Gamescom 2011: Adidas miCoach Impressions

THQ is on a roll when it comes to fitness products. The Biggest Loser was an early Kinect success, thanks to the female audience, while UFC Personal Trainer was a more male-focused alternative. The publisher's latest stab at the genre comes in the form of Adidas miCoach, which incorporates real athletes from various disciplines and combines it with existing Adidas tech to build what THQ hopes is the complete workout. We got to see it in action at this year's Gamescom.

If you're unfamiliar with Adidas miCoach technology, it includes pedometers, heart-rate monitors, and other technology that connects to your phone or portable music player. From there, it tracks your athletic performance and pumps out feedback over the headphones to keep you engaged and motivated. The Adidas miCoach game fits into this overall fitness plan by giving you specific, targeted workouts, depending on your sport of choice, and then encouraging you to go outside and use the other miCoach equipment to build on your performance.

A key component of the miCoach experience is the inclusion of athletes from such sports as football, American football, tennis, rugby, and more. For example, Jrue Holiday from the NBA and Kaka from the Brazilian national football team will talk you through exercises and physically appear in the game to perform the exercises they are telling you to do. You will appear onscreen alongside them, allowing you instant visual feedback on how close you are to your sporting idols.

In addition to exercises, many of which are based on weight training (weights sold separately), there are minigames that you can play through. We saw a football minigame, where you have to volley a ball into an open goal using both shots and headers. You score points based on your performance and can then sync your performance across the game--mobile and on the Web--with more social integration due to be announced shortly.

Another concept being discussed by THQ and Adidas is the ability to accrue fitness points through the game. The idea will be to run so far outside of the game, which will earn you points that not only go into the game but also allow you discounts off Adidas gear. The specifics are still being worked out, but THQ jokes that it's a scheme not entirely dissimilar from the popular Air Miles one.

There's still plenty of time for THQ to iron out these details before the game's release next year, so we're optimistic about the package coming together as planned. For more on Adidas miCoach, be sure to check out the video interview on the site and stay tuned for more as we get it.