Zumba Fitness 2 features new music tracks, electrifying choreography, new venues and double the number of dance styles from the original video game, inviting players to party their way into shape with a fun and proven program. The game sees the return of presenters Beto, Tanya Beardsley and Gina Grant as they guide players through each exhilarating routine, ranging from Merengue and Hip-Hop to Bollywood and Latin Pop. And for the first time, players can customize their own class with their favorite routines and track calories burned.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgguZwzYdK8

In Zumba Fitness 2 players can experience 32 new routines and music tracks with international beats that now include hits from today’s hot artists including Pitbull, Nicole Scherzinger and Yolanda Be Cool & DCup. Dance styles range from fan favorites including Salsa and Reggaeton to all new styles like Bollywood, Ragga, Latin Pop and Pasodoble, plus players can learn 24 different dance styles from all over the world.

An exclusive Zumba Fitness belt is included inside every box so gamers can holster their Wii Remote and naturally move to the music. The music won’t stop and neither should gamers looking to get with the beat.

Zumba Fitness Official Website

The Need for Speed The Run and adidas promotion will be celebrated at three of the country’s and game’s most iconic locations: Chicago, San Francisco and New York where consumers will get exclusive access to the limited edition Need for Speed The Run shoe and video game.

“When we heard about Need for Speed The Run, we felt like it was a great fit with our brand and our core consumer, as Need for Speed shares our same vision of striving to be the leading lifestyle brand in their respective industry,” says Simon Atkins, head of Sport Style Division at adidas North America.

The Need for Speed The Run and adidas Originals promotional events kick-off on October 12 in Chicago. 50 pairs of the limited edition Need for Speed The Run Top X shoe will go on sale October 10 at the adidas Originals Chicago store. The first ten consumers to purchase a pair will get a ticket to the exclusive kick-off event at the store on October 12. Headlined by DJ Neil Armstrong and Kids These Days, guests will also be able to get an early taste of Need for Speed The Run, playing as Jack Rourke in the race to be first to New York, equipped with the classic adidas Superstars.

The next event will be in San Francisco on October 27 at the adidas San Francisco store. An additional 50 pairs of the limited edition shoe will go on sale October 22 at the store. The first 20 consumers to purchase a pair will get a ticket to the exclusive event at the store on October 27 headlined by Mick Boogie. It all culminates in New York on November 15 to celebrate the game’s launch.

While Need for Speed The Run isn’t actually a workout type of game, this type of promotion could hopefully get some gamers to think differently about being active this fall.

Electronic Arts: Need for Speed Official Website

Fitness is now heading to a new dimension as Traq3D has announced the launch of the next generation TRAZER system, which utilizes the Panasonic Electric Works’ 3D Image Sensing Camera, D-IMager, as the preferred 3D motion detection device for this new product. TRAZER is an innovative interactive exercise technology that was featured on according to the company measures the previously immeasurable fundamental components of movement. It provides the power to detect movement asymmetries and weaknesses to guide rehabilitation, performance enhancement and injury prevention programs.

While this has the appearance of the technology used in current video games, such as the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft’s Kinect for the Xbox360 or the PlayStation Move, it is really a lot more says the technology’s innovator.

“TRAZER measures the previously immeasurable fundamental components of movement. It provides the power to detect movement asymmetries and weaknesses to guide rehabilitation, performance enhancement and injury prevention programs,” says TRAZER’s inventor Barry J. French. “Conventional fitness machines, such as treadmills, bikes and ellipticals, only exercise the muscle groups that propel us forward. By contrast, TRAZER also exercises the muscle groups that propel us backward, side-to-side, up and down, and that allow us to twist and turn and stop and start. All while engaging the mind as well as the body.”

Preceding the inclusion of D-IMager, the user had to wear a sensor on their body to control the onscreen action. Panasonic’s technology eliminates the body-worn marker affording the user unrestricted movement. TRAZER captures all movements including turning, bending and twisting — and the D-IMager allows the user’s entire body to interact in the activity.

“Physical rehabilitation, sports training and fitness are ideal applications for the D-IMager,” said Tom Monczka, Product Manager for Panasonic Electric Works USA. “Accurate pixel-by-pixel image information enables full body motion tracking for precise feedback on the user’s progress. Reliability is ensured with strong ambient lighting resistance and a 10 year continuous usage life expectancy.

According to the company TRAZER has the promise to offer entertaining and effective programs for Fitness and Weight Management, Senior Health and Fall Prevention, Sports Performance Enhancement and Injury Prevention. And for the healthcare provider, TRAZER’s role will be to enhance preventative, rehabilitative and performance building programs and services that maximize each patient’s functionality and promote the well-being of every family member.

Traq 3D Fitness Official Website

The latest trend in video game fitness seems to revolve around strutting your stuff on the dance floor – or basically in front of your TV. This week sees the release of Dance! It’s Your Stage from dtp young entertainment for the Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii and PC. It’s your Stage features 20 brand new tracks, recorded exclusively for the game, each with dynamic and exciting choreography from world renowned professional dance guru ‘Detlef D! Soost’.

Everybody dance now with this game, which offers full support for the PlayStation Move, Wii Balance Board and PC via the Xbox 360 controller and dance mat. The game takes place across 8 detailed locations (all of which are expandable through unlockable content) where you can select from a choice of 6 avatars with over 300 unique styling options. With Dance! It’s Your Stage you won’t be dancing with any stars, but at least you’ll be off the couch!

Dance! It’s Your Stage Official Website

We’re also hearing that Majesco’s E3 lineup will include:

Hulk Hogan’s Main Event (Kinect for Xbox 360): It’s all about the show in the first motion-based wrestling game on Kinect for Xbox 360 that lets players train with mentor Hulk Hogan as they build their own wrestling personalities and learn the art of showmanship to win over the crowd.

Take Shape (Kinect for Xbox 360): Turn game night into a hilarious interactive party with the fast-paced Take Shape for Kinect! Twist, stretch and shrink your body into hundreds of different shapes, animals and symbols. “Shape yourself” solo to beat the fastest time or team up in multiplayer mode to unite your on-screen silhouettes in fun new ways. Fit through forms, bend into shapes and animals, match a mirrored image… even clear stacked shapes lightning fast in this fun-for-all-ages experience. Be flexible; be quick; be the life of the house party in Take Shape!

Mind ‘n Motion (Kinect for Xbox 360): Think fast and stay coordinated in Mind ‘n Motion! This fun, family-friendly experience puts your motor skills to the test with activities that keep your entire body moving as fast as your mind can trigger your next move. From juggling to dodging shapes to jumping hopscotch, Mind ‘n Motion packs in ten levels per activity and mixes it up throughout with additional gameplay elements like inverse controls, faster pace and new tricks to make you think quick on your feet!

Check back all week for the latest in active video game titles from the Electronic Entertainment Expo.

Check back all week for the latest from E3. This is one show we’d hate to miss.

E3 Official Website

The games spans a variety of categories including dance, martial arts, body conditioning and even offers quirky mini-party type games. More importantly the games types allow for options for all ages and skill level, to help get those totally out of shape to tone up while still encouraging those who are their way. ExerBeat is compatible with the Wii Balance Board and Wii MotionPlus accessories.

(Trailer after the jump)

ExerBeat is rated “E” for Everyone by the ESRB and is available now for $29.99. Time to get your heart beating with ExerBeat.

ExerBeat Official Website

The jury has been out for a while now on the exact “benefits” of video games as fitness. We agree that video games alone can’t really replace actual trips to the gym or other physical workouts, but a new study has found that the Nintendo Wii could play an important role in getting “inactive and overweight people into exercise regimes.”

This is among the findings from a new study from Queensland University of Technology (QUT), conducted by Creative Industries Research Associate Dr. Harvey May, a former personal trainer. He worked with a small group made up mostly of women, and found that they felt more motivated to exercise after a two-week fitness regime using the video game system.

In the study the participants showed significant reduction in body mass and fat deposition around the abdominal area and improved strength, balance and walking fitness. The study, which was conducted with QUT alumnus Dr. Kagawa from Kagawa Nutrition University in Japan, included one-hour sessions with the Wii that included yoga, strength exercise, aerobic activities and balance games.

There was some negative findings as well, notably that the video games could result in repetitive stress and “poor direction for some activities.” Still, anything that helps motivate people to do more is good in our book.

[Via HealthCanal.com: Game consoles can help inactive adults get fit]

A first look at the iSec from China

Strange as it may seem some video game technology is actually not available in China. This is because of a combination of technology that is banned for export to China, as well as a ban on the importation of the systems by the Chinese government. And let’s not forget that there are no doubt fears that it will result in mass pirating.

The latter is no doubt a concern, as has been seen in recent years just about any technology can be reversed in China, and we pretty much known that the Blackhawk helicopter that was destroyed in the raid to kill Osama Bin Laden will likely be studied very closely by the Chinese military. This could jump start China’s attempts to get stealth technology for rotor aircraft, and area where the country has so far lagged behind.

Another area where China is already looking to jump ahead is surprising enough in the aforementioned video game space, and now Lenovo, China’s largest PC maker, has introduced a console to rival the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Xbox 360, complete with motion control.

Originally known as the eBox, the console has reportedly been renamed the iSec, which stands for “Sports Entertainment Center.” It will include motion sensing technology that works much like that in the Microsoft Kinect, suggesting that this could be used for a range of gaming styles – allowing players to take part in Chinese style martial arts action adventures and of course fitness games.

There is some irony in all this. The Chinese government had banned the Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 as there were concerns it could harm the country’s youth – and of course there had been bans to export some hardware to China. But now the Chinese are looking to get in on the game, and the computer gaming market is on the rise Chinese seems to think if you can’t keep it out, embrace it. The final question will be whether China attempts a US invasion with the iSec.

[Via PC World: Lenovo-backed Video Game System Unveiled in China]

Nintendo’s Wii, which was released in 2007 – just days after the Sony PlayStation 3 arrived at retail – hasn’t seen the similar upgrade. While it dominated the gaming arena thanks to its innovative motion controller system, the hardware was far less cutting edge than either the Sony or Microsoft consoles. The Wii doesn’t support HD and doesn’t provide the same streaming opportunities as the PS3 or 360. Likewise, Nintendo has been hit on the handheld front too, as Apple’s iPhone and more recently the iPad have stolen some of the Nintendo GameBoy’s thunder.

While the Wii sold some 86 million units, not bad for a five year old system, the company clearly sees that it can’t get much more bang for the buck – given that Sony and Microsoft have added that innovative motion control gameplay to their systems.

So what’s Nintendo to do? While, instead of waiting for Sony and Microsoft, this time the company is going to come to market first – with a system so far just known as the Wii 2. Nintendo will make it official at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, which will be held June 7-9 in Los Angeles. We’ll be sure to report the latest from Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft.

Kinect for Xbox 360 delivers a whole new way to interface with games, as advertised. Just be sure to have a seven-year-old on hand to help mount the hardware. Shaun Conlin, editor of Evergeek.com explains.

There’s no denying that Nintendo took Microsoft by surprise when its comparatively wimpy little Wii became a runaway hit with general consumers, not just gamers. Wii’s simple and somewhat sloppy motion-sensitive controllers were key to its success.

After some presumed head scratching, Microsoft set about the none-too-small task of one-upping the competition. Taking the controller out of motion-controlled gaming altogether, the Xbox people delivered last week a true evolution of interactive entertainment, one where the player’s body waves and flails and prances about – and sometimes speaks – to invoke on-screen actions of the playable character on screen. Awesome idea there, Microsoft.

Wee problem: Kinect is sloppy – just like Wii. So while it’s still an evolution, it’s a lateral mutation rather than an advance for the species. Further to that analogy, Darwin might suggest it will only keep on living and maybe even thrive if its unique new features don’t prove a detriment in the eat or be eaten ecology of videogames.

The good news: It’ll probably thrive. Someday.

As of today, Kinect comes off as rushed.

In and of itself, Kinect is a remarkable chunk of technology, a forward-facing, articulating camera and microphone array that’s like nothing else out there. Within its elegant, foot-long sub sized housing (a slim, calorie-wise sandwich at that) resides more electronic components than a James Bond wristwatch. We’re talking two auto-focusing cameras and an infra-red projector so the thing can “see” in light spectrums beyond mere mortals, scoping out the room size and then monitoring bodies, hands, arms and legs in 3 dimensions of motion therein. Also in there are four microphones for voice recognition with noise filtering and positional awareness, plus a double stack of circuit boards apparently born of black magic and cinnamon. It sits atop a motorized stand so the thing can self-adjust its view of the world and even look around a bit.

Jacking Kinect into an Xbox 360 – game console sold separately or as a bundle – is straightforward enough with a conjoined power plug and USB cable connecting AC power with the console and the Kinect sensor in two steps.

All plugged in and fire up, Hal 9000 it is not. Bummer.

Here’s the thing: most of the Kinect marketing material out there – the TV commercials, the magazine ads, etc. – invariably show a couple or a family of four engaging with Kinect. There’s mom and dad and/or their teen and their ‘tween bopping around a spacious living room. HDTV and connected Kinect sit on a knee-high entertainment stand against the wall.

As it turns out, that’s not just a shiny-happy-people ideal, it’s a requirement.

With the understanding that Kinect offers an off-the-couch gaming experience, that you’ll need to move the coffee table out of the way is a given. However, while Kinect’s instructions indicate that the device needs to sit under or over a flat panel TV within 2 to 6 feet off the floor, our testing environment had Kinect struggling when placed at both the minimum and maximum heights suggested, above a picture- high, wall-mounted TV or below on the 2′ high cabinet.

In fairness, our seven-person testing crew range in height from 2’6″ to 5’8″, and Kinect seems unable to distinguish a toddler from dad’s right leg when forced to “see” both, and assumes someone’s having one mean conniption. This is also why a family with 5 kids ages 2 thru 12 won’t be appearing in Kinect commercials any time soon, though maybe in an advertisement in Catholic Digest (badoom-pah).

It took the 7-year-old in the crew to figure out that a stubby tower of MegaBlok’s could set the sensor at an ideal (for us) height of 42 inches – just below the wall mounted 46″ Sharp Aquos Quattron (sweeet). Other user experiences may vary. It took the 2-year-old 10 seconds to shriek with glee and topple said tower and a dad with cat-like reflexes to grab the sensor before it smashed.

Needless to say, Kinect expects you to dispose of your toddlers or have a roll of duct tape handy. Fair enough. And then there were six.

Next up, the instruction book suggests you stand 6 feet away from the sensor while a second player, if optioned, should stand 8 feet away from the sensor and arm’s length from the first player. Good call, considering the <a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux1FZpPKh20″ title=”Kinect FAIL!” target=”_blank”>YouTube-documented</a> dad-elbows-son-in-face mega hit appearing on day 1 and dozens of “Kinect Fail” videos after that.

So yeah, lots of space needed. Even more than suggested, actually, as Kinect and its instruction booklet don’t seem to be on speaking terms. The sensor instead insisted the “good” position for one player was 8 feet away, not 6, and the second player barely “good” at 10 feet away, also known as standing on the couch, where upon Kinect surmises the first player is now on his knees because the second player could not possibly be 7’9″.

Assuming the average living room is 12, maybe 14 feet deep, take away roughly 3 feet for the couch and two feet for the entertainment unit, you have 7 to 9 feet of Kinect-friendly space. As dad’s back is not what it used to be, our testing scenario left the couch in place and only one person testing at a time.

After a great deal of calibrating and re-acquainting Kinect with its environment and the bodies on hand, playing Kinect games actually turned out to be a lot of fun – with caveats.

As advertised, you use your whole body as the controller; mostly hand gestures for all the basics, plus a the gambit of running on the spot, head bobbing, arm flailing, body swaying and kicking motions in games. And yes, you’ll look ridiculous. Kinect will even snap a few photos on-the-fly and embarrass you with them later. Fine. And then there were five, said mom.

Kinect comes bundled with a mini game collection called “Kinect Adventures!” that could have done without the exclamation point. Nevertheless, Adventures does offer a solid sample of what Kinect can to your living room: make it a lively place for the family to hang out and watch at least one person, maybe two people make spastic fools of themselves and synchronize the spasms with some rather stunning high def visual up there on the TV. This includes jumping in a river raft (repeatedly), whacking at balls in a 3D breakout kind of thing, dodging obstacles while standing on a conveyor belt, and plugging aquarium leaks with your head.

Sold separately, a game called Kinectimals had the 4-year-old girl of the group absolutely gushing with joy as she interacted with a big cat cub, petting it virtually, playing fetch and spinning with it like a ballerina. It didn’t bother her that Kinect assumed she was an adult on her knees rather than a little girl standing up, but it did make for a peculiar rendition of jumping-like-a-double amputee. Mind you, this was before we taught Kinect who was who and who and how tall, a brutally cumbersome process.

Also on hand was Kinect Joy Ride, and effective little “air driver” where you make like you’re holding a steering wheel. Not precise enough for Formula One, but silly, wholesome racing fun nonetheless.

Kinect Sports, meanwhile, offered token similarity with Wii Sports, but the controller free play of it all did make for an utterly fresh experience – though still a little slipshod at times, more dumb luck than competitive. Kinect bowling, it should be noted, is an absolute standout, the best motion-activating bowling of any platfrom.

That said, fun as it is, the body-as-controller shtick is currently a sluggish affair more often than not – the same sort of laggy, hit and miss exactitude as the good ol’ Wii. Much better looking mind you, and spooky cool with the controller-free control concept. But slow to behold, no doubt about it.

In fairness, Kinect never promised a suite of neurosurgery and small appliance repair games. Not yet, anyway. Still, rushed to market, no question. Kinect needed another year of tuning, tweaking, and debugging, certainly. Of course, one could argue that there was market share in the waiting, Wii’s sales are slumping, opportunity knocks, the next new thing is needed now and Kinect is certainly “it,” get it out there. Polish it up on the fly, because everyone’s internet connected and patches and firmware updates are relatively easy. That’s the now and the future of Kinect: pretty great family fun for those with the space or the patience to set it up now, great gobs of controller-free potential to be realized in a year or two. Or so Darwin would indicate.

According to Dr. Barry A. Franklin, who was quoted by My Fox Houston, games not a substitute for actual exercise, but do encourage people to get healthier. Franklin’s view:

“The fact of the matter is that 70 percent of Americans don’t exercise. Some of the reasons they don’t exercise s that it’s not enjoyable, it’s no fun, and it’s not readily accessible.

“Often times the boxing, the golfing, and other activities have an energy expenditure that is equivalent to slow, moderate walking. That’s a lot better than sitting on the couch.”

With the recent release of the PlayStation Move this past September, as well as this week’s release of the Xbox 360 Kinect we expect a lot of gaming to occur, but at least this could be a gateway to healthier gamers.

Many of the reviews suggested it was more like Tony Hawk: Crash and Burn, as the skateboard peripheral failed to deliver. But the flaw it seems was the result of the game’s code, not the device itself says the Hawkman.

Speaking to Official Nintendo Magazine, Tony Hawk offered, “I think we packed this board with enough technology to stand the test of time. The one thing we needed to improve was the software integration and we have immensely. I think when people see the improvements they’ll be very impressed.”

Time will tell whether this one soars with the Hawks, or crashes to the ground.

[Via ONM: Tony Hawk: 'We've learned our lesson from Ride']