EyeToy: Kinetic
The EyeToy finally graduates from gimmick to invaluable asset in the span of a single game.
Published: November 23, 2005
This might come as a shocker looking at your average hardcore, stand-in-line-for-20-hours, anime-loving video game superfreak, but it’s absolutely possible to lose weight and get in relative shape playing games. Okay, so playing one game: Dance Dance Revolution (and its analogues, one could safely assume).
Still, someone at Studio London had a little lightbulb go on when they saw many a pudgy gamer’s pit stains and rivulets of sweat running down their portly face as they played even the simple mini-games in EyeToy: Play, because just punching at stuff that isn’t there will get your heart going a bit.
But it was a kind of passive, indirect benefit to playing the collection of mini-games, with no real way to track any real progress. Kinetic adds all that, throws in warm-up and stretching segments to bookend the experience and then happily reports on the kind of progress you’ve made. It does it all to a great (albeit smallish) soundtrack and has a couple of trainers in “do it! Rarrrrrrg!” American male and encouragingly “awwwww, brilliant!” British female flavors to round things out.
Best of all, it finally transforms the EyeToy from dorky spastic party gimmick into a real tool for getting a workout – and it does it in a way that just wouldn’t be possible anywhere else. Seriously, there’s a real, beneficial use here, and I now love my EyeToy like a second child. I also love that someone involved at either Sony or Nike had the wherewithal to see a meeting of the two minds could make for a great workout.
Kinetic starts by having you create a profile, plug in all your embarrassing personal details like weight and height, and then asks some simple questions to determine your athletic ability. It then scales up or down the intensity of a handful of fun and surprisingly effective mini-games that do everything from boost cardio levels to help control breathing and concentration to improve reaction times.
These games almost always involve using your full body, so Sony included a simple lens attachment that widens the view a bit to get your full body into the picture. You’re then encouraged to duck, jump, dodge, punch, kick and generally direct your movements in a way that uses your full frame to accomplish the tasks rather than just using your arms.
Most of the exercises are more focused versions of the mini-games Studio London has already crafted, but they’re all of them a blast to play through. Should you screw up too many times, a silhouetted version of your instructor will pop on and give you a basic “nuh uh, do it like this” bit of guidance, but for the most part the tasks are easy to understand from the get go.
After a brief warm-up period that offers tinges of tai chi and the few workout segments (the game mixes them up for each of the three required workout days for your week), and then lets you choose simple meditation, tai chi, yoga and targeted exercists for upper- and lower-body or abdominal workouts. There are entirely optional, but they help extend the workout a few extra minutes and make it easier to go into the lengthy stretching/cool-down period.
The actual personalized routine can only be completed on the days specified, but if you feel like doing more, you can use the Routine Builder to craft your own workout in between the days you’re required to session. Since you’re graded on your performance during the required days, it’s actually a decent way to practice without the pressure, but it’s also a nice way to keep you into the game when you don’t necessarily have to.
Still, someone at Studio London had a little lightbulb go on when they saw many a pudgy gamer’s pit stains and rivulets of sweat running down their portly face as they played even the simple mini-games in EyeToy: Play, because just punching at stuff that isn’t there will get your heart going a bit.
But it was a kind of passive, indirect benefit to playing the collection of mini-games, with no real way to track any real progress. Kinetic adds all that, throws in warm-up and stretching segments to bookend the experience and then happily reports on the kind of progress you’ve made. It does it all to a great (albeit smallish) soundtrack and has a couple of trainers in “do it! Rarrrrrrg!” American male and encouragingly “awwwww, brilliant!” British female flavors to round things out.
Best of all, it finally transforms the EyeToy from dorky spastic party gimmick into a real tool for getting a workout – and it does it in a way that just wouldn’t be possible anywhere else. Seriously, there’s a real, beneficial use here, and I now love my EyeToy like a second child. I also love that someone involved at either Sony or Nike had the wherewithal to see a meeting of the two minds could make for a great workout.
Kinetic starts by having you create a profile, plug in all your embarrassing personal details like weight and height, and then asks some simple questions to determine your athletic ability. It then scales up or down the intensity of a handful of fun and surprisingly effective mini-games that do everything from boost cardio levels to help control breathing and concentration to improve reaction times.
These games almost always involve using your full body, so Sony included a simple lens attachment that widens the view a bit to get your full body into the picture. You’re then encouraged to duck, jump, dodge, punch, kick and generally direct your movements in a way that uses your full frame to accomplish the tasks rather than just using your arms.
Most of the exercises are more focused versions of the mini-games Studio London has already crafted, but they’re all of them a blast to play through. Should you screw up too many times, a silhouetted version of your instructor will pop on and give you a basic “nuh uh, do it like this” bit of guidance, but for the most part the tasks are easy to understand from the get go.
After a brief warm-up period that offers tinges of tai chi and the few workout segments (the game mixes them up for each of the three required workout days for your week), and then lets you choose simple meditation, tai chi, yoga and targeted exercists for upper- and lower-body or abdominal workouts. There are entirely optional, but they help extend the workout a few extra minutes and make it easier to go into the lengthy stretching/cool-down period.
The actual personalized routine can only be completed on the days specified, but if you feel like doing more, you can use the Routine Builder to craft your own workout in between the days you’re required to session. Since you’re graded on your performance during the required days, it’s actually a decent way to practice without the pressure, but it’s also a nice way to keep you into the game when you don’t necessarily have to.
