lets-yoga
Latest
Wii Fit vs. Let's Yoga
If you happen to also follow our shenanigans over at DS Fanboy, you might have noticed the yogathon we just wrapped up, courtesy of Let's Yoga, a DS yoga trainer. With the release of Wii Fit, we've now got a great opportunity to compare two entirely different games that include yoga lessons. Five years ago, did you think you'd see that on a gaming site? Viable exergaming options -- we never thought we'd see the day. But how do the two titles stack up to one another? Check out our handy comparison chart, available after the break.%Gallery-4745%
Let's Yoga: Let's market games!
In our final look at Konami's Let's Yoga, we thought we'd spend some time discussing training games like this in general, as well as their reception in the U.S. In many parts of the world, training games are big, but not so much in the U.S. beyond Brain Age and its sequel. If we had to guess, we would say that part of that is due to marketing.Can you walk into your local Best Buy and pick up Let's Yoga? Can you order it from Amazon? Sure. But how many people know it exists ... and of those few, how many might actually buy a copy? Let's assume that most gamers don't have the benefit of the DS Fanboy yogathon to let them know that this training game (like another we checked out) may actually be worth their while. Without that knowledge, how many gamers might show any interest in such a title? Probably not very many, even among those actually fascinated by yoga. %Gallery-6931%
Let's Yoga vs. Yoga DVD
Our yogathon is winding down, but there are a few important things yet to cover, such as ... can Let's Yoga compete with a yoga DVD? Exercise DVDs are a huge market -- could a game possibly one-up that industry? We went through a step-by-step comparison of the features of Konami's trainer and a beginner yoga DVD available at a big box retailer. Yoga for Beginners with Patricia Walden comes with a thick booklet detailing all the included poses, as well as guidelines for creating your own workout. In order to use the DVD with them, you'll have to do a lot of fast-forwarding and rewinding; for all intents and purposes, the DVD only includes one lesson. You've already seen what Let's Yoga can do, if you've been following our yogathon, but we've got a chart comparing some of the features of the two after the break.%Gallery-6931%
Let's Yoga: DIY workouts
Four days in and the first course is complete! The Naga class in Let's Yoga wrapped up with a simple review of the poses learned throughout, so instead of focusing on that, today we'll be exploring the extras available in Konami's training title. There are loads of options available beyond the basic lessons, including the ability to design your own workout. After a look ahead at the beginning of the Krishna class, I must say that playing with the options looks a lot easier than what's in store, lesson-wise ... there are rough times in my future.%Gallery-6931%
Let's Yoga: Twice the fun
As promised, today we're covering two lessons in our continuing yogathon. Lessons three and four combined for nineteen minutes of yoga (and many glorious minutes spent breathing and relaxing in Shavasana), and at this point, not only is it really starting to feel like a workout (albeit a more relaxed one), but I can get a little further in certain poses than before. Something's working here with Let's Yoga!%Gallery-6931%
Let's Yoga: We did!
I've always wanted to try yoga. I've bought mats and cubes and even a DVD, and once I went so far as to sign up for a class I never attended. There's just never been time, and these days, I have even fewer moments to spare for something that seemed so esoteric. However, when Konami first announced their yoga trainer for the DS, I got excited. Maybe this time I would be able to put some effort into it; after all, DS training is fun and mostly effective, right? Then I had a baby, and everything changed. I despaired at ever having time to do anything again. Between juggling work and the tiny boy, as well as other hobbies and family obligations (and, hey, gaming), finding ten minutes a day to sleep is a challenge, much less ten minutes to focus on any sort of workout. But with the long-overdue release of Let's Yoga in the U.S., I was determined to try. %Gallery-6931%
WRUP: Let's get fit edition
This week's releases are full of titles aimed at making you a healthier human being. We can get behind that, because being healthy is a pretty important thing in life. And, of course, there's also Iron Man.Any of our faithful readers looking to cleanse their body and soul and go for a healthier you? Or, are you already knee-deep in another game, like The World Ends with You? What will you be playing to get you through this weekend? What are you Playing? is a weekly feature where we ask what it is that you're, well ... playing! Every Friday, look for a new topic and a new chance to converse with the community about what games you're enjoying and which games are disappointing. So tell us already!
DS releases for the week of April 28th
Here we are, still working through titles from last week, and they go and release more games. It's just not fair!Oh, wait. No, we want them to keep doing that, don't we? Now if only we had more money, things would be just perfect! This week, the U.S. sees the most releases, but unless you're into exercise/training games (like this blogger, who is stoked over Let's Yoga), it's probably not the best week ever. Patience, for they will release yet more games soon. Brain Voyage Iron Man Let's Pilates! Let's Yoga! Toy Shop Stretch past the break to see what's in stock for the rest of the world's major markets.
Let's Speculation
Frequent new game release news source and occasional rental service Gamefly has come through again, hinting strongly at a probable U.S. release for two previously unannounced games: Let's Yoga and Let's Pilates. We're not terribly surprised to see this news: Let's Yoga (called Doko Demo Yoga in Japan) was released in Europe in November, and Ubisoft has announced their own competing yoga game, Quick Yoga Training.Gamefly currently says that both games will release on May 1st, just in time to provide DS owners with an outlet for Wii Fit-related fitness enthusiasm. We're interested in seeing how American gamers (or non-gamers) respond to the widening genre of training games.Read - Let's PilatesRead - Let's Yoga
From Face Training and yoga to the world
We couldn't help but giggle when we saw this article on "facial yoga" that described it as the hot new craze. It's certainly not new to us DS hipsters; after all, we've already got a game dedicated to stretching and firming our faces, and since the practice is apparently the latest it-exercise (despite being around for years, much like regular yoga), it seems likely that Otona no DS Kao Training may sweep in on the heels of Let's Yoga and hit the United States.Of course, then the real question becomes: will Nintendo (and others, like Konami, the company behind Let's Yoga) start to change the way they advertise the DS in the United States? We can't help but wonder if it seems unlikely; after all, we still have no official "face" for Brain Age beyond our favorite disembodied head, and it's rare that we see advertisements for our favorite piece of hardware on the scale that we see those for the Wii.
