Check back all week as we’ll be reporting from the 2010 Interbike International Trade Expo in sunny Las Vegas, Nevada. This event brings over 1,000 brands to Sin City, and we’ll report on the latest and greatest new products from the bicycle world.
We’ll be on the look for the most innovative products, new trends and just about anything else on two wheels.
The U.S. Open recently wrapped. The PlayStation Move is just now in stores. So now you can pick up a racket of your own with Racquet Sports for PlayStation Move on the PlayStation 3. Try your swing in five different sports including tennis, ping-pong, badminton, squash and beach tennis.
Players can team up or go head-to-head in multiplayer mode. Of course you’ll need more than one Move if you want to play a tournament with friends. The game has 30 environments inspired by real-world landmarks such as the beaches of Copacabana, the foot of Mt. Fuji, overlooking Dubai’s skyline, and the middle of Ha Long Bay. In these settings you can play one of 11 different athletes, or should we say characters? They each have unique personalities — though don’t expect one to have complete temper tantrums on the court a-la John McEnro.
Five racket courts gives Racquet Sports from Ubisoft added life. It’s more than just tennis, and you can vary the level of seriousness or fun based on the sport and setting. Whatever your game, you will get some exercise running all over your living room to hit the ball.
Racquet Sports official website.
There is just something about bowling and video games. The Nintendo Wii’s success owes no small share of success to the Wii Sports bowling, and clearly other video game developers are taking note. Carve Games clearly was at the head of the class, as it is the first out of the gate to let player knock down the pins with its new Brunswick Pro Bowling, which shipped today for the PlayStation3. It will of course be fully compatible with the PlayStation Move motion controller.
The game allows players to compete in one of six bowling environments – smells not included fortunately – and each lane will have its own unique characteristics. There will be five different gameplay options, including exhibition, league play, tournament and spare challenge, as well as online functionality for players to join teams and compete in multiplayer matches. Who needs to go to the bowling alley anymore it seems if you have this one at whole.
While this one features accurate ball and pin physics for an accurate and fully realistic bowling simulation, there is also a kid-friendly bumper bowling option to prevent gutter balls – something that probably won’t be utilized just by the kids.
“Brunswick Pro Bowling brings to life all the fun and excitement of live action bowling by delivering a high-quality virtual experience that appeals to both casual and hardcore gamers,” said Betsi Gijanto, Executive Vice President, Crave Games. “With the addition of the new motion controller technology, this game brings together bowlers, gamers and families of all ages.”
And since the game has the full licensing of Brunswick, you can expect to see the authentic shirts, shoes, balls and other equipment in the game. It’s the next best thing to go to the lanes, so get your bowling shirt out and get off the couch. It’s time to bowl.
At this month’s IFA conference in Berlin Dutch consumer electronics maker Philips once again reaffirmed that it was going to remain dedicated to fitness, as it showcased its Activa portable music player. The device was unveiled earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but this month Philips offered a bit more information on this “much more than an MP3 player” device.
While the Philips Activia is going to go head to head with the iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano and iPod Touch, it has some features that the iPod simply can’t touch. The Activa will keep track of fitness progress and while there is some musical shuffling of sorts, it actually picks songs to provide vocal feedback and plays music to match the tempo of your workout. Continue reading Philips Gets Activa at IFA
Monitoring progress is certainly a good way to stick with a fitness routine, and to that end Polar has introduced the Polar Active. This is designed for students of all ages, who want to improve their health and fitness. It measures the impact of daily activities, and can track just about every moment. With it users can monitor steps taken, calories burned and even time spent in various activity zones.
Students can use the Polar Active to measure and record their physical activity along, and the device can be used with PolarGoFit.com, an online service for teachers and students to monitor and track activity. The portal allows for easy documentation of activity data including daily and long-term progress as well as the ability to share reports with students, parents and school administrators. This can help encourage activity and motivate students to remain active for longer periods of time and maintain a healthy weight. Continue reading Polar Introduces Active Monitor for Students
Whether you’re working out; hiking or seeking geocached treasures, you may be bringing three or more devices on your jaunt. A phone to stay connected and be able to call for help if necessary; a GPS device to guide you on your walks or track progress for workouts; and possibly an MP3 player to keep you entertained on the long run.
Verizon added three services from GPS-enabled outdoors activity provider Trimble: AllSport GPS; Trimble Outdoors; and Geocache Navigator through its V Cast subscription service. AllSport is an app that tracks workouts such as walks, runs and bike rides with maps. The app records more than 20 stats including distance, time, speed, and calories burned. The program lets you track goals as you progress through the season. Continue reading Hit the Trails with Trimble apps on V Cast
It is time to get moving, as Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC announced that the PlayStation Move is now available in stores.
“The launch of PlayStation Move is the latest in a long line of innovations over the past 15 years that demonstrate how the PlayStation® brand continues to push the videogame industry forward,” said Jack Tretton, Chief Executive Officer, Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC. “We’ve spent a lot of time perfecting the motion control technology of PlayStation Move, and we are confident this is a benchmark in entertainment innovation that will change the way consumers interact with games.”
We’ll be sure to report on the latest games for the new motion control system and let you know whether or not we’re actually moved.
There comes a point in a cyclist’s life when they decide to make the move from platform pedals to a system that connects them more with the bicycle. This is sort of a “Zen-like” experience of being one with the bike. This attachment is however more mechanical than metaphysical. Continue reading Fitness Journal: Pedal Talk – To Clip or Not to Clip
Too many Americans are probably carrying around too much weight, whilst those who are toned up and fit probably have too in the way of weights. That’s the belief of Donnie Gorsuch, the inventor of the Power Platform. Her thinking is that since the average American male can only bench press about 135 pounds without risking injury, and the average American woman can only press about 60 pounds, there is little reason for weigh machines that go up to 500 pounds.
Nor does she believe that there is good reason to fill the average home gym with a lot of gym equipment and lifting machines when the only real weight you need to lift is that of your own body. Gorsuch found a way to get the lifting in by essentially creating a brace for bodyweight training called the Power Platform. Continue reading Power (Platform) to the People
THQ is encouraging gamers to get off the couch; in fact it is telling gamers to essentially “drop and give the Xbox 360 or Wii 20.” This week THQ unveiled a bit more details about the upcoming game versions of the popular TV series The Biggest Loser, which will be available in upcoming titles for the Nintendo Wii as well as the Microsoft Xbox 360.
Over the next few weeks the company has promised to showcase a few of the exercises that will be available with the new game. These are based on the same exercises that contestants use on TV under the supervision of trainer Bob Harper. This week it was revealed that two of the routines would include Lunges and Glute Lifts.
The Biggest Loser Challenge for the Nintendo Wii, and The Biggest Loser Ultimate Workout for Kinect for Xbox 360 will arrive later this later.
Serious skateboarders are always looking for new challenges, and the DTV Shredder might just be the next big thing in skating. A similar approach came from Bryson Lovett’s Vertrax Electric Skateboard that we wrote about last month, but the DTV Shredder would likely leave that one in the dust!
There is no fountain of youth. At least not one we’ve found. But with exercise and nutrition you can turn back the hands of time — a few years. But how do you know when you’ve reached that magical and everlasting age of 29? Some tools can help you work towards and achieve your quest. The Mio FitStick is one such tool. This gizmo helps you measure your Heart Rate Variability (HRV), which is one way to gauge what’s going on inside your body. Continue reading Mio Discovers the Stick of Youth
If you want to improve your performance in any sport, you go to the expert to help you what you’re doing wrong and how to correct it. For golf this means working on swing optimization, and this week aboutGolf announced that Jean Jacques Rivet has joined their team as a new partner.
Rivet is a renowned sportsman, as well as a professional engineer, who has worked on the advancement of biomechanics and body motion. His company, BiomecaSwing has worked with golfers to attain a new level of game performance by applying a proven scientific approach. Rivet will serve as a consultant to aboutGolf in its ongoing product development, including its performance products such as the aG Balance, aG Flix and future TechCentric suite of products. Continue reading Biomechanist Jean Jacques Rivet Joins aboutGolf