EA Sports Active to get more add-ons
Abs pack and plenty more to come says EA Sports boss
23 April 2009 16:47 GMT / By Stuart Miles
EA plans to expand on its yet unreleased EA Sports Active game for the Wii, with a plethora of expansion packs and accessories, head honcho Peter Moore has told Pocket-lint.
The game, which is due out next month in the UK has been described as a "virtual trainer in a box" giving those who can't make it to the gym the chance to exercise at home.
"Active is a platform not a game", Moore told us in a one to one interview after flying over from America to see us.
Rather than merely offering downloadable content, Moore outlined to Pocket-lint that fans of the game would likely see expansion packs based around specific areas like football, baseball or tennis, as well as specific fitness packs that would allow you to get fit.
One such suggestion is for an "abs pack", to help people hone certain areas of their body.
According to EA, the game, which has seen a strong marketing push with stars such as Davina McCall involved, has already garnered plenty of pre-orders ahead of its launch.
Users are expected to complete a series of training sessions such as running on the spot, in-line skating and dancing that are based on Western fitness regimes rather than Eastern wellness regimes as found in Nintendo's own Wii Fit.
Keeping on the sports theme, the EA Sports boss also confirmed that the company would be adding Wii MotionPlus support to plenty more games in the future, however acknowledged that not all games would benefit from the experience.
"It's great that we've got them in Grand Slam Tennis and Tiger Woods, but I'm not sure the technology would work so well in a football game".
The Wii MotionPlus controller will be bundled with the two new sports games due out at the end of June.
However when asked whether or not he would like to see the technology on the Xbox 360 or PS3, Moore was coy.
"We want them [Microsoft and Sony] to be innovative, we are always trying to push the envelope. We want them to do the same".
One area where the company is "pushing the envelope" is the mobile gaming arena and particularly with the iPhone. However it seems promoting games amongst thousands isn't as easy as it sounds.
"We are lucky we have a strong IP [brand], but is there a real stable business model? There are a lot of games and trying to get noticed amongst everything is hard. Questions like how you breakthrough and how do you get on top are key to us at the moment".
So what of the future? Moore believes in a "connected state" that brings gamers closer together from around the world, before citing that the company's biggest problem is not convincing more gamers to play games, but the millions of sports fans out there to play sports games on a computer.
"The Wii is helping bring people in, Active has taken us to places we never thought of", admits Moore. "Games get a hard time in the UK from people that don't really understand them like some tabloid press and even the UK government, but EA Sports Active is fun and makes you feel good about yourself."
And that's what it seems to be all about, accessibility and fun, as Nintendo and Apple have proved. The secret seems to be all about increasing the number of people wanting to play games, not just stealing market share from other companies - and on that point EA seems to be on track to score a touchdown.
PHONES
HTC HD2 mobile phone Does Windows Mobile finally make Sense?
PHONES
Best iPhone tariffs: O2 vs Orange Which contract is the right one for you?
HARDWARE
Dell Adamo XPS laptop - First Look Have corners been cut to get it this thin?
Comments