'EA Sports Active' helps families work out with the Wii

— -- Last year's hot fitness game was Wii Fit ; this year it's EA Sports Active.

What makes EA Sports Active so good is that it provides you with your own virtual personal trainer. There is nothing like positive feedback to make you do one more lunge even though your thighs are screaming.

In developing EA Sports Active for the Nintendo Wii, Electronic Arts worked with fitness experts, including Bob Greene, Oprah's renowned fitness guru, who appears in the game. In addition to motivation from Greene, you'll have your own virtual trainer talking you through your workouts. You can choose to be motivated by a male or a female trainer.

This Nintendo Wii fitness program comes with a resistance band and a special thigh strap to hold the Wii nunchuk controller. The program has exercises that cover cardio fitness, upper and lower body strengthening and sports practice. For the cardio fitness, there are a series of exercises that focus on running, walking, high stepping and kick-ups. There are 22 exercises that focus on upper and lower body muscles, many of which use the included resistance band. You can also incorporate the Wii balance board from Wii Fit if you have one, but it isn't necessary. For exercise by doing pretend sports, the program covers tennis, boxing, dancing, volleyball, basketball, inline skating and baseball.

What makes EA Sports Active so good is the ease with which you can use it. If you are looking for structure, try the 30 Day Challenge mode, where the program mixes up all of the possible activities to create varied workouts that focus on specific muscle groups. By providing you with ordered workouts (rotating what you work on each day), the program makes sure you don't overwork a specific muscle group. And this challenge is available on three levels of intensity, so it's good for the exercise newbie or the gym-rat.

If you want to be in charge of what exercise you do, then the program offers you preset and custom workout options. With more than 60 preset workouts created by fitness experts, you select how long you work out as well as the area of focus. With the custom workout option, you can drag and drop exercises to a timeline. This option is perfect for families looking to create workout routines for children, because you can select the sports games that make working out more fun.