Black Bean Games is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with Lightning Fish to create a new family line of products called NewU. The first release, NewU: Inside Out, due in Q3 2009, has been conceived in collaboration with Fitness First, the largest health and fitness operator in the world, and You Are What You Eat, a well known TV format and healthy eating book series.

NewU is a Nintendo Wii title that perfectly combines Fitness, Nutritional Advice and Daily Healthy tips to offer a holistic experience through personal well-being.

Fitness First has designed the Full-Body workout and has been strongly involved in the development of the game. Each exercise is demonstrated by one of Fitness First’s leading Personal Trainers. The Wii Balance Board and Wiimote are used to provide feedback on user’s progress and performance.

Despite expectations, in order to create the six in-game personal trainers, Lightning Fish have used video footage of the real trainers and avoided 3D graphics. For the target market this feels a lot more approachable and authentic than using computer graphics. In this way, NewU offers a choice of six different personal trainers, each with their own personality and the choice of several workout locations.

The exercises and workouts are only half of the story, You Are What You EatTM has provided experienced nutrition experts to create a series of recipes that can be used to complement physical exercises, whether you want to put on muscle or lose some extra weight. The bespoke recipes can even fit any personal dietary needs such as vegetarians, vegans and gluten intolerant diets.

NewU allows people to select a lifestyle goal in order to create their custom exercise plans and their custom nutritional plans.

“NewU is not a game; it has been conceived as an interactive healthy lifestyle and workout video for the 21st century. Using your personal goals, NewU is a serious help to achieve them.

Nowadays, the opportunity to have some spare time is a real pleasure; a personal trainer and a nutritionist are real privileges. Why not create something that can benefit everyone?
Fitness First and You Are What You Eat are proud to be involved in NewU and support our cause for a healthy lifestyle based on perfect equilibrium. They provided professional assistance so we could design a product that can be used by anyone to improve the quality of their everyday life. Furthermore, we strongly believe that NewU does not necessarily represent an alternative to health clubs or fitness centres, but can reach a wide variety of people who do not feel confident, do not have the time or just live too far away. NewU will stimulate a new way of life.” explained Fabrizio Vagliasindi, Black Bean Games Head of Marketing.