The creators of the wildly popular Guitar Hero franchise – which played a pivotal role in making music games mainstream – have turned to a new venture which will incorporate the idea into fitness gaming.

Blue Goji – the new company run by brothers Kai and Charles Huang – takes bespoke hardware plus the gaming concept from Guitar Hero and applies the idea to cardio machines, exercise bikes, treadmills and cross trainers.

The company’s first product which has just been released retails at US$99.99 (£61, €73) and includes a pair of two-button controllers that strap onto the handles of the exercise equipment and an activity sensor that clips to your clothes.

The device connects wirelessly to an iPad or an iPhone, turning the fitness data into gameplay inputs varying from speed in racing games to strength in fighting games.

Not only does the device turn exercise into gaming, but it also measures physical activity including time, distance and calories burned – with the data available to view in a separate app.

The company has already announced a partnership with fitness-tracking app MyFitnessPal to enable users to share data to it from Goji and, much like the major gaming consoles, includes unlockable achievements.

“The activity trackers are less about games and more about gamification – tracking you and letting you compete against your friends,” said Kai Huang. “That’s where we’re different from all the other fitness devices out there, given our background in games.”