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NFL fans finally have a videogame they can use to replicate the movements their favorite NFL players make every Sunday. If used consistently enough, they can sweat just like them, too.
EA Sports' Active NFL Training Camp, released this week, gives gamers more than 70 strength, agility and reaction drills commonly found in NFL training camps for them to recreate on their Wii. With the consultation of NFL strength and conditioning coaches and EA Sports' in-house fitness instructor, Active Training Camp's game producers incorporated football drills to create a fitness-based game.
"What we did was try to instill different team's philosophies into how they put their training together," Justin Sheffield, a producer for Active Training Camp, told Wired.com. He said it was critical to balance the input of suggested drills from the coaches. Whereas San Diego Chargers strength and conditioning coach Jeff Hurd advised leg-based and strength-driven drills, Chris Carlisle of the Seattle Seahawks valued ones that emphasize speed and agility.
Gamers can compete head-to-head in multiplayer mode in drills such as QB Window Challenge, which tests throwing accuracy, and Field Goal Challenge. A more organized program exists with the NFL Combine 60-Day Challenge. Per the NFL's PLAY 60 commitment to youth health and fitness, the in-game challenge lets users work out four days a week for 60 days by participating in drills held at the NFL Combine every February.
Many of the Combine's drills, including the 40-yard dash, are renowned for their ability to demonstrate NFL players' athleticism. A prime example is, well, Deion "Prime Time" Sanders. The six-time All-Pro cornerback reportedly clocked in at a blazing-fast 4.21 seconds in his 40-yard time at the 1989 Combine.
Despite participating in only a handful of NFL training camps throughout his 14-year career because of his dual-responsibilities as an MLB player, Sanders remembered one day when he was challenged to a race. "One training camp ... in Dallas, a young kid thought he could run against me," Sanders said without recalling the player. "I got out the hole on him, looked back at him, and just let him know who he was dealing with."
Sanders said he prefers the quarterback and kicking drills, which highlight two positions he would've liked to have played in the NFL. In order for him and every other user to participate in those drills, accelerometers with elastic wraps must be strapped around an arm and a leg. Along with the standard Wii remote, they comprise EA Sports' Total Body Tracking system.
"It's like a Wii remote and the arm band also has a heart-rate monitor with it," Sheffield said. "What it lets us do is have three points of reference. We can track your running, lunging and squats with a combination of the accelerometer being able to analyze your knee movement. We can tell you're squatting by the change of the angle in your leg band."
Unlike the production process of a standard EA Sports game, such as the billion-dollar Madden NFL franchise, Sheffield said it's vital for producers to complete the fundamental aspects of an animation quickly for test use. Focus groups were brought in to gauge how they synced with the on-screen characters, the movements of which were motion-captured by former NFL players in EA's Vancouver studio.
The result of the synced movements – some drills have a delay of approximately one second – is a workout that made even Sanders sweat. "I was breathing hard early but I put in only four minutes," he said after one running drill.
And that's good news for prospective gamers, who might finally have an opportunity to beat Prime Time at his own game.
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