Tag: Kinect

Deca Sports Heads to Kinect

When the Kinect for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is released next month gamers will be able to compete in 10 sporting events from the single Deca Sports Freedom title. This one will feature controller free gaming, which should hopefully get players off the couch and get their hearts pumping as they take part in tennis, boxing, archery, paintball, beach volleyball, dodge ball, kendo, mogul skiing, snowboard cross and figure skating. We’re not sure how all these will work, but we like the sound of it.

“DECA SPORTS FREEDOM is an exciting step forward for the DECA SPORTS franchise,” said Mike Pepe, Director of Marketing at Hudson Entertainment.  “We’re proud to embrace new technologies and innovations in gaming in our mission to deliver games that appeal to players of all ages and skill levels.”

The game, which is being published by Hudson Entertainment, will arrive with the release of the Kinect for Xbox 360 video game system on November 18.

Deca Sports Freedom Official Website

17 Controller-Free Games to Launch With Microsoft’s Kinect for Xbox 360

Will gamers get off the couch and get fit? That’s certainly the hope with the upcoming release of Microsoft’s Kinect for the Xbox 360. The motion-control system – which sort of makes the hype about “controller-free” seem not quite accurate – is already sold-out in pre-orders.

Despite that fact, Microsoft has now announced the launch of a multiyear advertising campaign, and more importantly revealed the lineup of 17 controller-free games. Of those, the ones that are most notable for the fitness crowd include:

  • Your Shape: Fitness Evolved (Ubisoft)
  • Dance Central (MTV Games/Harmonix)
  • The Biggest Loser Ultimate Workout (THQ)
  • DanceMasters (Konami)
  • EA Sports Active 2 (EA Sports), which comes with Total Body Tracking that includes heart rate data
  • Zumba Fitness (Majesco)

Kinect for Xbox 360 will be available worldwide starting on November 4. It will be released as part of a new Xbox 360 4GB console bundle for $299.99, as well as a standalone unit for $149.99.

For more information:

Microsoft Xbox 360

Your Shape: Fitness Evolved Partners with Men’s and Women’s Health

You say to yourself you’re going to do those targeted workouts you see in the pages of Men’s Health and Women’s Health magazines… until you turn the page. With Your Shape: Fitness Evolved you’ll choose the workouts from the game, or opt for Men’s Health‘s “The Sleeve-Busting Arms Workout” and “The Ultimate Men’s Health Fat Loss Workout.”

Knowing that men and women workout differently, the game offers a fully different routine for the fairer sex. Women’s Health will provide workouts such as “The Perfect Legs and Butt Workout,” “The Toned Arms and Shoulders Workout,” and “The Skinny Jeans Workout.”

Your Shape: Fitness Evolved publisher Ubisoft has partnered with Rodale to provide these targeted, magazine-prepared workouts on its upcoming title. Expect Your Shape to provide dynamic, interactive, customizable and convenient at-home workouts. The team that brings you workouts in the magazines creates these workouts. Continue reading Your Shape: Fitness Evolved Partners with Men’s and Women’s Health

Cage Fighting Comes to the Living Room With Kinect

Two gamers enter, one gamer leaves – that’s the concept behind this new fighting game, but let’s hope the living room is left in order after a session of Fighters Uncaged. The twist with this upcoming story-centric fighting game is that you don’t sit your backside on the couch and merely mash buttons.

Fighting Uncaged from Ubisoft and developer AMA Studios, which is scheduled for release this November, is being designed exclusively for Kinect on the Xbox 360 video game system. In this action fighter players will experience authentic fighting style of Thai boxing with everything except actual contact thanks to the controller-free Kinect. That means getting off the couch to make the moves just you would in real life, but without the fear of actually getting your ass kicked in the process.

In the game players can create 70 different strikes inspired by martial arts and compete in 21 different fight environments, which on screen will transport gamers from their living rooms to dark alleys, abandoned churches and other “exotic” locations. In addition to tracked moves, players can further utilize voice-activated strikes, and unlike new skills to use against their opponents. The Kinect body tracking system will allow for accurate dodging and blocking of incoming strikes, which should make the gaming experience more realistic than ever.

“Fighters Uncaged is the first motion fighting game for Microsoft Kinect, dedicated to a core audience,” said Adam Novickas, U.S. director of marketing at Ubisoft. “Fighters Uncaged requires players to get out of their seat to engage in a controller-free full-body combat game and experience the authentic fighting style of Thai boxing.”

Fighters Uncaged will arrive for the Xbox 360 this November from Ubisoft. It is likely the next best thing to taking it outside.

Fighters Uncaged Official Website

Can You Lay Down With the Kinect

Game developers might have a problem with gamers hitting the floor with the Microsoft Kinect. We’re not talking about those who suddenly collapse after working out for the first time in ages, but rather on how the Xbox 360 add-on will be able to track users who lay down in certain games. Who is not lying down on the job is Blitz Games CTO Andrew Oliver, who said his team is trying to resolve the issue for the upcoming game The Biggest Loser: Ultimate Workout.

Joystiq.com is reporting that Oliver noted this problem recently at the Develop Conference. It seems that many of the exercises done on the TV version, such as the usual push-ups and even certain yoga poses, require that one lies on the ground. The Kinect 3D motion sensing hardward can’t track this, and that could be a problem – one that would be a problem in any shooter where you might go prone. Oliver is reportedly working with the team on the issue, and progress has been made so gamers will be able to drop and give the game 20 when it comes out this fall! As if they’d actually get out of doing push-ups!

[Via Joystiq.com: Can Kinect handle a player lying down? Yes and no]

E3 2010: Kinect Fitness Games for the Kinect Launch

Microsoft is taking video game motion controls to a new level with their new accessory for the Xbox 360 called Kinect.  Kinect will allow you to be able to play video games hands free.  While the Nintendo Wii Fit definitely revolutionized fitness gaming, it had some drawbacks.  Having to hold controllers or be limited by the balance board was definitely a drawback for a true workout.  Kinect will change all of that because it will be truly free of any hindrances.  It will allow you to workout in the privacy of your own home, but also get the real-time one-on-one feedback on how well you are doing the exercises, just like you would get from a personal trainer.

Here are the Kinect fitness games that will be available during the Kinect launch or shortly thereafter:

Your Shape: Fitness Evolution is a game that will be available on the Kinect release date.  Your Shape will be able to give you a full body scan, and get your measurements in order to keep track of progress in your arms, legs, midsection, etc.  It will also provide you with a trainer who will be able to take you through daily workouts.  To not always be training hardcore, Your Shape also has mini-games that are fitness-focused, to allow you to have fun and get a good workout at the same time.

EA Sports Active 2.0 will be coming out a few weeks after the Kinect launch.  The original EA Sports Active for the Wii defined what fitness gaming should be.  This sequel takes exercise gaming to a whole new level.  It will feature a wireless heart rate monitor that you’ll be able to wear on your arm, and you’ll be able to get the result on the screen, so you can always keep your heart rate in the optimal range for fat loss.  As with all Kinect titles, it will truly be a controller (and distraction) free workout.

The Biggest Loser: Ultimate Workout is coming out around the same time as Kinect.  You will be able to be trainer by Bob and Jillian, giving you a solid workout just as if you were at the ranch.  It features nutrition and health tips to help you to lead an overall better lifestyle.  You’ll also be able to change up the workouts, and add some fun while working out by competing in various challenges as seen on the TV show.

More on Gesture-Based Exercise Devices

Similar to the Microsoft Kinect we discussed earlier this week, another gesture-based solution is in development to work on more than just the Xbox 360 console. Three companies – Metrological, Softkinetic and Optrima – are working on an integrated 3D gesture-based solution to work with set-top-boxes and televisions to do everything from change the channel and volume to play games. This may open the doors for workout programs similar to kinect Sports and Your Shape: Fitness Evolved, among other games on the horizon.

This solution combines a 3D gesture-recognition platform, iisu from Softkinetic with a 3D and RGB camera called the OptriCam fromOptrima. It’s been optimized to consume a minimum of CPU resources, and integrates into set-top-boxes or televisions. It uses both gesture and voice recognition to do its job. The system is still in development. It remains to be seen whether this partnership’s offering uses the same technology as the Microsoft Kinect, and whether it will see completion.

Microsoft Kinects with Exercisers

The Xbox 360 and Kinect get you moving without picking up a controller.

Don’t call it a controller. At E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) last week Microsoft widely showcased its controllerless motion interface previously called Project Natal. This means games will continue to get active. Even more than with the Nintendo Wii remote, games using Microsoft’s Kinect won’t be played sitting down. The Kinect is a hands-free controller that captures your moves and sond through a camera placed in front of the TV. Its mount follows your movements so if you’re playing a really active game, it will still keep up with you. There’s plenty of games in development for the device due out by holiday season.

One category expected to excel is fitness games. EA Sports Active, Your Shape: Fitness Evolved, Kinect Sports and Zumba Fitness are just a few. In addition, you have Kinect Adventures where you’ll do activities like block oncoming balls, and steer rafts on water rides, which involve full-body movements. Dance Central from MTV and Harmonix is another one that will have you moving to the beat. We’re on the lookout for heart pounding cardio and strength training fitness games using the Kinect on the horizon and will report here.

E3 2010: Spice Girl Does Fitness Game

Do you Wannabe in better shape?

When we first read that a former Spice Girl wanted to do a fitness game we assumed it would be Sporty Spice. Then we read it was Mel B and our thoughts were confirmed, but actually Melanie Chisholm, a.k.a. Mel C, is the former Sporty Spice. Melanie Brown, or Mel B, a.k.a. Scary Spice is the one who is actually going to be working on a title for the Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360 Kinect and PlayStation 3 Move.

“I have always been passionate about videogames and then when I grew up my preferences moved towards fitness and wellbeing.” she said in a press release. “Today I can finally mix together my two big passions, it’s been like a dream.”

The title from Black Bean Games will feature Brown as a celebrity trainer in Get Fit. It will build on the publisher’s previous Fitness First titles and will feature six types of aerobic disciplines and more than 100 exercises. The Brown fitness game will arrive for the holidays

Black Bean Games

E3 2010: Zumba Gets You Shaking

One big problem with some workout games is that you need to be in the mood to work out. That’s why a good alternative can be to dance, and Zumba Fitness will get you moving. The company already has a full line of Latin dance and reggae flavored DVDs, and this year at E3 Majesco announced plans to bring the unique fitness program to the video game world.

In Zumba Fitness players can learn and perfect nine different dance styles, ranging from salsa to hip-hop to rumba and reggaeton. The dance game will be accessible to all ages and feature a “learn to steps” training, plus beginner, intermediate and advanced routines. The game will be compatible with Kinect for the Microsoft Xbox 360 for two player fun, plus a four player version for either the Nintendo Wii or the PlayStation 3 Move. Zumba Fitness will arrive this holidays, so get shaking.

Zumba Fitness website

Majesco Entertainment

E3 2010: Shape Yourself with Microsoft’s Kinect

 

Smile you're on the Kinect camera for the Xbbox 360

Exercise games on the market still require you to grab or stand on a controller to get your workout in. Yourshape Fitness Evolved, just announced from Ubisoft for the Microsoft Xbox promises a much more casual yet engaging workout. Using the video and sound controls of the game console’s Kinect, you just have to make sure  you have space to move. The camera picks up your image and presents it as a polarized image or heat map-like image of you and captures all of your movements. Select cardio, toning or other activities and get to work. Yourshape Fitness turns some workouts into a game where you can kick and punch boxes that come into range. End your workout with a calming cooldown by doing Tai Chi and other relaxing exercises.

Check back all week for the latest fitness related news from the Electronic Entertainment Expo