Your Shape Fitness Evolved - Kinect Xbox 360 Kinect

Released on 10/11/2010

• GAME HQ Kinect Preview!

  Formerly known as Project Natal, Kinect has been a bit of a mystery to us here at Game. But Microsoft put a stop to that today by allowing us to get hands-on (so to speak).

  The basics of Kinect are that it will let you play and navigate with out the need of a controller. Instead of slouching in a cheer you'll need to get up and active in order to play.

  We got to go head on with Kinect Joyride, Kinect Adventures and Kinect Sports. These were our impressions...

  
  

   

  Tom

  My Kinect playfest began with Joyride, a fun little driving game using your Xbox Avatar as the driver. To steer your car you hold your hands in the 10-2 position and steer like you would in a car (a bit like Mario Kart Wii, without the wheel!). You won't need to worry about accelerating as this is automatic, but you can boost by simply thrusting your hands forward and to send your car shooting into the screen.

  Drifting is also in Joyride, and just like steering it's easy. Just lean into the turn with your body whilst steering with your hands and your car will start to slide around the corner. There are also jumps to hit and whilst in the air by you'll be able to pull of some pretty awesome tricks with simple hand gestures.

  Next up was Kinect Adventures, which boasts several minigames that let youyou're your body to control the on-screen action.

  First up was the river rapids game, which saw me and my colleague, Chris, stood side-by-side as we navigated a perilous rapid river in a little rubber dingy. It's crucial to point out at this point that if you are playing cooperatively on Kinect Adventures, communication is key.

  To begin with we stepped independently and jumped at different times, which got us around some of the obstacles in our way but by the smallest of margins. It wasn't until we started yelling "LEFT" "RIGHT" and "JUMP" that we started to make good progress in missing obstacles and gaining greater height by jumping at the same time.

  We then tried a game in Kinect Adventures where we needed to duck, jump and sidestep obstacles whilst riding on a cart on tracks, which was pretty fun. Next we tried a game where we hit red balls at blocks, which broke revealing targets beneath them.

   

  Chris

  My time with Kinect proved to me that it's much better than I thought it would be.

  Kinect Joyride and the Bowling game in Kinect Sports were fun and the responsiveness was impressive. Navigating the menus by swishing your arms around is awesome as well, straight out of a sci-fi spaceship!

  My only concern is that the games I tried weren't quite enough to carry the device by themselves - but I'm sure more titles will arrive once developers get to grips with this incredibly clever piece of kit.

  All in all, I'm pleasantly surprised!

   

  Glenn

  There's no doubting Kinect is cool. I loved being able to move my hands and navigate a menu, or runnin and jumping about to watch my little avatar do the same!(that's right your Xbox avatar is you in the game, so seeing my little gear of war running around would be wicked!)

  Having one of your friends jump into the game just in time to push your raft round that rock in the rapids is a really nice feature, too; anyone who walks within the scope of the Kinect camera can jump in to the game and help you out!

  Kinect is a serious bit of kit, and I truly believe that in a couple of years when developers have had some time, to go all out, we will see some incredible titles and have some awesome fun!

   

   

  Mark

  The 2009 Xbox E3 conference had me whooping and hollering at my PC monitor, with Microsoft's sci-fi Kinect video and demonstrations hinting at an entirely new way to play games. As you can imagine, I was more than excited to finally get a go with what's being touted as the future of Xbox gaming!

  I started with the bowling game in Kinect Sports, which was even easier to play than the famous Wii Sports interation of Fred Flintstone's favourite pastime. With the camera swooped in behind my on-screen Avatar, I reached down to my right to make him pick up a ball, then held it in front of my head to aim, and, to my delight, got a strike on my first throw, with the Kinect camera managing to pick up the spin I naturally impart on a bowling ball in real life, and translate it to the screen in much the same way.

  Next up was a swift go on the athletics mode of Kinect Sports, which had my same Avatar running a hurdles race. For me, that meant running on the spot - the faster I did so, the faster my Avatar sprinted - and hopping up in the air when the upcoming on-screen hurdle turned green as I closed in on it. Luckily no actual hurdling skills were required!

  Obviously there's a big question mark about how Kinect will handle titles for 'core gamers', and the selection of games on show when Microsoft headed to GAME HQ was never going to answer that. What it did show us though was how responsive Kinect is to movement, which can only be a good thing; the crowds of people cheering and laughing as people jumped, bounced and yelped as Tom and Chris played on Kinect Adventures (and as I crashed through my fourth hurdle in a row... *sadface*) would attest to that.

  Put that together with some of the videos Microsoft have already shown and you start to build up a picture of the kind of experiences Kinect will offer. Can you imagine playing a first-person adventure game where you can walk in the spot to move, grab in-game items with your arms to solve puzzles, thrust your arms to slice a sword, and talk to characters using your actual voice?

  The possibilities are practically limitless.I am excited!

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

• GAME Midnight launch for Kinect

  Kinect for Xbox launched in the UK on 10th November, 2010.

  
  

  Microsoft invited us to experience the countdown to the launch of Kinect at the celebrity party on the evening of the 9th. Billed as 'the most anticipated and exciting launch in entertainment history' and hosted at London's Natural History Museum, the party featured presenter Kate Thornton with music from The Wanted and Leona Lewis, and skating for all those who were brave enough!

  The party was followed by a midnight launch at GAME stores across the UK.

  Find out what happened here.

   

• Kinect storms past the 10 million mark

  Wow. Everybody suspected that Microsoft's Kinect add-on, a camera peripheral that allows players to interact with their Xbox 360 without a controller, was going to be big, but who knew how big? The platform holder's just announced that 10 million Kinects have been sold around the world.

  That's not bad going at all, and according to Eurogamer, it gets better, as Guinness has just awarded Microsoft the title of astest selling consumer electronics device ever

  Apparently, Kinect sold an average of 133,333 units each day for the first 60 days it was available. "The sales figures here speak for themselves," said Gaz Deaves, who is the gaming editor for Guinness World Records. "According to independent research, no other consumer electronics device sold faster within a 60-day time span, which is an incredible achievement considering the strength of the sector."

  What about the games? With Kinect Adventures as a pack-in, and the likes of Kinect Sports and Dance Central providing all your goal-scoring and dancing needs, you're pretty well catered for. Things get really exciting later this year, though, when the beautiful Kinect shooter Child of Eden arrives.

• Kinect hack helps the blind

  You're probably aware that Microsoft's Kinect motion-sensing peripheral is a record-breaking triumph - according to Guinness, it's the fastest-selling peripheral ever - but did you know it might be able to help the blind?

  That's according to a Eurogamer report that suggests smart coders have created a software mod for the camera which helps partially-sighted and blind people navigate better.

  Originally uncovered by SlashGear, the mod's called NAVI (Navigational Aids for the Visually Impaired), and it was created by two university grad students named Michael Zollner and Stephan Huber. The gadget works by connecting a Kinect to a helmet, and plugging in into a laptop. The laptop in turn is connected to a Bluetooth headset and a ibratactilebelt.

  This means that the Kinect camera will be able to offer verbal and tactile warnings when the user comes up against an obstacle. A bit more clever coding sees the unit reading signs and offering directions. Not bad.

  It's a project in a university lab at the moment, but it's still nice to know that videogame technology can be useful as well as brilliant fun. Nice job!

• Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012 out for Kinect this week

  Gamers wishing to get themselves in shape will soon be able to get their hands on Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012, a new Kinect title that allows them to do just that.

  The new exercise game from Ubisoft is being released exclusively for the hit Xbox 360 peripheral this week and features an intuitive and improved movement tracking system.

  Fitness Evolved 2012 is able to precisely follow each movement the player makes as they work through a number of fitness routines, including yoga, dance, floor exercise and cardio workouts.

  It then points out which moves the player is doing incorrectly, helping them to improve their form and burn off the calories.

  Meanwhile, a new addition in the game is the Run the World feature, which enables players to run through virtual representations of cities from around the world, including destinations such as New York and London.

  The game's predecessor Your Shape: Fitness Evolved was released this time last year as part of the original line-up of titles available for Kinect.

  Published: 11/11/2011

• Kinect for the Core

  When Kinect was launched with titles such as Kinect Adventures and Kinect Joyride, some thought Microsoft's new motion control technology had abandoned the hardcore gamer, but all along the developers were thinking about you.
  
  There are two types of Kinect games. Some can only use Kinect to work, they are controlled purely by it's motion control and voice recognition interface, and can't use a controller. There are other Xbox 360 games that can use Kinect to enhance the game-play with the additional features that Kinect offers.
  
  Below we have a selection of games that are compatible with Kinect and are excellent examples of how Kinect can improve the world for the Core gamer.

  

  Child of Eden

  
  Offering a magical experience, Child of Eden is a game for the senses . Using elegant game-play mechanics to create a hugely immersive, first-person shooter. When you shoot, the music and the world around you shifts, the whole game ripples with gameplay. More than a game ,Child of Eden is an experience and can be done justice with words, an incredible title that needs to be played to be believed.

  

  Ghost Recon Future Soldier

  
  You are a ghost. The first, first-person shooter that allows you to operate solely with Kinect. Reload, zoom and fire with simple gestures. Bring down your enemies in a hail of bullets with a flick of your hand. Navigate the menu customise your weapons with voice control and hand gestures. Is it perfect? Well, wel let you be the judge of that!

  

  Mass Effect 3

  
  No messing around here this is a definitive hardcore Game. Mass Effect 3 is great example of how Kinect can enhance the gameplay of real games in a way that other consoles can currently compete with. Taking advantage of Kinect advanced voice software you can control your squad in combat with commands, giving yourself that extra edge. When out of combat, the same software allows you to take control in conversations so you need never click for your response again. If you have to save the universe, do it in style,and do it with Kinect.

  

  Forza Motorsport 4

  
  Forza 4 has Kinect integration in almost every area of the game. If you love cars, then the auto vista is for you, exploring every feature of the car with your hands, with Jeremy Clarkson providing a detailed voiceover. When racing, Kinect tracks your movement, enabling you to check your mirrors with a gentle turn of your head. It even allows you to steer the car using Kinect, putting you more firmly in the drivers seat than ever before.

  

  Rise of Nightmares

  
  Created by the guy behind, the classic, House of the Dead, this is clearly not a title for your mum! It gritty, it bloody, it full of zombies and you will die all the time. . . Either by being ripped apart by the hordes of undead or sliced in half by deadly traps, Rise of Nightmares is not a game for the faint hearted. You are the controller, so hold onto your limbs.

  

  UFC Trainer

  UFC Trainer takes fitness games to the next level, there is nothing family friendly about this. Certified by UFC, you know the experience is going to be intense. Build a routine that is right for you, get the benefits and see the results. Using the same techniques as some of the most tough, disciplined men in the world. So if you want to build up your strength, get fit or lose weight, UFC Trainer is the hardcore game for you.

  Final Word

  
  The games on this page are a but a few of the incredible range of games that Kinect can improve. With more coming out all the time, Kinect is soon to become an essential accessory for every gamer.

  Published: 23/11/2011

• Fighting the Flab: Fitness Games for Everyone

   

  So it's somehow February already. How did that happen? Where the heck did January go? It seems like only a few days ago that we were boldly staring 2012 in the face, suffering the guilty throb of a New Year's Day hangover, vowing to get more exercise and halt that expanding waistline in its tracks.

  Didn't quite work, did it? The cold mornings put a stop to the jogging after a few half-hearted attempts, the gym membership card has already slipped to the back of your wallet and the takeaway around the corner is issuing its siren's call.

  Stop! It's not too late! And, conveniently for us, games can come to the rescue. The rise of motion gaming means that there's never been a better time to get fit in your own home, far away from the judgemental gaze of the Gym Adonis. Whatever console you have, whatever sort of workout you're after, games have the answer.

  

  For an all-round fitness regime that won't scare you off, take your pick between Your Shape - Fitness Evolved 2012. Available for Kinect, it offers a variety of workouts and can be customised to ease you in gently, like a cat into a hot bath. And since Kinect is scanning your whole body, it won't let you slack off - keep those knees up and those shoulders back, and you'll be fitting into those old jeans before you know it.

  Alternatively, you could try EA Sports Active 2, available for Wii, Kinect and PlayStation Move. Packaged with a resistance band and heart rate monitor, this is the ideal choice for those who want a structured regime with a scientific core. EA even got a university to test its effectiveness, so you know it works.

  Perhaps you prefer some fun in your fitness? If that's the case then Zumba Fitness 2 is the obvious candidate, disguising its exercise routines inside groovy dance-offs that'll make you burn calories like it's bonfire night. Zumba Fitness 2 is only available for the Wii, but the original game is also available for PlayStation Move and Kinect.

  In a similar vein, the spin-off game from TV reality-fitness sensation The Biggest Loser is worth a look on Wii and Kinect, though it's perhaps most interesting for being one of the only fitness games available for the Nintendo DS. Obviously, you need to be an honest soul when entering your weekly weigh-in and exercise success, but for the gamer on the go, it's very handy. Or you could just invest in a 3DS, the only console with a built-in pedometer that rewards long walks with coins to spend on jigsaw pieces and warrior cats.

  

  Too silly? OK, let's get serious. Like, really serious. It's UFC Personal Trainer, the fitness game for blokes and lady-blokes who want the sort of ripped abs and bulging biceps that will allow you to survive five minutes in a cage with Junior dos Santos. It's out on Wii, Kinect and PlayStation Move and puts the "grrr" in "looking great".

  But that's only scratching the surface. Former Spice Girl Mel B will help you get fit in the self-explanatory Get Fit With Mel B. The My Fitness Coach series offers several Wii-exclusive aerobic routines, with a personalised trainer. If you demand a little narrative with your exercise, workout guru Jillian Michaels will take you on a bulge-battling jungle expedition in Jillian Michaels' Fitness Adventure.

  So, come on, there's clearly no excuse. Dig the tracksuit out from the bottom of the wardrobe, fire up your console and tone that tum.

• Get off the couch - GAME looks at fitness games

  
  

  

  Asthmatic Athletics

  The popular image of video games is that of a pastime requiring no more physical effort than a sofa slouch and nimble thumbs - along with a carb-heavy diet of pizza and sugary soda. The fast-track to a slow death from obesity, in other words.

  Fitness games fly in the face of that assumption, but they're not the recent invention many think they are. Even as far back as 1982, companies like Atari were looking at ways of connecting exercise bikes to a virtual reality under the codename Project Puffer. In 1986, Bandai released a control mat for the Nintendo Entertainment System which came with Family Fun Fitness, a suite of exercise games. Nintendo was so impressed, it bought the product and repackaged it as the more exciting sounding Power Pad.

  This, of course, led to games like Konami's seminal Dance Dance Revolution, which ushered in the age of the dance-mat as a legitimate and popular game controller. 2005 brought EyeToy: Kinetic to the market - the first modern motion tracking exercise game - while 2006 saw the short-lived and rather naffly titled Gamercize system wire actual exercise equipment up to games consoles.

  

  The Rise of the Wii

  It was the Wii that really pulled all these ideas together to create the fitness game genre though. Indeed, it almost had to be Nintendo who would finally crack the nut and make gaming and exercise feel like natural bedfellows. The Wii was a friendly machine, and with titles like Wii Sports it had already made jumping around part of the gameplay experience. Here was a console where the all important mums and dads might buy into the idea of gaming to get healthy.

  With Wii Fit's balance board Nintendo finally had the peripheral to make it work, while the software cannily combined solid fitness goals with more accessible video game mechanics. Motivation is the key to any exercise regime, and video games are nothing if not efficient effort-to-reward systems. What better approach than to tap into our natural desire to beat our last score, to reach the next level, and to be congratulated for doing well?

  In the years following Wii Fit's 2007 release, the floodgates opened. Celebrity endorsed fitness packages aped Wii Fit's style, but without adding much to the genre. It was only when SONY and Microsoft got involved, with Move and Kinect, that there was enough competition to drive the development of even more advanced fitness games.

  

  Which brings us to today, and the chart-topping success of Zumba Fitness. Based on the popular fitness franchise, it ditches the squats and thrusts in favour of more fun dance-based exercise. With its Latin rhythms and have-a-go simplicity, it's no surprise that it's selling so well - this is a fitness game disguised as a dancing game, which is then dressed up as a bloody good laugh. Perfect for people who might otherwise feel intimidated by the genre.

  EA Sports Active 2 goes in the complete opposite direction, with its wireless heart-rate monitor and resistance band accessory. This is the game for serious fitness nuts who really want to push themselves further with each new workout, with loads of stats and options to tweak your experience for maximum calorie-crushing impact.

  Similar in style, but slightly less ferocious in approach, is Your Shape: Fitness Evolved. This also concentrates on scalable aerobic workouts with an emphasis on personalised training routines and lots of encouragement to keep the pace up. For players who have taken Wii Fit as far as they can, both titles represent the obvious next step.

  

  Workouts Are For Wimps

  But what if this is all still a little too much like leotards and headbands? What if you're worried that doing star jumps in front of your console won't impress your hard mates? Well, that's why there's UFC Trainer. This manly fitness game for manly men offers much the same workout results as other fitness titles - but in a style that makes you feel like you could kick a man's head through a wall. Heavy on the cardio and sparring, it offers an experience as tough as its name suggests. Unless you actually do fight in the UFC, we suggest you don't go steaming in, ready to show off with the hardest settings.

  It's doubtful that motion control is going anywhere soon, what with Wii U around the corner and the next Xbox likely to incorporate Kinect, so it seems that far from being a passing fad the fitness game is here to stay. Maybe the stereotype of the lardy wheezing gamer is finally coming to an end. Pass the leg-warmers.

  Published: 10/08/2012

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