Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

There are times when I feel really left out because I have an Xbox and not a PlayStation. This is one of those times. Glen Raphael, the writer for Videogame Workout, bought Eyetoy Kinetic about a month ago and has been writing updates on what it is like to workout using this video game.

• Videogame Workout: Eyetoy Kinetic

• Videogame Workout: Kinetic week three

Here is a quick list of the positives:

• The trainers have strong personalities and you can choose between different ones.

• No distracting movements behind the trainer. All of the programming power has been used to make the trainers look as good as possible.

• The post workout stretching is fantastic.

• Can compare the video of your workout compared to the trainer to see your form errors.

• Each workout has a score, so you can see how well you’re progressing.

Here is a list of the negatives he has noticed:

• No ability to change the scheduling of workouts.

• The Eyetoy controller interface can be difficult to use and needs to be readjusted for floor exercises.

• If you pause the game during the workout and then continue, it skips the segment instead of continuing where you left off. You miss out on some of your workout if you pause.

• Repeated dialog snippets get old after multiple workouts. It has “Exercise Video Syndrome.”

This sounds like a good workout once you have the interface worked out with the Eyetoy. It’s not quite ready for prime time, but I’m still wishing I had a PlayStation 2 right now.