No specifics were given, but perhaps the Family Trainer is something more than buttons inside soft plastic? Or perhaps the years of Dance Dance Revolution mat testing undergone around the world has helped hardware designers make more robust mat controllers. As far as tangible changes, "The Active Life mat actually has more buttons in a unique configuration that works well with different types of games as well as multiplayer gameplay on a single mat."

Sasaki also reaffirmed Namco Bandai's intention to create more games that use the mat. Dance Aerobics seems ripe for remaking, if they want the Wii Fit crowd.

Namco Bandai's Family Trainer (or Active Life: Outdoor Challenge here) may not gauge your weight or balance like Wii Fit does, but you can jump for real. Instead of absentmindedly jumping in the middle of the tightrope game and being admonished for it, Family Trainer lets you take off. It's one of the advantages of the low-tech controller. Along with floppiness. Is that an advantage? It sure seems like one.

This ability means that Family Trainer can feature a trampoline game like the one in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, with the addition of real jumping. Like the Olympic trampoline event, sequential jumps increase in height, allowing the player to score points with controller motions while airborne. Jumping looks like a lot more fun when you're ... jumping.

We kind of wonder if the Wii Fit hype will help or hurt Namco Bandai's Active Life: Outdoor Challenge. People may become interested in exercise games in general as a result of Nintendo's entry into the genre, or they may feel that their foot-based gaming needs are met sufficiently by Wii Fit, with no need for other games or peripherals.

Regardless of whether or not it's good business to release a fitness game with its own peripheral after Wii Fit, we can't help but think that Active Life looks like fun. Not "fun for an exercise game," but fun. Just looking at this speed skating screenshot (which doesn't look particularly outdoor to us) makes us want to try it. Looks like we'll have to make room for another peripheral!

Many of you folks in Europe have probably already decided whether Wii Fit interests you, but those of you paying attention know that there's another exercise game for the Wii that's aiming to compete with Nintendo's software. Yes, we're talking about Athletic World: Family Trainer (aka Active Life: Outdoor Challenge in U.S. markets).

Perhaps you prefer video game exercise on a mat rather than a Balance Board, or perhaps there's room for two fitness-based games in your life; if either of these conditions apply, though, you'll have to wait a few months to pick up this title. Atari recently announced that the game will reach Europe in September, which is just enough time to make it useless for bathing suit season -- alas.

[Via press release]

1UP checked out Active Life: Outdoor Challenge, Bandai Namco's alternate-universe, nostalgic take on Wii Fit, at yesterday's Bandai Namco press event. As producer Daisuke Uchiyama explained to the site, the game is less about scientific measurement and management of fitness, and more about being active and having fun.

The preview did indeed seem fun, especially the mine-car event -- though there was some difficulty coordinating two players. "The entire experience actually felt like "controlling" a Disneyland coaster like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad or the Matterhorn Bobsleds," 1UP's Andrew Fitch said.

If Outdoor Challenge takes off, more games using the Family Trainer mat could be on the way. Apparently the company will conduct surveys to determine the kinds of things that different regions would want to control by stomping.