E3: Your Shape camera counts calories, sees you faking those pushups

yourshape

Looking for the new trend in video game technology? Look at cameras.  Nintendo’s latest hand held revision, the DSi, has a camera.  Microsoft hopes to change the industry with it’s 3D motion tracking “Natal” camera for the Xbox 360 – and fitness games? You guessed it: Camera.

According to Ubisoft, the fitness game market has seen more growth in the past year than any other genre of video games – and there is room for more.  After dismissing the balance board as unnecessary in their E3 press conference, Ubisoft staff introduced Your Shape as the next big innovation in fitness video games – and they might be on to something.

Like Ubisoft’s last major fitness title, My Fitness Coach, Your Shape focuses on exercise routines that rely on your own motivation to get up and move rather than controller driven gameplay, creating a experience similar to an interactive exercise video than a video game.  The gimmick however, is that Your Shape comes with a USB camera device.

The camera evaluates your body during your fitness test, and helps you maintain proper form during your exercise routine.  Ubisoft’s Felicia Williams explained that having the Your Shape camera was like having a coach in your own home – it can correct a player when they have bad form, ensuring they get the most out of their exercise routine.

Your Shape will allow users to target specific areas of their body for muscle building, leaning, or fat loss – and tells the player how many calories they burned after finishing an exercise routine.

Is this a Wii-fit killer? Probably not – although Wii Fit is designed with exercise in mind, it’s defiantly a game, designed for entertainment.  Ubisoft’s offerings tend to be designed with the more serious weight-watcher in mind, and this little innovation has potential.

Your Shape is slated for release this holiday season, stick with us and we’ll let you know how it performs after giving it a test run later this week on the E3 show floor.