Legendary video game developer, Atari, has decided to test its mettle in the mobile fitness market with a new app that aims to get people up and out with the promise of classic games as a reward for their troubles.
The app, which is called ‘Atari Fit’, is aimed at getting users to increase their fitness by following exercise routines and achieving goals. If they succeed, they’lll be rewarded with game downloads, including classic titles like Pong, Centipede and Super Breakout, and US-based users will be able to earn real-life Walgreens Balance Rewards Points as well.
The app will place nice with many other fitness apps, including the likes of Google Fit, Run Keeper and Apple Health, carrying your achievements within those apps across and using them to increase your XP within Atari Fit, so your usual efforts will reap rewards without you needing to double up.
Atari has also ensured the app is compatible with the most popular fitness trackers on the block, so it will be able to collect data from your Fitbit, Jawbone or Android Wear device, among others.
There are over 100 exercise routines included with the app, including running programs, conditioning routines and full-body workouts, and they’ve been developed with the help of National Academy of Sports Medicine PT, Michael Porter, to ensure that they challenge users of all fitness levels.
As with all of today’s popular fitness tracking apps, Atari Fit will let you post all of your gains to your social networks, and you’ll also be able to use those networks in conjunction with the app to exercise with your friends and colleagues in what Atari calls “multiplayer mode”, which will let users join a workout or race against each other, setting personal bests and the like.
With fitness apps rapidly becoming ten-a-penny, it’s refreshing to see a change of tack, especially from a company as renowned as Atari. Whether the allure of good, old fashioned games – ones you never finish but only do a little better each time – will be enough to spur on the couch-ridden masses is anyone’s guess, but we’d be up for a cheeky 5km run in return for some retro gaming goodness.
Leave a Reply