XboxFitness.org

It looks like out of the newer generation of consoles, Xbox One has clearly emerged as the most likely to become the definitive console of choice for exergaming. Ironically, it’s the controversial decision of Microsoft to build the Kinect right into the console that will make this possible. Already, over the next year we’re going to see some games right away that look like they’ll take advance of the Xbox One’s Kinect improvements.

As great as certain new features in the PS4 and Wii U look, it’s clear that both Sony and Nintendo are putting motion gaming on the back burner, while Microsoft is putting a lot of eggs into the motion gaming basket.

One slightly annoying thing about the new generation of Xbox One games is that as of now, it looks like the front covers of game boxes will no longer let you identify at a glance whether a game is Kinect enabled or not. And of the games that are Kinect-enabled, it’s tough to tell which ones are going to be more likely to provide good fitness and exercise. But rest assured, just like we did with Xbox 360 games, we’ll review and rank each Xbox One game that’s going to be useful for exercise.

So far, a few games are looking like they’ll be the first generation of exercise games:

Just Dance 2014 – This will be a launch day title. While the game will also be released on every other platform in the universe, it’ll be interesting to see if the Kinect’s new improvements make the precision rise head and shoulders above the competition.

Fighter Within – Another launch day title, this is from Ubisoft, the same company that did the unfortunate Fighters Uncaged. As bad as that Kinect game was, hopefully the company took the complaints to heart and took advantage of the new features to make a new fighting game that surpasses all its predecessors.

Kinect Sports: Rivals – It was disappointing to hear that Rare and Microsoft Studios delayed this game, which was supposed to be a launch title, well into 2014. It’ll have tennis, soccer, climbing, skee-doo racing, bowling, and target practice.

Fantastic: Music Evolved – Hard to say if this will be an “exercise” game, but it’ll be a pretty cool concept. Picture Mickey Mouse in “Fantastia” controlling the elements to The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Now picture yourself doing the same thing. That’s what this game will be about.

Zumba Fitness: World Party – Hard to say how this will be different than the fifty gazillion Zumba games that have come before it or if they’ll really make use of the Xbox One’s superior tracking. But as with all that have come before, this’ll probably be a good one for Zumba fans.

Those are the only games so far I can see that may be able to provide exercise value, but of course I’ll update the blog as I find out more.