Microsoft Announcing Internet Browsing and Cross Game Fitness Tracking at E3?

Tech site The Verge seems to have a pretty strong source at Microsoft. Having recently leaked the announcement that Microsoft are selling the Xbox 360 at $99 with a mobile-like 2 year contract (Xbox Live included), they have since turned to what are potentially two big announcements at Microsoft's E3 conference next month.

First is something called Kinect Play Fit. Microsoft are allegedly working on a heart monitor, codenamed Joust, that will track your fitness not just in one game but across all Kinect experiences. Fitness and tracking information will be sent to the cloud wirelessly, with the 360 keeping track of your fitness in most Kinect games so you can accurately strive to meet your weight loss and strength goals, whether you're doing push-ups in Your Shape or bowling a ball in Kinect Sports (Hey, we all have lazy days).

Perhaps the bigger of the two leaks is the announcement that Xbox will finally being getting full internet browsing with the release of Internet Explorer for the Xbox 360. The source claims that Xbox users will be able to surf the entire web and that Kinect voice and gesture integration will be a big feature. With IE10 Metro available for Windows 8, it's likely a 360 browser would look and perform similarly, and the advantage of voice-enabled browsing is pretty clear.

It's almost certain that if these two announcements are true that they'll be unveiled early next month at E3. Analyst Michael Pachter recently stated on The Bonus Round that we shouldn't expect many game announcements at E3 from Microsoft, but to expect lots of dashboard, multimedia and service announcements. With a new console almost guaranteed from Microsoft next year, first party studios will be busy creating next generation software so it makes sense that Microsoft will be tightening their Xbox Live service, which will carry over to a new console and integrates with Windows Phone and the upcoming Windows 8 OS.

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Zumba Fitness Rush Coming Exclusively To Kinect

There's no denying the success of Zumba, so it comes as no surprise that Majesco are launching a sequel to Zumba Fitness, the best selling fitness title of the past year.

Zumba Fitness Rush aims to "combine both dance and fitness with fun, high-energy choreography, contagious music and multiplayer functionality that lets friends and family join the party," said Jesse Sutton, Chief Executive Officer, Majesco Entertainment.

"Zumba Fitness Rush is packed with features and improvements that Kinect fans have asked for-from licensed music to a calorie tracker, 40+ all new routines with more than twice the dance styles of the original, a custom playlist feature and online connectivity. This is an incredibly robust experience that fans will love."

Additional Zumba® Fitness Rush Features:

• Hot Dance Music - 42 new routines and music tracks including hits from chart-topping artists Pitbull, Nicole Scherzinger and Yolanda Be Cool & DCup.
• Superstar Instructors - Dance and interact with six of Zumba Fitness' elite instructors:  Beto Perez, Tanya Beardsley, Gina Grant, Kass Martin, Jason Thompson and Erica Pierce.
• Huge Range of Dance Flavors - Choose from 24 different dance styles, from fan favorites Salsa and Reggaeton to new styles including Bollywood, Axe, Latin Pop and Pasodoble.
• Customizable Workouts - Create a Zumba® workout that's right for you by choosing your favorite playlist and workout length. Low, Medium and High Intensity routines also cater to dancers of all skill levels.
• Exotic Party Venues - Dance it up in 10 new, dynamic environments, with 5 venues including Rio Carnival and Las Vegas that are exclusive to the Kinect game.
• Master Your Flair - Full tutorial mode offers a breakdown of the basic steps and rhythms by core styles.
• Exclusive Access - Earn achievements and unlock behind-the-scenes Zumba videos as you play, only available in Zumba® Fitness Rush for Kinect.
• Keep the Dance Party Going - New choreography and licensed music will be released post-launch via add-on content only available on the Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. Download the digital content right into your game.

Sequel to Best-Selling Fitness Video Game That Has Sold More Than 3 Million Copies Worldwide Exhilarates Your Body in an All New Controller-Free Experience  

EDISON, N.J., October 26th, 2011 - The sequel to the best-selling fitness video game of the year debuts on Kinect^TM for Xbox 360® this February in a hot new controller-free dance-fitness experience! Majesco Entertainment Company (NASDAQ: COOL), an innovative provider of video games for the mass market, along with Zumba Fitness LLC, today revealed plans to release Zumba® Fitness Rush exclusively on Kinect for Xbox 360 in February 2012.  The wildly popular original Zumba® Fitness video game has sold more than 3 million copies worldwide since its launch in November 2010.  
"Our Zumba Fitness games combine both dance and fitness with fun, high-energy choreography, contagious music and multiplayer functionality that lets friends and family join the party," said Jesse Sutton, Chief Executive Officer, Majesco Entertainment.  "Zumba Fitness Rush is packed with features and improvements that Kinect fans have asked for-from licensed music to a calorie tracker, 40+ all new routines with more than twice the dance styles of the original, a custom playlist feature and online connectivity. This is an incredibly robust experience that fans will love."
Featuring 42 hot new music tracks, sizzling choreography and a huge variety of new dance styles and arenas, Zumba® Fitness Rush invites players to dance their way into shape with a fun and proven program.   Six Zumba® instructors get you moving to the beat, including celebrity instructors Beto Perez, Tanya Beardsley and Gina Grant, plus new stars exclusive to the Kinect game: Kass Martin, Jason Thompson and Erica Pierce.  Each star instructor personally guides players through choreography that ranges in style from Merengue and Samba to Bollywood and Latin Pop.  Dance hands-free as Kinect for Xbox 360 accurately tracks your every move.  Monitor improvements with the Progress Tracker, which adds up calories burned, grades dance styles, and displays trophies, stats and overall rank. Whether playing in Single Song, Full Class or Zumba Party mode, players will have a blast with this unique dance-fitness experience that shapes, tones and transforms their bodies as they party themselves into shape.
Additional Zumba® Fitness Rush Features:

• Hot Dance Music - 42 new routines and music tracks including hits from chart-topping artists Pitbull, Nicole Scherzinger and Yolanda Be Cool & DCup.
• Superstar Instructors - Dance and interact with six of Zumba Fitness' elite instructors:  Beto Perez, Tanya Beardsley, Gina Grant, Kass Martin, Jason Thompson and Erica Pierce.
• Huge Range of Dance Flavors - Choose from 24 different dance styles, from fan favorites Salsa and Reggaeton to new styles including Bollywood, Axe, Latin Pop and Pasodoble.
• Customizable Workouts - Create a Zumba® workout that's right for you by choosing your favorite playlist and workout length. Low, Medium and High Intensity routines also cater to dancers of all skill levels.
• Exotic Party Venues - Dance it up in 10 new, dynamic environments, with 5 venues including Rio Carnival and Las Vegas that are exclusive to the Kinect game.
• Master Your Flair - Full tutorial mode offers a breakdown of the basic steps and rhythms by core styles.
• Exclusive Access - Earn achievements and unlock behind-the-scenes Zumba videos as you play, only available in Zumba® Fitness Rush for Kinect.
• Keep the Dance Party Going - New choreography and licensed music will be released post-launch via add-on content only available on the Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. Download the digital content right into your game!

Developed by Zoe Mode, Zumba® Fitness Rush on Kinect for Xbox 360 is expected to release in February 2012 and is available for pre-order now. 
For additional information about the Zumba® Fitness franchise of video games, please visit http://www.zumbafitnessgame.com/.

About The Zumba Program®

Zumba Fitness is the largest dance-fitness company in the world known for the Zumba® program, a blend of contagious and easy-to-follow choreographies set to upbeat international rhythms. Coined the "Fitness-Party^TM," Zumba® classes provide an effective total-body workout, which tones and sculpts while burning fat. In 2011, Zumba Fitness celebrates 10 years of changing lives as more than 12 million devotees attend weekly Zumba classes across 125 countries in 110,000 locations. In addition to the original Zumba program, there are now four specialty programs: the Zumba Gold® program, a modified version for active older adults; the Zumba® Toning program featuring lightweight, maraca-like Zumba® Toning Sticks; the Aqua Zumba® program, the ultimate "pool party" workout; and the Zumbatomic® program, kid-friendly Zumba routines. For at-home fitness, the brand offers the Zumba® Fitness Total Body Transformation DVD Set and the cutting-edge Zumba® Fitness Exhilarate^TM DVD collection; both feature original Zumba® fitness music created by award-winning producers. In 2010, the Zumba® Fitness Video Game was released on multiple platforms. The brand also offers its colorful and expressive multiseasonal Zumba® apparel and footwear collection. With every new project Zumba Fitness undertakes, the mission remains the same - to make instructors successful. For more information or to find a live class, visit zumba.com, and find us on Facebook and Twitter. For approved photography, email pr@zumba.com.

About Majesco Entertainment 

Majesco Entertainment Company is a provider of video games for the mass market.  Building on more than 20 years of operating history, the company is focused on developing and publishing a wide range of casual and family oriented video games on all leading console and handheld platforms as well as online, social networks and mobile devices.  Product highlights include Zumba® Fitness, Cooking Mama, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and Hulk Hogan's Main Event.  The company's shares are traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol: COOL.   Majesco is headquartered in Edison, NJ with offices in San Francisco, CA, Bristol, UK, and a social games development studio in Foxboro, MA.  More info can be found online at http://www.majescoentertainment.com/ or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/majesco.

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Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012 Gameplay Details and Trailer

Your Shape: Fitness Evolved is Kinect's best selling fitness game, so it comes as not surprise that Ubisoft are working on a sequel. Your Shape 2012 will feature a revamped game structure, making the game more accessible and user-friendly.

Featuring over 90 hours of activities from targeted workouts to dance classes, zen sessions, boot camp, martial arts, warm up, cool downs, jump rope, running or games, Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012 provides users with a very broad variety of workout opportunities.Tracking has been also improved to include floor excercises such as sit-ups, and a feedback system that allows your coach to not only tell you what you're doing wrong, but how to do it right.

One of the more interesting new activities is Run The World, which will give players the chance to do interval running in a 3D rendition of New York, Paris or London. Players will be able to see the progression of their friends and use that as motivation to run just that bit further, as well as excite players with a constantly changing and evolving environment.

Check out the first trailer below!

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Ubisoft E3 Line-up Revealed -- New Your Shape, MotionSports, Raving Rabbids & Just Dance

Ubisoft have announced their E3 line-up today via press release. There looks to be strong Kinect support given that Ubisoft "rules the casual market", if they do say so themselves, "holding the number one third-party position on Kinect, 3DS and Wii".

The line-up features a sequel to Kinect launch title MotionSports, MotionSports: Adrenaline, as well as a new title in the Your Shape series. Your Shape: Fitness Evolved is Kinect's most popular fitness title with both critics and the public, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that it is getting a sequel.

Ubisoft are also going to be showing new entries into the Just Dance and Raving Rabbids series. Just Dance, as we previously reported, is Ubisoft's biggest dancing franchise having sold over 14 million units, and the next iteration will almost certainly be expanding to Kinect as well as Nintendo's Wii. Similarly, the next Raving Rabbids is expected to be hitting Kinect.

Finally, we unveiled earlier today that Ghost Recon: Future Soldier will have Kinect support. Though there is no mention in the press release, it is likely that it will be fully revealed at their E3 press conference.

"Ubisoft has been delivering top-notch entertainment for 25 years, and we're incredibly grateful for all of our fans," said Ubisoft CEO, Yves Guillemot.

"We plan for the upcoming years to be just as exciting and full of innovation, and the wide range of creative, fun and unique titles we're demonstrating at E3 illustrate the stellar talent of our development teams and Ubisoft's ongoing investment in delivering entertaining and innovative products to consumers." 

Keep checking Inside Kinect and we'll keep you up to date with the latest news as it happens.

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A look at Rare's cancelled fitness game, Kinect Trainer

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Thanks to Unseen64, here's a glimpse at a fitness game Rare were working on prior to Kinect's release.

Although little is revealed about the game, screenshots show both realistic and Avataresque characters, highlighting the different design directions the game took throughout its development.

The title was cancelled mid-2010, allegedly due to the high number of fitness games in production from third parties (likely referring to Ubisoft's Your Shape: Fitness Evolved,  EA Sports Active 2 and THQ's The Biggest Loser).

What would you like to see from Rare next? Kinect Sports 2? An old franchise reimagined, or something new entirely? Let us know in the comments!

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