Electronic Arts has announced EA Sports Active, available in spring 2009. The product is aimed at women seeking a simple and inexpensive way to achieve a healthy lifestyle. The game supports two players and thus lets family or friends get fit together through a wide variety of interactive activities. Users will get a virtual trainer and a real time feedback on workout, such as calories burned. Furthermore, the fitness regimen targets the upper and lower body as well as cardio. Nintendo’s own fitness product for Wii seems to offer a not so rigorous workout, offering more of an Eastern attitude. EA Sports, however, appears to be stepping up the action with a more strenuous program.

Peter Moore, president of EA Sports, told the media: "EA Sports Active costs less than a gym membership; it provides a variety of exercises unlike a one-dimensional in-home fitness contraption, and it delivers an interactive experience that you don't get from a DVD.” The game will include a set of leg straps that house the nunchuk in order to track leg movements, and a resistance band for upper body training. In developing the game, EA Sports received help from fitness expert Bob Greene, Oprah’s personal trainer.

It’s pretty clear that the game will be targeting a mostly female audience, though there are plans for more games that will cover both sexes and all ages and cultures. In addition, EA Sports Active takes some inspiration from Wii Sports, with boxing and tennis mini-games, featuring a 30 Day Challenge mode to help reach specified weigh loss goals. Even if analysts do not think Wii Fit can be outsold by another game, it really seems like EA could make it a blockbuster with its first ever fitness game.