Interviews
E3 2005: EyeToy Kinetic Interview with Associate Producer Tom Holmes
“The idea is that as you take your body to each of these zones, you’ll get a total workout program.”
Is it possible to lose weight by playing a video game?
It worked for Dance Dance Revolution enthusiasts. These guys would play DDR for three and four hours straight, every single day! That’s extremely hardcore.
Sony hopes to have a better way to get in shape, tone muscles and burn fat with EyeToy Kinetic. It uses the EyeToy camera to give the player something to swat. Punch it, kick it – just kill every ball that you see on the screen.
Effective workout or merely a sweat-inducer? Associate Producer Tom Holmes speaks.
These guys [I point to the athletes Sony has demonstrating the game] are very athletic. How is the average Joe going to be able to pick this game up and get something out of it?
Tom Holmes: The game is being developed in association with Nike. They worked with us on all the movements. What we tried to do was [create] a wide range of movements that anyone can do. You’re quite free with how you play, so the average Joe can [get in shape] and [move at his own pace]. It’s possible to do all the advanced moves that these guys are doing today. Even if you’re not capable of doing the high kicks you can still play all the games.
What we tried to do is create moves that are fun and moves that you’re familiar with: aerobics style, kickboxing, dance, karate, traditional boxing, tai-chi, yoga. So our games are roughly based on those kinds of things where hopefully people who already know those things will play it.
The game also features two personal trainers who introduce the game. They’ll give you a few pointers on how to play (how to kick, punch and bend your knees). Also, if you don’t get a particularly good score, they’ll tell you to do kicks more, move your feet faster. So what we tried to do was create a totally immersive, interactive fitness experience.
What if I don’t want to have to kick really high and do all those crazy jumps?
TH: You don’t have to. You can just punch if you like. The game doesn’t judge you on which part of your body that you’re using. It just judges you on how much you’re moving around and how you’re scoring. You can use your hands, the back of your head, any part of your body. You can slap, you don’t even have to use punches. The whole idea is to keep people moving around their living room.
What if I was a little heavy-set? What would I have to do to truly benefit from the experience?
TH: The game features three difficulty levels. There are 16 interactive games, and there are also like 4 1/2 of additional fitness: stretches, warm-up, tai-chi, which is going to get people moving around and getting a little more active.
When you actually start playing the game there are two different game modes. There’s routine builder mode where you actually build your own routine. There’s what’s called personal trainer mode, which uses the internal clock in the PS2. Based on your fitness level, it’ll give you a 12-week routine designed by Nike fitness experts. Those guys came up with a 12-week program designed to cater to all fitness levels: from a professional athlete right down to someone who doesn’t work out at all. You answer a quick questionnaire, tell them how old you are and how much you weigh, and it calculates it [the workout] based on that.
As you get better your personal trainer will put you on different training programs. You might start out with two or three workouts a week. It kind of builds up from there. If you’re struggling with it, the difficulty level will go down.
So the game is basically telling you that you can only play it at certain times? What if I want to go further? What if I’m feeling particularly energetic one day and I want to play more?
TH: You can go back into it. The personal trainer just discourages you. But you can play the game any time you want. When you do your workout for the week, that’s what you’re judged on, so you’ve gotta make sure you can play on that day. You can play as much as you like, but if you are taking on the 12-week training program, and you try to workout on a rest day, the trainers will say no, take a break. But if you really want to train you can go and make your own routine in routine builder mode.
You can play with your friends too. So if you want to come over to my house we can have a little one-on-one battle.
What we’ve found is that people start out in personal trainer mode, they get a little stronger, they look better and feel better about themselves. They become more active.
How far do the professional athletes go?
TH: They just played it for the first time yesterday. They’re improvising, and already you see an improvement from yesterday. They’re kicking better, moving better, they’re a little more active than before. It’s a whole new experience for these guys. That’s what you see with everybody who plays it. At first they’re a little bit hesitant. Then they gain a little confidence, they learn some techniques, then the sky’s the limit.
How far can you go? If you do really, really well, how far will this game take you? Or rather, how far can the player take the game?
TH: Well, if you start on the bottom level and do really well, you’ll get a 12-week program. Then they’ll move you up. Effectively it’s infinite. It just keeps offering you a program that meets your level of fitness. Trust me, the hardest level is really hard. These guys (the athletes) are playing on the beginning to intermediate level. They haven’t even touched the bonus level and they swear they’re finding it hard. They’re really enjoying it as well. It gives ‘em a full body workout and they feel exhausted at the end of the day and it’s really good to see.
EyeToy Kinetic has a lot going on: do you classify this as a game?
TH: We like to think of it as workouts. The game has 16 workouts. They’re split into four different zones that target four specific types of exercise. We’ve got cardio which are like aerobic-type games, designed to keep you burning fat. We’ve got combat games with are short, adrenaline-pumped, very high-speed. We’ve got toning zone which is designed to target specific parts of the body. It works your arms, legs, bum, thighs. Then we’ve got the mind and body zone where things like that are tai-chi, yoga-based exercises. Exercises that evolve your mind as well as your body.
The idea is that as you take your body to each of these zones, you’ll get a total workout program. You’re burning fat, you’re having adrenaline, heart-pumping short exercises, you’re working muscle definition, and then you’re relaxing, stretching and working on balance and posture and breathing. So it’s a totally rounded exercise program.
About the trainers…
These guys got slightly different approaches to how they deal with you. Anna is a little bit more nurturing. She’s targeting people who are maybe feeling uncomfortable with it being their first time. Matt kind of pushes you a little bit harder, he’s a bit harder to please as well. You choose who you want to work with.
When’s it coming out?
TH: In the U.S. I believe it’s late summer/early fall.
Do you have any idea what it’s going to retail for? Will they sell it with the EyeToy?
TH: I’m not sure about retail, but it’s likely to be bundled with the camera.
Something else you might be interested in: the camera itself, it has a lens attachment. Your traditional EyeToy game can only see from the torso up. With this new lens on the camera you can now see your feet. You stand at the same distance as other EyeToy games, but now you can see your full body. Other games will utilize that as well.
Great idea Tom. Thank you for your time.
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