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Senior Member
Hello Your Shape fans! See below for some general questions and answers regarding Your Shape Fitness Evolved. 
GENERAL QUESTIONS
On which platforms will Your Shape™: Fitness Evolved be available?
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved will be available exclusively on Kinect for Xbox 360®.
Who is developing the game?
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved is being developed in the Montreal studio.
What can we expect from Your Shape: Fitness Evolved?
The standout feature of Your Shape: Fitness Evolved is that the player becomes part of the game. Thanks to Ubisoft’s proprietary Player Projection technology that puts you in the game, you will be able to physically interact with your virtual surroundings in ways you’ve never imagined possible. The game is hands-free, no controllers are required. Your performance will unlock unique and exciting visuals as rewards. And thanks to precise real-time tracking, you will receive specific feedback on your every move as you exercise. Your Shape: Fitness Evolved is a new way to see fitness. It is a virtual experience that gives you tangible results.
What is Kinect? How is the technology used in the game?
Kinect allows the game to take tracking to a whole new level. Ubisoft took a body-centric approach to develop the game: everything you do in front of the camera is taken into account and the system knows exactly where you are in the playable area. Your Shape: Fitness Evolved is based on this new tracking system. However, Ubisoft took this technology further by developing the Player Projection technology. The Player Projection puts the player right in the game and allows him to fully benefit from this tracking. The game will measure all your body parts and then calibrate the menus to your body so you’ll never have to over- reach to trigger a menu.
How can it be 3D? Do I have to wear glasses?
No glasses are needed. It is the camera that detects the depth of its subject. The system can then position the player in a 3D environment.
What kind of activities will I be able to do in this game?
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved is about allowing the player to achieve real results by providing a unique virtual fitness experience. All the activities will be accessible right from the start. The goal is not to unlock new levels, but to get fit. Players can play Gym activities, combine real fitness moves with fun and competitive mini-games, choose a personal trainer for a workout tailored to specific fitness goals, or take a class.The cutting-edge workouts have been carefully designed by a diverse selection of fitness experts.
You mentioned industry experts. Who did you work with to develop this game?
All the workouts have been developed with experts in their own field. Michael George, fitness expert and trainer to the stars, worked with the team to design the cardio kickboxing class. Michelle Bridges, trainer in the television series The Biggest Loser Australia, helped develop a weight-loss program based on the latest training techniques. All of these contributions were aimed toward one goal: achieving tangible results in your virtual fitness program.
What is the concept behind the classes?
Like in any gym, members can attend fitness classes. The classes are basically themed training sessions. In Your Shape: Fitness Evolved, all the classes have been designed by experts in their own fields to deliver the most genuine and real experience possible. For example, Michael George, a martial arts expert, helped us develop the cardio kickboxing class. Instead of training in a traditional gym, players will be taken into an environment that will reflect the mood of the workouts. The Zen class is a mix of yoga and tai chi and the environment was inspired by a Japanese Zen setting.
How will the multiplayer mode work?
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved will feature an offline multiplayer mode. The Gym Games section will handle the multiplayer aspect of the turn-based gameplay. The game will recognize up to four players and track their score. They can choose to create their own Xbox 360 profile if they want to, but the game can handle four players from the same profile.
There have been quite a few fitness games on the market in the last couple of years. What is so special about this one?
We’re bringing a new generation of fitness gaming. There are no controllers to hold, no other device needed to play, like a heart sensor or leg band, and there are no more avatars to control. This is about as free as your body can be while gaming: jump in and Your Shape: Fitness Evolved puts you right in the center of a body-centric, personalized and magic experience and jump out whenever you’re done and go back to your daily life.
Who was the game developed for?
The game was developed to fit people who want to work out and consider fitness as an important part of their daily life. These people are men and women who want to exercise, but between family and job, might not have a lot of time. They like the idea of working out at home, but no solutions have really satisfied their need. Workout DVDs, with their lack of feedback, get boring really fast. The gym might be too far, too time-consuming or expensive. The available games lack compelling activities or are not efficient enough.
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved is filling that gap. We’re bringing the fun of the mini-games combined with the effectiveness of real personalized training that provides real-time feedback. Players will not be left alone wondering if they are doing the correct moves. By putting players in the game with the Player Projection technology, controller-free, and providing them with an incredible tracking system that allows visual rewards, Your Shape: Fitness Evolved will keep them motivated and wanting more.
Can you choose your own music?
Since the difficulties of the workouts are based on rhythm, it would be counterproductive to allow players to plug in their own music.
Update 12/09/10
What does Your Shape: Fitness Evolved for Kinect offer over other fitness games?
The standout feature of Your Shape: Fitness Evolved is that the player becomes part of the game. Thanks to Ubisoft’s proprietary Player Projection technology that puts you in the game, you will be able to physically interact with your virtual surroundings handsfree, without any controllers are required. Your performance will unlock unique and exciting visuals as rewards. Kinect also enables the ability to track with a level of precision that no other console can achieve. We can measure lengths and angles on your body, allowing us to you provide specific feedback for every exercise you’re doing.
What is the amount of time of each workout?
Workout can last from 5 to 15 minutes. The difficulty is not having longer workout, but to go through the workout with a higher intensity.
Is there a way to do longer workout without interruption?
Our programs are based on intervals training so small interruptions are part of the training. Those interruptions are what make Interval training efficient. Our typical sessions are composed of different intervals and can last up to half an hour. Obviously, the players have the option to stop before if they feel tired. However, if players, after going through one entire workout, still feel the need to continue, they will have the choice to jump right into the next workout with a higher difficulty.
Will we be able to use weights?
Yes, we’ve worked closely with Men’s Health and Women’s Health Magazine to come up with Special Programs that target specific regions of the body and that are compatible with dumbbells. Player will be able to add additional challenges by using free weights they have at home.
What do you mean by personalized training?
We have built a questionnaire with questions about your gender, weight, age, activity level, objectives and goals that will help the game figure out which workout is best suited to your needs. The game will know what the player is after and will be able to make workout suggestion accordingly. After answering this short questionnaire, we’ll actually put you to the test to gage the intensity level the game should put you in.
As a man, I feel that the Zen Energy class is too feminine. Are there any exercises that are less feminine?
In addition to that screening process, the development team has designed workout that are more adapted to the taste of either male or female audience. Creating a personalized workout was one of the main goal, but most of all they wanted to create workouts that could be as much gender specific as possible, yet not exclusive. Men and women have obviously different objectives and a generic workout is not appealing as one that is specifically designed for men or women. An example of a more men oriented workout would be the Michael George class. Michael George, which you might remember from E3, has come to our studio and helped us develop his own class, which is a mix of boxing and kickboxing. On the other side, Michelle Bridges, trainer from The Biggest Loser Australia traveled all the way to our studio to help us design a unique special program focused on cardio, toning and weight loss. Her workout is based on a circuit principle, which is basically a succession of exercises with small pauses. We have many more Special Programs of different intensity that will be suggested to the player depending on their gender that will suit their interests.
Check back for more updates to the Q&A!
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Senior Member
Hello Your Shape fans! See below for some general questions and answers regarding Your Shape Fitness Evolved.
GENERAL QUESTIONS
On which platforms will Your Shape™: Fitness Evolved be available?
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved will be available exclusively on Kinect for Xbox 360®.
Who is developing the game?
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved is being developed in the Montreal studio.
What can we expect from Your Shape: Fitness Evolved?
The standout feature of Your Shape: Fitness Evolved is that the player becomes part of the game. Thanks to Ubisoft’s proprietary Player Projection technology that puts you in the game, you will be able to physically interact with your virtual surroundings in ways you’ve never imagined possible. The game is hands-free, no controllers are required. Your performance will unlock unique and exciting visuals as rewards. And thanks to precise real-time tracking, you will receive specific feedback on your every move as you exercise. Your Shape: Fitness Evolved is a new way to see fitness. It is a virtual experience that gives you tangible results.
What is Kinect? How is the technology used in the game?
Kinect allows the game to take tracking to a whole new level. Ubisoft took a body-centric approach to develop the game: everything you do in front of the camera is taken into account and the system knows exactly where you are in the playable area. Your Shape: Fitness Evolved is based on this new tracking system. However, Ubisoft took this technology further by developing the Player Projection technology. The Player Projection puts the player right in the game and allows him to fully benefit from this tracking. The game will measure all your body parts and then calibrate the menus to your body so you’ll never have to over- reach to trigger a menu.
How can it be 3D? Do I have to wear glasses?
No glasses are needed. It is the camera that detects the depth of its subject. The system can then position the player in a 3D environment.
What kind of activities will I be able to do in this game?
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved is about allowing the player to achieve real results by providing a unique virtual fitness experience. All the activities will be accessible right from the start. The goal is not to unlock new levels, but to get fit. Players can play Gym activities, combine real fitness moves with fun and competitive mini-games, choose a personal trainer for a workout tailored to specific fitness goals, or take a class.The cutting-edge workouts have been carefully designed by a diverse selection of fitness experts.
You mentioned industry experts. Who did you work with to develop this game?
All the workouts have been developed with experts in their own field. Michael George, fitness expert and trainer to the stars, worked with the team to design the cardio kickboxing class. Michelle Bridges, trainer in the television series The Biggest Loser Australia, helped develop a weight-loss program based on the latest training techniques. All of these contributions were aimed toward one goal: achieving tangible results in your virtual fitness program.
What is the concept behind the classes?
Like in any gym, members can attend fitness classes. The classes are basically themed training sessions. In Your Shape: Fitness Evolved, all the classes have been designed by experts in their own fields to deliver the most genuine and real experience possible. For example, Michael George, a martial arts expert, helped us develop the cardio kickboxing class. Instead of training in a traditional gym, players will be taken into an environment that will reflect the mood of the workouts. The Zen class is a mix of yoga and tai chi and the environment was inspired by a Japanese Zen setting.
How will the multiplayer mode work?
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved will feature an offline multiplayer mode. The Gym Games section will handle the multiplayer aspect of the turn-based gameplay. The game will recognize up to four players and track their score. They can choose to create their own Xbox 360 profile if they want to, but the game can handle four players from the same profile.
There have been quite a few fitness games on the market in the last couple of years. What is so special about this one?
We’re bringing a new generation of fitness gaming. There are no controllers to hold, no other device needed to play, like a heart sensor or leg band, and there are no more avatars to control. This is about as free as your body can be while gaming: jump in and Your Shape: Fitness Evolved puts you right in the center of a body-centric, personalized and magic experience and jump out whenever you’re done and go back to your daily life.
Who was the game developed for?
The game was developed to fit people who want to work out and consider fitness as an important part of their daily life. These people are men and women who want to exercise, but between family and job, might not have a lot of time. They like the idea of working out at home, but no solutions have really satisfied their need. Workout DVDs, with their lack of feedback, get boring really fast. The gym might be too far, too time-consuming or expensive. The available games lack compelling activities or are not efficient enough.
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved is filling that gap. We’re bringing the fun of the mini-games combined with the effectiveness of real personalized training that provides real-time feedback. Players will not be left alone wondering if they are doing the correct moves. By putting players in the game with the Player Projection technology, controller-free, and providing them with an incredible tracking system that allows visual rewards, Your Shape: Fitness Evolved will keep them motivated and wanting more.
Can you choose your own music?
Since the difficulties of the workouts are based on rhythm, it would be counterproductive to allow players to plug in their own music.
Update 12/09/10
What does Your Shape: Fitness Evolved for Kinect offer over other fitness games?
The standout feature of Your Shape: Fitness Evolved is that the player becomes part of the game. Thanks to Ubisoft’s proprietary Player Projection technology that puts you in the game, you will be able to physically interact with your virtual surroundings handsfree, without any controllers are required. Your performance will unlock unique and exciting visuals as rewards. Kinect also enables the ability to track with a level of precision that no other console can achieve. We can measure lengths and angles on your body, allowing us to you provide specific feedback for every exercise you’re doing.
What is the amount of time of each workout?
Workout can last from 5 to 15 minutes. The difficulty is not having longer workout, but to go through the workout with a higher intensity.
Is there a way to do longer workout without interruption?
Our programs are based on intervals training so small interruptions are part of the training. Those interruptions are what make Interval training efficient. Our typical sessions are composed of different intervals and can last up to half an hour. Obviously, the players have the option to stop before if they feel tired. However, if players, after going through one entire workout, still feel the need to continue, they will have the choice to jump right into the next workout with a higher difficulty.
Will we be able to use weights?
Yes, we’ve worked closely with Men’s Health and Women’s Health Magazine to come up with Special Programs that target specific regions of the body and that are compatible with dumbbells. Player will be able to add additional challenges by using free weights they have at home.
What do you mean by personalized training?
We have built a questionnaire with questions about your gender, weight, age, activity level, objectives and goals that will help the game figure out which workout is best suited to your needs. The game will know what the player is after and will be able to make workout suggestion accordingly. After answering this short questionnaire, we’ll actually put you to the test to gage the intensity level the game should put you in.
As a man, I feel that the Zen Energy class is too feminine. Are there any exercises that are less feminine?
In addition to that screening process, the development team has designed workout that are more adapted to the taste of either male or female audience. Creating a personalized workout was one of the main goal, but most of all they wanted to create workouts that could be as much gender specific as possible, yet not exclusive. Men and women have obviously different objectives and a generic workout is not appealing as one that is specifically designed for men or women. An example of a more men oriented workout would be the Michael George class. Michael George, which you might remember from E3, has come to our studio and helped us develop his own class, which is a mix of boxing and kickboxing. On the other side, Michelle Bridges, trainer from The Biggest Loser Australia traveled all the way to our studio to help us design a unique special program focused on cardio, toning and weight loss. Her workout is based on a circuit principle, which is basically a succession of exercises with small pauses. We have many more Special Programs of different intensity that will be suggested to the player depending on their gender that will suit their interests.
Check back for more updates to the Q&A!
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Senior Member
Here are some General Technical Questions and Answers!
GENERAL TECH QUESTIONS
How long have you been working with the Player Projection technology? What, exactly, prompted the notion of Player Projection?
Ubisoft has been working on the 3D camera technology since July 2008. From the beginning, the team had a unique working prototype with the goal of coming up with a clean silhouette instead of using an avatar to display the player in the game. The idea was to put the player at the center of this closer-to-reality experience.
What do you mean by Player Projection? What are the benefits?
Player Projection is a breakthrough technology that has been developed internally at Ubisoft forKinect. Instead of using the tracking to embody the Xbox LIVE® Avatar in a game, the team felt that having the players in the game gave a more immersive feeling. The player is no longer controlling an avatar or embodying a character. The player will be in the game and will experience a game where his or her body becomes the main focus in order to achieve tangible goals through a virtual environment.
How do the benefits of Player Projection compare to other, competitive Kinect titles?
Most of the other competitive Kinect titles are believed to be using only the Microsoft Avatar. Player Projection is new and unique to Ubisoft. With the player’s image on-screen, the feeling of being in the game is far greater than anything he could have seen before. It is the player’s body that will be tracked by the game during the training session. Precise feedback will be directly applied to the player’s body telling him if he has reached the optimal position.
What is unique about this new technology?
With this technology, the player becomes the main focus of the game. The player no longer needs to adapt to his surroundings, the game adapts to the player. Everything is designed around the player. Menus are placed at an optimal distance from the body making the interaction seem natural. The player will not have to over-reach for a menu because the game knows exactly how long his arm is. Feedback is given through augmented reality because it is more intuitive than having a popup menu. The Player Projection creates a virtual world revolving around your body.
How precise/accurate is the Player Projection?
The Player Projection is very precise. It allows real-time feedback on the player’s position so he can make the most out of his daily training. At the beginning of each session, the game scans the player and calibrates the menu to the player’s size so everything fits around him. The player is no longer required to adapt to the game because the game fits him.
What is the difference between this Player Projection and the Your Shape™ Wii Body-Scan?
The Your Shape Wii Body-Scan uses a regular 2D camera to retrieve the image of the player, while Player Projection provides a sense of depth and more precise tracking. Basically, it can track the body and turn the surroundings into a beautiful virtual environment, something that was impossible with the regular 2D camera. With the Player Projection, the player will be evaluated on the accuracy of actual moves and not how well the player mimics the position on-screen. The secret with the 2D camera was that the player had to match ideal and predetermined moves, whereas now the player is actually tracked: the amplitude of movement, the pace and the number of repetitions can now be tracked in an extremely accurate way.
What is the difference between this Player Projection and what you can get in other fitness games using Kinect?
The player will fully experience Your Shape: Fitness Evolved because the Player Projection puts him in the game. It is the player that will be moving on-screen. There are no characters or avatars to control. The player will physically interact with the environment. Also, the effectiveness of a fitness game resides in its ability to give accurate and precise feedback. Because the Player Projection allows that precise tracking, this will create a bigger challenge for the player. The player cannot cheat the requirements because the game can evaluate if the movement has reached the optimal position depending on the player’s physiognomy. That is why Your Shape: Fitness Evolved gives a lot of importance to the rewards in the game.
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Frag Doll Emeritus
HEALTH AND FITNESS TIPS:
* Make sure to drink water regularly to stay hydrated.
* If you are very sore after training, be certain to get a good rest before starting another session.
* Make sure that your knees are always aligned with your toes to avoid injuries.
* Always keep your back straight while exercising.
* For increased intensity, use heavier weights. But not so heavy as to cause an injury.
* To relax your body and stretch your muscles, finish off your training session with a Zen class.
GAMEPLAY TIPS:
* To access options or to take a break, use the Guide Gesture at any time during the game.
* The game will pause if no one is on screen for a period of time. Resume your game by returning to the play space.
* If you are often out of sync, look closely at what the trainer is doing. Especially concerning footwork.
* Invite and challenge your friends and check your stats on Yourshapecenter.com.
* Click the floor button that says "News" to see the latest information.
* The color bar represents the total calories that you've burned since starting the game.
* Connect your Uplay account to access unique content!
* The Shop gives you access to downloadable content.
* To change how your silhouette looks, use the left floor button.
* Consider placing your sensor as close to your eye level as possible. This will provide a better view of you in your play space.
