Nintendo Wii Fanboy

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]

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.

GAME Watch has posted new shots for Bandai Namco's Athletic World: Family Trainer (known in the U.S. by the far blander -- not to mention inaccurate -- moniker of Active Life: Outdoor Challenge), as well as lots of snaps featuring people jumping on, crawling across, and twisting on the Power Pad Family Trainer mat that ships with the game. Oh, and leaning, obviously. We hope it's sturdily constructed!

If you've been keeping up with our coverage, you'll have already acquainted yourself with the events on display, but hit the "Read" link below to gawk at plenty of new screenage.

[Via Jeux France]

Namco Bandai has released new screens of the events in Athletic World: Family Trainer, including a couple of new games that weren't covered in the last roundup. "Kenken Step" involves dodging stone idols that move toward the player (we think), and "See-saw Fight" is actually a kind of Twister/Simon/DDR thing in which players hit a specific spot on the Family Trainer mat in response to onscreen cues, with see-saw level representing performance.

Amazon now has a boxart for the American version of the game, called Active Life: Outdoor Challenge, as well as a potential September 20th release date and a $60 price. Since it's impossible to talk about this game without comparing its sales potential to Wii Fit, we'll say this: ironically, this game's game-ness may be its biggest liability. Wii Fit makes a concerted effort to be an exercise program with some little minigames in it, focusing on things like weight tracking and exercise training and such. Outdoor Challenge is a video game that requires movement. The "expanded audience" will be more interested in the "serious" exercise tool, and gamers will still find Outdoor Challenge too non-game-like.

But on the other hand, $60 is probably less than Nintendo will charge for Wii Fit.