UK PRODUCT PREVIEW: Family Trainer

Peripherals have lived hand-in-hand with gaming since the very dawn of the medium itself. Though they have never previously matched the assortment of add-ons and attachments available for today’s machines, even the world’s pioneering consoles weren’t shy of an accessory or two.

Remember the Atari 2600? It came with two (frankly quite painful to use) joysticks by default, but to play the quite excellent Breakout you needed to hook up the accompanying twin paddle controllers. Which, incidentally, were totally awesome.

And whilst no-one is yet to match the NES’ unforgettable R.O.B., there has never been a time when gamers have had as many peripherals to choose from as today – and the Wii appears to be the driving force behind the phenomenon.

Any retailer worth its salt will be giving up just as much shelf space to Wii accessories as it does software – and there’s plenty to choose from. First-party wise there’s the Wii Fit Balance Board, the Wii Zapper, the Virtual Console-friendly Classic Controller and the upcoming Wii Motion Plus Wiimote add-on. On the third-party scene there’s obviously Guitar Hero and a bizarre assortment of tennis racquets, swords, wheels and weird-sticky-out-plastic-bits to choose from.

SHEDDING  THE  POUNDS
Of the recent peripheral-based phenomena to sweep the games scene, however, none have been more notable than Nintendo’s Wii Fit.

Mirroring the family-wide appeal of the likes of Brain Training and SingStar, it’s the sort of title that could conceivably sell to anyone – well, anyone with a Wii. And considering the huge sales of Nintendo’s machine, that’s quite a target market.

It’s also important to note, though, that Nintendo has struggled to get enough supply of its fitness title onto the market – does that sound like a brilliant opportunity to anyone?

“Family Trainer is primarily aimed at parents and children but like most interactive experiences on the Nintendo Wii it will appeal to all ages,” Atari UK’s senior product manager Ben Walker explains to MCV.

“Unlike other titles that are focusing more on fitness and weight loss, Family Trainer focuses on family fun with games such as Raging River Rapids, Stomp the Mole and Runaway Mine Train. Family Trainer also supports multiplayer gaming using just the one mat, which means two of you can engage in fun games against a friend or member of family.”

WELL TRAINED
Family Trainer, the title of which is designed to be both self-explanatory and targeted directly at its market, uses a combination of the Wiimote and included mat peripheral to give users a proper full body workout, and all of its games are designed to be instantly playable without the need for any extensive tutorials.

Over a dozen games are included and, ingeniously, the facility for two players to compete on the single mat instantly extends the family appeal of the title – and gives it a distinct one-over on the competition.

Despite it having been on the market for months, it’s still quite hard work getting your hands on Wii Fit on the UK High Street – so Atari would be mad not to be confident ahead of Family Trainer’s launch.

“We have very high expectations for this at retail with excellent feedback to date,” Walker concludes. “Pre-orders are high and we’ve had some superb feedback from recent trade shows. Being a Wii Fit alternative puts us in a very strong position to offer the market something a little different. This is truly a unique offering from Bandai Namco, and is competitively priced in the lead up to the busy Christmas period.”

RELEASED: SEPTEMBER 26
FORMATS: Wii
PUBLISHER: Atari
DEVELOPER: Namco Bandai
PRICE: £49.99
DISTRIBUTOR: Advantage
Contact: 0121 506 9590