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This year's E3 focused a lot on getting gamers up off the couch and controlling their consoles not only with their hands but also their bodies. It should come as no surprise then that with the release of Kinect and Move later this year, some companies are going to bring out games to take advantage of the new motion control systems, and the rest of the year has plenty on offer, with Just Dance 2, Dance Party, a Michael Jackson dancing game, and Zumba Fitness, all due on various platforms, each looks to tempt buyers into getting their groove on in front of the TV, or attempting to at least.
Zumba Fitness, which is being crafted and created by Majesco Entertainment, is a dance/fitness game due for the end of the year and will take advantage of the three motion controlled consoles, the 360, PS3, and Wii. Its general premise is simple, provide a fun and exciting way to keep fit using players feet to dance and move around. Gone are the Yoga moves and multitude of stretches found in other fitness games, it's all about the dance, and first time dancers need worry not about making fools of themselves since they'll now be able to practice at home in their living rooms.
During play the game displays a dancer onscreen performing numerous moves depending on the type of music, your task is to follow along in time with the beat and with the onscreen dancer, if you manage to keep up and pull off the correct moves then the onscreen dancer shines green to show you hit it, if you make a mistake then it'll become yellow, and if you're truly an abysmal dancer, which most people say they are, then it'll turn red to indicate your skill, or lack of.
There's various pieces of music in Zumba Fitness across a number of different genres to dance too along with a number of routines to perform, and if you think you're good enough to take on other players from around the globe then you'll be able to have a dance off against people over the internet, or, if you're not feeling particularly brave, then you can play against a friend on the same screen. However, Majesco Entertainment have yet to lock down the details on exactly how the multiplayer system will work since Move and Kinect both use cameras whereas the Wii's controls are based off the Wii Remote and don't require a camera.
So Zumba Fitness is bringing something fairly new to the living room of countless fitness fanatics, adding a fun element to an already established genre on the Wii and spreading to the new generation of motion controlled consoles. It's coming on PlayStation Move, Nintendo Wii, and Xbox 360's Kinect later this year. If you're a dance fanatic or simply a fitness guru then Zumba Fitness is certainly worth keeping an eye, or possibly your feet on.
As always, keep your eyes and ears on the site for more information on the game as we get it.
