Kinect FORUM

I just played my son's Kinect (received for XMAS) and then played a friend's son's game at newYEAR's. All of us babyboom parents really REALLY enjoyed dance Central! The two parents that hadn't bought Kinects for XMAS are now going home and getting them for the kids. The one kid that had gotten it, but hadn't opened or set it up yet - planned to run home and set it up!.

Only ONE request - ADD a bellydance song to Dance Central or do a whole BELLYDANCE game. There are a lot of good videos out there to model from, but the BEST is to have many different instructors (to keep up interest and see different body types). See "Luscious" by NewYork DANCe or the ladies from Shimmy. I also like BellyDance personal trainer and many others that have different folks to look at.

I hope to see this or some other fun dance thing for boomers. The zumba is a little too frantic for me. But I love MOST of the Dance Central ones.

THANKS!

Great to hear you and your family (and friends) had a good time with Kinect and Dance Central! Also, welcome to these forums . We would be happy to inform the other parents on everything Kinect, so be sure to send them this way .

Also, be sure to keep an eye on our website, because we'll be sure to report it when there will be a belly dancing game for Kinect! It's an interesting idea, to say the least. As you said, I think Zumba Kinect is now the closest it gets to belly dancing. Unfortunately, we are not in charge of making a Kinect game, but I'm sure others - that do - will be reading your post. Let's hope they'll be making one soon.

We just got the Kinect for ourselves for Christmas, as our children have grown up and moved away. I wanted it mainly for the exercise in every single game you play. I do love Dance Central, as it gives me good exercise. I think a Bellydancing game would be amazing. Women would love to learn to bellydance, and when they try to, like by watching Shimmy, they are unsure if they are doing the movements correct. But to have a bellydancing game on Kinect where it monitors your moves, would be the ultimate. Then you would be sure you are doing it right. Bellydancing is a hard art to master, but oh so fun to do. So, to the makers of the Kinect games, please consider making a Bellydancing game. Thank you....

(01-02-2011 11:26 PM)Clemens Wrote: [ -> ]Great to hear you and your family (and friends) had a good time with Kinect and Dance Central! Also, welcome to these forums . We would be happy to inform the other parents on everything Kinect, so be sure to send them this way .

Also, be sure to keep an eye on our website, because we'll be sure to report it when there will be a belly dancing game for Kinect! It's an interesting idea, to say the least. As you said, I think Zumba Kinect is now the closest it gets to belly dancing. Unfortunately, we are not in charge of making a Kinect game, but I'm sure others - that do - will be reading your post. Let's hope they'll be making one soon.

Hey, I just got Zumba Fitness and am running through some of the routines.

FYI, Zumba Fitness has a number of belly dance routines in it. So if belly dance is your thing, check it out.

I just started in the game so it'll probably be a couple weeks before I'm ready to write a review.

Maybe I'll put up a belly dance routine sample on youtube in the meantime so you can see what it's like.

Zumba Fitness is a fusion of normal aerobic dancing with some Latin ballroom dancing (salsa, merengue, etc.). So it's a little loose with the Latin footwork but it does look authentic for the most part. They also threw in some hip-hop moves. As for the bellydancing, it looks like bellydancing, but I don't know what bellydancing really is like since all I've ever seen was on TV.

some of the routines that I could identify:
sahara oasis: 4:10
belly dance: basic stance
belly dance: combination
belly dance: tap step alternating legs

(01-20-2011 09:23 AM)dirtyvu Wrote: [ -> ]Hey, I just got Zumba Fitness and am running through some of the routines.

FYI, Zumba Fitness has a number of belly dance routines in it. So if belly dance is your thing, check it out.

I just started in the game so it'll probably be a couple weeks before I'm ready to write a review.

Maybe I'll put up a belly dance routine sample on youtube in the meantime so you can see what it's like.

Zumba Fitness is a fusion of normal aerobic dancing with some Latin ballroom dancing (salsa, merengue, etc.). So it's a little loose with the Latin footwork but it does look authentic for the most part. They also threw in some hip-hop moves. As for the bellydancing, it looks like bellydancing, but I don't know what bellydancing really is like since all I've ever seen was on TV.

some of the routines that I could identify:
sahara oasis: 4:10
belly dance: basic stance
belly dance: combination
belly dance: tap step alternating legs

Wow cool , didn't know that actually. Did the Zumba update make the game accurate enough to enjoy?

Looking forward to the review!

Thanks for the input. Did they fix the problems with Zumba? Meaning, do they teach you the steps or do they just expect you to know how to do everything? Did they fix the timing to be more accurate?

(01-20-2011 09:23 AM)dirtyvu Wrote: [ -> ]Hey, I just got Zumba Fitness and am running through some of the routines.

FYI, Zumba Fitness has a number of belly dance routines in it. So if belly dance is your thing, check it out.

I just started in the game so it'll probably be a couple weeks before I'm ready to write a review.

Maybe I'll put up a belly dance routine sample on youtube in the meantime so you can see what it's like.

Zumba Fitness is a fusion of normal aerobic dancing with some Latin ballroom dancing (salsa, merengue, etc.). So it's a little loose with the Latin footwork but it does look authentic for the most part. They also threw in some hip-hop moves. As for the bellydancing, it looks like bellydancing, but I don't know what bellydancing really is like since all I've ever seen was on TV.

some of the routines that I could identify:
sahara oasis: 4:10
belly dance: basic stance
belly dance: combination
belly dance: tap step alternating legs

(01-20-2011 05:03 PM)dideroch Wrote: [ -> ]Thanks for the input. Did they fix the problems with Zumba? Meaning, do they teach you the steps or do they just expect you to know how to do everything? Did they fix the timing to be more accurate?

Well, I got the game last night and only had a chance to do a layout of all the features (since I'm prepping a review). And unfortunately, I'm leaving town tonight for a friend's wedding and won't be back until Monday. So I could give you something more definitive on Tuesday night.

Since I never had Zumba when it was "broken", it's hard for me to know exactly what was fixed. But from reading various comments... What I can say from the limited time I had with it was navigating menus was really easy so I guess that was fixed. The facial recognition problems were fixed (and thus the spin activities don't confuse the game). And it does seem to be fairly accurate when you're doing a move incorrectly (but it only shows your whole body as the incorrect color rather than DC's showing a limb or a shoulder with the incorrect color).

here's a sample of the belly dance tutorials for Zumba Fitness (it's the belly dance basic stance tutorial).

Having played Zumba Fitness a bit more (a grand total of half an hour since I bought it), I would say that the tutorial section is partially fixed but still broken. They put multiple steps of increasing difficulty in each tutorial. The earliest basic steps of the tutorial are super easy but you have to do it for a few steps before they let you progress. But then when you get toward the end of the tutorial and are presented more difficult steps, you only need to semi do it correctly before it continues on which is frustrating.

So the only way to use the tutorials is to just watch it without attempting the move. And watch it for as long as possible. Then attempt it. The only problem is if you just stand there, after a few seconds, the Kinect menu will pop up asking you if you want to continue or quit (I guess it assumes if you're not moving, you want to quit).

Oh, in the above video, I wasn't moving so that it would ensure that it wouldn't go on to the next step. And then when I thought I recorded enough, I started to do the move so that I could go to the next step. If I was to re-record the video, I would've started doing the early moves earlier so that the total length of the video would've been a minute shorter.

It would help if they had more audio cues. Following the ballroom dancing instruction model would help. a 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4 or similar cadence system would've help or even something like a quick, quick, slow, quick, quick, slow, ... type of instruction would've help.

So if you want to get a perfect step in the tutorials, you'll be big time disappointed.

That said, the steps are repetitive enough that the tutorials are not that critical. And if you've taken ballroom dancing classes before, a lot of steps will look very familiar to you.

I ran through the beginner 20 minute routine 1 without any tutorial to see how I would do. If you mess up any part of the motion, your dancing character will show as orange or red. But it's hard to know exactly what part of your motion you're messing up. There are little radio waves emanating from various joints around your body so maybe this is the equivalent of Dance Central's red flashing limbs? I don't know yet because I've probably only put in about half an hour of gameplay so far. If you get the steps perfectly, you will show green and it does feel like it's tracking like Dance Central.

But it's a fun game and I'm glad I bought it. 20 straight minutes of aerobics/latin dancing, even at the beginner level, will have you sweating.

apparently, the tutorials is poor across all gaming platforms.

it's even worse on the PS3:



here's what a zumba tutorial should be like:


it's as if they expect people who already know Zumba to do this stuff.

I don't think anything on Zumba can really be called "Belly Dancing" in the sense that most people think of it. At least those are moves I've never learned. It's more of a Latin feel to Belly Dancing. I'd personally like to see a whole game devoted to Belly Dancing in the Shimmy Style.

(01-31-2011 03:23 AM)TimeliestRuby6 Wrote: [ -> ]I don't think anything on Zumba can really be called "Belly Dancing" in the sense that most people think of it. At least those are moves I've never learned. It's more of a Latin feel to Belly Dancing. I'd personally like to see a whole game devoted to Belly Dancing in the Shimmy Style.

I agree... There should be a whole game devoted to belly dancing. It would be so amazing to learn it through Kinect...

Eagerly waiting to hear the announcement of the new bellydancing game.....

Maybe as DLC for a dancing or workout game, you never know.

I have zumba...want bellydancing too :-D