Dialogue Tree by N'Gai Croal

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Inside Ubisoft's 'Your Shape' Fitness Game

Video game journalist Stephen Totilo has suggested that we may currently be in the self-help era of video games, with products on the market that promise to help you keep your brain young, quit smoking, and get in shape. The latter category, fitness video games, has been led by the explosive success of Nintendo's balance board-driven Wii Fit, with nearly 22 million units sold worldwide. The French video game publisher Ubisoft has already shipped its own balance board game in Gold's Gym: Cardio Workout, but the company has something more ambitious in the works for this holiday in Your Shape, which will use a small camera to detect your movements and let you know whether you're doing the included exercises correctly or not. Ubisoft creative director Felicia Williams unveiled the game at the June Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, and FastCompany.com columnist N'Gai Croal caught up with her to find out more.

How did you go from a degree in painting and digital media to working in video games?

My deep dark secret is that I'm actually quite a nerd. I had envisioned becoming a comic book artist and yeah, games had an influence on that. I had the opportunity to freelance as an artist for a very small start-up game company while I was at Cornell, and from there I just got rolled into more and more game related projects.

At E3, camera-based technology was all over the conference. I mean, you had Microsoft with Project Natal. You had Sony with its wand controller, which makes use of their PlayStation Eye camera. And then there was the game you're involved with, Ubisoft's Your Shape, which also uses cameras. Why are we in a camera moment right now?

We're just pushing to find new innovative ways for gamers to relate to the content and, no offense to the [traditional] controller but it's been around for a while. Certainly, before I came into Ubisoft, I had no idea of the magnitude of how much innovation was going to be presented at E3, so it was really great to see how all of the different companies are stepping up for the new generation of gamers.

Your Shape is bringing camera technology to the fitness game genre. Now, this isn't new. Sony did the same thing back in 2005 with EyeToy Kinetic, and while it was praised, it wasn't a hit on the order of Nintendo's balance board and Wii Fit. Have the balance board and Wii Fit created a momentum around fitness games in a way that Sony wasn't able to with Kinetic, and is that something that Your Shape can benefit from?

Camera technology has just come much further in the last couple of years and one of the big reasons is the body tracking technology that Ubisoft provides with Your Shape. Also, fitness has become very important for casual gamers. People have busy lives, and they really want to have the same results that they would get in a gym, but in the comfort of their own homes. With the body tracking technology that we provide, you get feedback about the execution of your moves in real time, which helps you understand exactly what it is that you need to fix. Then there's the customization of your program. If you have different goals from one player to another, you can customize that. If you have certain types of exercises that you prefer, you can customize that. And with the camera, the "coach" can look at you and make sure that you're doing everything correctly.

Let's back up for our readers. I understand that you're working with a studio in Spain on this game?

Yes, our Barcelona studio is developing this game.

So how do you guys work together? Have you created an encyclopedia of moves so you have an understanding of what kinds of movements the camera tracks well and what things it doesn't?

We do explore what the possibilities are with the camera. I'm not going to be able to give you the details on the actual company that I work with, but the fitness exercises in the program are specially designed by trainers. There are several hundred combinations of exercises that are provided in this game, and the game leads you through specific exercises based on your goal. So if you were interested in toning or strengthening or losing weight, it would be able to compile the exercises that best fit your goals in order to give you the best program for your needs.

Will players see a coach on screen in the finished game?

Yes, there's certainly a coach on screen.

And what led you to go in that direction?

Having a coach is one of the best ways of learning how to do exercises. They show you how to do it properly and they also give you feedback on how you're doing your moves. With Your Shape, a coach on screen lets you assess visually how well you're matching the correct moves. But the camera technology can also actually pinpoint what you're doing down to the angle, to assess the actual effort that you're putting out based on the position of your body, in order to make sure that you're doing the move correctly.

Can Your Shape track more than one person?

Currently, its just one person at a time. Well, it's one person during a session, but several people could have profiles stored on the game.

From what I understand, the fitness category for home video is primarily female, and the same may be happening with fitness games. In terms of attracting more men, do you focus more on design or on marketing to draw more men into this category?

There's actually a pretty wide range of men who are using the fitness game as well. While more women are looking to lose weight, men are definitely looking to tone and to strengthen. I think that drawing more men into the category is a combination of what you were just saying: it's about design, it's about marketing, but it's certainly something that Ubisoft is paying attention to with our fitness titles.

In your focus tests, do you have to find a mix of people or do you just focus on people who are interested in fitness?

It's a mix; certainly we've looked at it with both consumers who have personal fitness goals and also our consumers who may be interested in fitness but haven't necessarily found the right solution yet to see what is it that that we can do to attract them to our game.

Is there anything that you can do in this game in conjunction with other peripherals that Nintendo has?

This game is designed for the camera, so the real advantage and excitement of the camera is that you don't have to use anything else, you step right in front of the camera and it just works. No balance board, no remotes required. But if you have your own personal exercise equipment, like a medicine ball or a free weight say, you can let the game know that and it can incorporate that into your exercise.

So that's something that you would do when you start the game?

Exactly, you enter your own personal fitness goals, and it does an assessment test of your body. It also takes into account whether you want to strengthen, burn calories and things like that, as well as how long you want your fitness program to work for you. Do you have two weeks to meet a certain goal? Are you looking to work out three times a week? It customizes your workout according to all of those factors.

What's really great about that is that there's not going to be this plateau effect where if you're doing the same thing over and over again, eventually your body gets used to it. You can customize this program, and it keeps all of your exercises fresh nearly every time you play. And of course you can always re-customize it.

I don't want to dismiss what you're doing with Your Shape, but are you taking advantage of the "gee whiz" factor that arises anytime people see themselves onscreen with a camera? Is that response something that Your Shape can tap into?

Yes, absolutely. The first thing is that with the camera, you can't cheat. With an avatar you might be able to blame it on a technology problem or something else, but when you're seeing yourself on screen and you're seeing yourself do the movements along with the coach, you really truly understand whether you're doing things property or not. With fitness in general, execution has a lot to do with your progression, whether it's squats, lunges, push-ups or what have you.

A lot of times when people are exercising alone, if they are not trained professionals, they don't really know if they are doing it properly. The camera lets you transport yourself into this experience and see yourself on screen. It's the only way for you to truly understand exactly what it is that you're doing and how you're doing it. And also because it's you, there's no judgment other than your own, right? So, no judgment, no cheating, and putting yourself into the video game--it definitely has a lot advantages, for sure.

So what's left to be done before you get Your Shape into stores?

I think and it's just like with any game, it's polish, it's just making sure that we are delivering the best experience for the consumer. I think that people are going to be very happy with the product that we're going to be giving to them this fall.

This interview was conducted, condensed and edited by N'Gai Croal, founder and principal of Hit Detection, LLC. You can follow him via Tumblr (http://ncroal.tumblr.com) or Twitter (http://twitter.com/ncroal).

03:23 pm | 0 recommendations | 3 comments

Nintendo's Innovation Console: A Q&A With Reggie Fils-Aime

For the past several years, Nintendo executives have been touting such books as "The Innovator's Dilemma" and "Blue Ocean Strategy" as a way to explain why they've been zigging while everyone else zagged. That's why at last month's Electronic Entertainment Expo, when Microsoft and Sony finally zagged with camera-based control systems for their respective video game consoles, attendees should not have been surprised when Nintendo zigged with the Wii Vitality Sensor: a hardware device that will monitor your heart rate for as yet unspecified interactive applications. To learn more about Nintendo's past and present innovations, FastCompany.com columnist N'Gai Croal spoke with the company's North American president and chief operating officer, Reggie Fils-Aime.

When you look back at the success of Wii Fit and the Balance Board, how much of this did you anticipate, when you first got wind of it and when it was announced a couple of E3s ago?

Well, we've always anticipated that, as Nintendo would demonstrate business potential with an idea, others would follow. And we believe that based on history: rumble, joystick; things that we invented if you will, and first put in video games, others quickly latched on to. So as you look at where we are today, the combination of fun and fitness one could argue is quickly becoming Red Ocean. One could argue that in the future active motion control may become Red Ocean, so from our perspective we always have to be pushing the envelope in ways that we believe benefit our strategy, which is driving more and more people into this category, and that's what the Wii Vitality Sensor is all about.

It's all about pushing the envelope as to what can create compelling content, and an entertaining experience in ways that haven't been done before. Because to date that consumer, who hasn't yet been compelled with the first-person shooter, or an action side-scrolling adventure, or a fitness game may be compelled with something that we do with the Vitality Sensor.

In terms of what drives you, what drives Mr. Miyamoto, and what drives Mr. Iwata, how much of the balance is the hare trying to stay one step ahead of the greyhounds that are chasing it, and how much of it is actually rushing towards future audiences?

No, it is about chasing. We respect all of our competitors, and when I talk about our competitors, all of our competitors for entertainment time and leisure time. So for us it's all about getting more and more people into this category, and as we do that at the same time providing them more and more compelling experiences, so that more of their leisure time is spent on gaming.

That's why you see in one press conference something like Metroid: Other M, which is very core and very much gamer-centric if you will, coupled with something like Style Savvy, which is what we would call "new core." These are girls who have bought a DS or DSi, and maybe have played something like Nintendogs or maybe have played new Super Mario Brothers for DS. This is another step in the journey for them, and then also the showcase Wii Fit Plus, and then to showcase the Vitality Sensor.

So for us, we have to do both, we have to continue filling the bucket, if you will, with more and more new consumers, and once we've captured their interest to provide them more and more interesting experiences.

So when you look at your competitors' press conferences of the show--Microsoft with a depth perception-sensing of camera control without controllers, Sony with true one-to-one motion control--what do you think?

My take on it is that they are now seeing the opportunity that we saw. What they have shown and discussed inherently is not new news to us.

And N'Gai, I have to say, we have been in this business for over 25 years. We have worked with a range of input approaches. We've worked with the range of mechanisms to drive immersion into the gaming experience. There is a reason why on a DS you get that little click when you press a button. There is a reason that it was important to have a microphone in the Wii Remote. So for us what we see is two competitors who are looking over their shoulder at what we've been able to do, and are trying to participate.

Interestingly, our next advance in precision control [the Wii Motion Plus peripheral], launches on Monday. I'm not sure when their products will come to the market, but I can tell you by the time that happens, we will have to continue to move on, to drive more and more immersion on the part of the consumer.

So you are basically confirming today, that there are more plastic peripherals coming.

I've not said those very words, what I've said is, we're going to continue to drive more and more immersion on the part of the consumer.

Going back to the Wii Vitality Sensors and looking at how one might use it, I've used those sorts of sensors for relaxation, and heart rate monitoring. I get the potential for meditation, fitness, that kind of stuff. But thinking about this for traditional games, it seems like depending on where it's placed, it might take one hand out of play--

Good thing we have a one handed remote.

[Laughs] You thought ahead. I know you can't talk about specific games but do you see that as a barrier to building a traditional game that also monitors a player's heart rate?

So what I can tell you is this. You and I probably had a very similar conversation when we first showed the Nintendo DS: how is it going to work, why a touch screen, voice activation--I don't get it. We probably had a similar conversation about the Wii Remote: how is this going to work, how is it going to work with the games that I want to play--I don't get it. Now I'm hearing something similar for the Wii Vitality Sensor. And all I can tell you is, with the game developers that we have, we will bring forth an experience that you will say, "Wow, I get it."

Until you have that software, it's tough to understand. If I told you that you would be standing on an oversized bathroom scale, and having fun doing it, you probably would have said, "Reggie, I don't get it." And yet here we are with the balance board arguably as the third largest development platform across the globe.

So I'm lacking imagination?

And you're lacking the specific software example that undoubtedly will show exactly how it comes to life.

At this year's show, in the case of the Wii Vitality Sensor, you showed an image of what it might look like, and explained how it might work, but you didn't show anything playable. When you look at what your competitors did, and their decision to show some tech demos of varying degrees of polish--or some might say the lack thereof--is that something you think about? That when it comes to capturing the imagination of consumers, it may be dangerous to show this stuff publicly when it's not ready for prime time?

N'Gai, I hear you, and we debate this a lot. In this case we believed that was important, especially in the critical role that Mr. Iwata plays in our company, for him to showcase in our view an example of the future, and doing it in a way that is not 100% product centric, but doing it in a much more conceptual way. And it's a choice that we make, and we make those types of choices every year as we structure our press conferences.

But the fact is that Nintendo will continue to push the envelope on what a gaming experience is. Now, we're doing that, because as we showed, there are a 150 million consumers in the markets that we do business, that say they'd be interested in video games if they had the right content, but today don't play. Those are the consumers that we believe something like the Vitality Sensor with the right software could compel to get in the game.

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This interview was conducted, condensed and edited by N'Gai Croal, founder and principal of Hit Detection, LLC. You can follow him via Tumblr (http://ncroal.tumblr.com) or Twitter (http://twitter.com/ncroal).

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