Ubisoft Unveils First Webcam Fitness Game For PC (video)

November 9, 2009

Ubisoft's You Shape will be available on PC too!Last Friday, we wrote about Ubisoft’s Your Shape, the first video game for the Nintendo Wii using a webcam for motion sensing. And today, the French video maker announced that it will also be shipping a PC version of Your Shape in December for $70.

“If you’re traveling and you have your laptop, you can now play the game on it… It’s a whole new experience for people who want their fitness on the go,” explains Ubisoft’s PR senior manager Chris Norris (also in the video below).

While Ubisoft’s webcam uses some proprietary technology, once connected to the PC, it can be used by any Windows software – like Skype – as a standard USB webcam with a microphone.

However, you will not be able to use the integrated webcam that comes standard with your netbook/notebook with the game.

“Our webcam has a wider field of vision. So you can actually workout on the floor, standing up, doing a good cardio workout,” adds Norris.


Ubisoft First To Launch Webcam Game For Nintendo Wii (video)

November 6, 2009

Ubisoft's Your Shape is the first Nintendo Wii game to make use of a webcamUbisoft’s Your Shape is the first game to use a camera designed specifically for Nintendo’s Wii console.

At a media briefing earlier today in San Francisco, Ubisoft’s PR senior manager Chris Norris (in the video below) went into more details about the game:

  1. Your Shape start shipping on Nov. 24 for $70 and includes the camera peripheral;
  2. The Ubisoft camera is manufactured by French-company Guillemot and is the very first one available for the Wii console. Ubisoft convinced Nintendo to open up the Wii’s USB port;
  3. Ubisoft will release more games using that  said a bit more on how the use of the camera for future game, and not just for fitness. Expect some action game too!;
  4. The underlying motion tracking technology used in the game was designed by Ubisoft’s Barcelona studio;
  5. The camera scans the player’s body and creates a 3D model of it, assesses their fitness level, suggests a personalized workout routine based on the player’s fitness level and ultimate goals, projects the player’s image onto the TV next to Jenny McCarthy’s avatar in real time during the workout, and provides guidance at the same time.

With Ubisoft’s webcam, Nintendo is finally catching up to Sony’s Playstation Eye and ahead of Microsoft’s own motion sensing technology, Project Natal, coming next year.


Nintendo DSi, Online Game Store Coming Next Week To U.S., World

March 25, 2009
dsiware-vs-package-sales

Digitally distributed DSi games sell better and longer than packaged games

The world is about to discover the Nintendo DSi, six months after Japan!

At the Game Developer Conference today, Nintendo President, Satoru Iwata, confirmed the availability in the United States of the new portable video console for $175 on April 5.

The DSi added many hardware improvements over the current generation:

  1. 2 integrated cameras;
  2. an SD card slot to store data, sound, music;
  3. enhanced microphone and speakers.

Nintendo is pushing the digital distribution of video game with DSi Shop

Masato Kuwahara is a project leader for Nintendo's DSi hardware group

Masato Kuwahara is a project leader for Nintendo's DSi hardware group


DSi’s online game store But perhaps the most exciting news for game developers is the online store dubbed the “DSi Shop,” where users can download games or “DSiWare.”

A Nintendo study also shows that sales of online games in Japan are higher and last longer than packaged software.

“Sales of packaged software drop from 100% to 31% after the first week. For DSiWare games, sales are above 90%, even after the third week. So with the DSi Shop, there’s the potential to make higher sale for a longer period,” explains Nintendo DSi project leader, Masato Kuwahara.

The second-hand market is also another reason for the quick drop of packaged software.

“After the fourth week, games hit the used market, which does not happen for the digitally distributed games,” adds Kuwahara.


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