5 ways Kinect can improve exercise games

For those of you who don’t necessarily follow console gaming trends, but are always looking for new ways to work out, then this may be welcome news to you. Last week, Microsoft unveiled their new peripheral for the Xbox 360, Kinect. Originally codenamed “Natal”, Kinect will enable people to play video games purely by using their own body as the controller. Obviously, when it comes to fitness games, this is a pretty large breakthrough in terms of technology.

We’re pretty excited about this here at ShrinkGeek Orbital HQ. Why? Well, join us behind the break as we run down the reasons why we think Kinect may well be the answer to some of our exercise gaming prayers.

No controllers

The first one here is really the big one for us. Anyone who has ever used the Wii for exercise knows that you have to spend precious time between workout steps swapping the controller around: different hand, put it in the leg-strap, press the “on” button for the Wii step. In the meantime, your heart is leaving that target zone you’ve worked it into.

There’s also the question of sweaty hands and controllers. If you don’t use the rubber covers for your Wiimotes, and you don’t have the lanyard on tightly (which becomes its own worst enemy when you have to stop and swap everything around) then your controller may fly out of your sweaty mitt and straight at your television.

Of course, those rubber controller covers for the Wii get really gross if you don’t scrub them periodically, becoming a petri dish of unhealthiness in their own right. Ew.

Posture and pose

One of the problems with the Wii is that the remotes and the step can only give the console so much data in terms of where you are, and what movements you’re making. With the previews we’ve seen for Kinect, the camera can track your entire body in real-time, rendering a 3-D image of you into the game so you can see what you look like compared to the instructor’s avatar. In this way, you will be able to tell if your workout posture isn’t quite where it needs to be, and correct it much more easily than you can by eyeballing your squat Wii avatar.

Sure, video games aren’t going to replace the watchful eye of a real instructor for corrections in pose and format for at least the next little while. Nonetheless, it’s still a welcome improvement in our eyes. Better posture means less chance for injury, which keeps you in the game longer. It’s a win/win.

Better Graphics

Let’s face it, we’re geeks – and geeks like shiny tech. Sure, those Wii graphics are adorable for the first while. We’ll even admit that EA Sports Active and the sequel EA Sports Active: More Workouts are definitely a welcome jump in terms of graphical eye-candy for the Wii in terms of exercise games. However, the total lack of HD support on the Wii is hurting it when compared to similar titles in the same market. When played on an HDTV, the Wii’s graphics just can’t hold a candle – regardless of basic differences already present in terms of basic things like console avatars and visual appeal. Compare the graphics between Wii and Kinect for yourself:

Nintendo Wii Sports Resort (2009):

Microsoft Kinect Sports (2010):

Considering those are both featuring the system avatars that go with a user’s profile, we’d say that’s a fairly even comparison between two similar titles.  We certainly know which one is more eye-catching to us.

Downloadable Content (DLC)

One of the things we’ve been surprised about with these types of games thus far is a lack of DLC. It’s a largely untapped market for exercise games – and one we think is pretty obvious, when you think about it. Bored with your current aerobic workout? Perhaps you’d like some different music or a different locale to work out in? Bundle it up as DLC and keep people in your games.

That said, when we saw Dance Central at Microsoft’s E3 presentation, we thought – “aha, it may finally be time for a company to take advantage of DLC in an exercise-type game.” Why? Because if there’s any company who understands how important DLC can be for a game, it’s Harmonix/MTV. Their insanely popular Rock Band titles have made serious bank by allowing people to download new music, thereby customizing their game experience. Now, put that into a dance game, and imagine: Lady Gaga comes out with a new song, the video has a hot dance routine, and MTV is burning up the airwaves with it. Tie it in to Dance Central, make it available as DLC that you can patch in and play with friends, and voila! Epic downloads.

Mind you, they have not announced DLC – but if there’s an exercise game that ever cried out for it, any form of dancing game does. As Harmonix/MTV have been using the 360 LIVE distribution platform for a while for Rock Band, we’d postulate that they seem likely to be the first company to take that step in exergaming.

To be frank, if they don’t do it, they’re asleep at the wheel. A dancing game with easily downloadable dances and songs? We don’t see how it could fail to print money.

Exercise gaming with friends, while not in the same room

As we’ve said time and time again, working out with someone else is a hell of a lot more likely to keep you on track. Kinect Adventures!, another of the “jump around in front of your TV and get your heart-rate up” type of games will apparently be offering a mode allowing you to play with remote friends through Xbox LIVE.

Now, wait, I’m sure you’re saying – you can play with your friends on the Wii! And yes, you’re absolutely right – you can. However this is where one of the Wii “security” features is also something of its bane. Those complicated Wii friend codes, intended to keep children safer online, also make connecting with your adult friends something on the order of “massive pain in the butt.”

For example: I’ve owned a 360 and a Wii for almost the same length of time. While my Xbox LIVE friends list is a fairly bustling place with at least 5-6 friends on every time I sign on, my Wii friends list is always a desolate wasteland. Part and parcel of these devices is the idea of friends being on there to game with. LIVE is generally well-populated. I think I’ve seen someone else on with a Wii once who wasn’t in the room with me.

Part of this is what we call technological convergence — The Wii, while having a huge adoption rate in homes, simply is a gaming console, and only marginally something more since it really isn’t set up to do it. The 360 will hook to your Windows PC and play music from there, it offers Netflix in HD (again, where the Wii’s lack of HD hurts it), adds instant messaging through the addition of a keyboard peripheral for your controller, Twitter and Facebook connectivity, and the Zune marketplace. Due to the large number of Things To Do, you’re simply more likely to catch friends on and willing to play something with you.

With that said, all of the above will be affected by the adoption rate of the Kinect. That particular number is anyone’s guess at this point.

But if we had to put money on it, we’d say the Kinect is going to change how we play exercise games for the better. Check out the video below and let us know what you think.

Related posts:

1. Humana Games For Health Wants Your Exergame Ideas
2. EA SPORTS announces NFL Training Camp
3. Fitness Related Video Games Installed In Schools