words // Brandon Richard
Remember when Dwight Howard joined adidas to announce the miCoach video game at E3 last summer? The game was supposed to launch early this year, but a breakdown in business between adidas and THQ led to an indefinite shelving. Since then, adidas has reclaimed all rights to the game and partnered up with 505 Games, and the two now have the interactive training tool back on track for a release.
Available on Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's Playstation 3, adidas miCoach allows users to extend their training program into their living rooms, enabling millions worldwide to connect through mobile apps and micoach.com. Featuring full-motion-controlled support and optical body tracking with Playstation Move and the Kinect for Xbox 360 sensor, players can train alongside their sports heroes with over 400 exercises dedicated to optimizing fitness levels for particular sports activities and add their achievements in the game to their existing miCoach exercise regime.
Globally recognized athletes on the game include Kaka, Manuel Neuer, Jessica Ennis, Ana Ivanovic, Will Genia and Ma’a Nonu. In addition to training alongside players, every athlete presents a master class specific to their sport and there’s a special bonus master class from the manager of current La Liga Champions, Real Madrid’s, Jose Mourinho.
miCoach allows users to extend their training program into their living rooms, enabling millions worldwide to connect through mobile apps and micoach.com. Featuring full-motion-controlled support and optical body tracking with Playstation Move and the Kinect for Xbox 360 sensor, players can train alongside their sports heroes with over 400 exercises dedicated to optimizing fitness levels for particular sports activities and add their achievements in the game to their existing miCoach exercise regime.
Simon Drabble, Director of miCoach business unit for adidas said “We are very excited to be bringing the miCoach console game to market, allowing you to train alongside your own heroes in a fun and engaging way."
“We're taking our successful miCoach platform and broadening its reach to an even larger audience, by combining console technology and training for sports. This supports everybody to become better athletes, regardless of their fitness level."
Tim Woodley, Head of Global Brand at 505 Games said “It’s been fantastic to partner with such a globally recognizable brand as adidas and on as ground breaking a product as adidas miCoach. We’ve seen athletes of all levels respond to how complete and; literally; exhaustive, the training offered by miCoach is and can’t wait to hear how consumers benefit from adding the game to their existing training schedule."
“Bringing something truly new to the sports training and fitness segment on consoles, integrating it into the wider miCoach eco-system and capitalizing on a packed summer of sport in 2012 is just the start of a great relationship.”
The miCoach game has been in development for one and half years with UK developer Chromativity (formerly Lightning Fish Games) under exclusive license from adidas.
adidas miCoach can be found in stores on Tuesday, July 24.
