I’m rather pissed that exercise-based games have only just reached prominence. Had these been around in my youth, convincing my parents to get me a game console would’ve been a much easier sell. Thinking about it, I remember reading about an odd exercise bike/Super Nintendo hybrid in one of the early 90’s Nintendo Powers, and using it to bolster my case then that games might not turn me into a withered stimulation junkie (to little success). Kids these days, they don’t know how easy they have it. Also, music is too loud and I like the taste of Metamucil.

I almost convinced myself that this didn’t actually exist.

Perhaps my parents immutability on such issues had a positive outcome; I’m a fairly active guy, though my pride insists that it’s more my doing than theirs. Martial arts, rock climbing, and the odd walk here and there keep my heart from turning into a ball of nacho cheese. But ever since DDR introduced nerds everywhere to activity beyond shuffling to the bathroom, I’ve found myself captivated by hybrids of exercise and gaming. Naturally, I snapped up Wii Fit when it released last year, and then EA Sports Active upon its release this year, respectively adding a dirt magnet of a scale and an oversized rubber band to the considerable peripheral clutter that is my living room.

But how do the two major fitness games for the Wii stack up against each other? Well, each one has benefits, and drawbacks, and both are targeted at specific markets. So, in the interest of those with a limited budget, I decided to pit the two against each other and see how they measure up - mano y mano...

In terms of sheer workout intensity, EA Sports Active blows Wii Fit out of the water. The latter’s exercises revolve around balance and calisthenics, and fail to achieve the intensity I like in a work out – I ended up using Wii Fit as a warm-up before my evening run. In comparison, EA Sports Active offer three workout intensities: easy, medium, and hard. Being a manly man, I picked hard, and broke a decent sweat doing it too. Nintendo’s offering is a good fit – pun intended – for anyone that that has practically no exercise in their daily routine, while moderately active people – pun intended – will prefer EA Sports Active.

An active man like me needs an intense workout! Oh yeah!