Burnaby EA's Home Gym in a Box

For years, the public ganged up on the video game industry for creating a class of young gamers who sat around in front of consoles or screens getting fat because they exercised only their fingers and thumbs.

But since the overwhelming success of Nintendo's Wii system, where gamers get a full body workout playing boxing, baseball and other e-sports activities, gamers are no longer the couch potatoes of urban myth.

Now, Electronic Arts has introduced the first of what it promises will be a line of fitness games that gives gamers a full home workout without having to invest in a home gym or hire a personal trainer.

The debut product is EA Sports Active, a kind of electronic personal trainer designed for the Wii system. Developed at EA's studios in Burnaby and retailing for $60, EA Sports Active has workout exercises including jump lunges and bicep curls. The game comes with a leg strap to hold the Wii Nunchuk controller and to measure lower-body movements, and a resistance band which can be upped to make the player exert more effort for the weight exercises. You can watch your moves on the screen by way of your personal avatar, and messages will pop up like a CNN crawl telling you when you're doing something wrong ("Kick your leg higher! Hold the position longer!"), and a personal coach will offer encouragement. If you think you're losing your way, the game comes with instructional videos of coaches showing the right way to do an exercise.

Read more: EA runs out reality fitness

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