Kinect Sports: Calorie Challenge Food Fights Back (DLC)

In announcing their new nutrition-themed DLC, makers of Kinect Sports (Rare Studios) are taking a different stance on using food to be your opponents. To play the challenges, you need to beat your opponents like Blazing Banana and Mighty Milk over a given time period. You compete against the food as each food mascot represents a calorie goal to burn.

This add-on will cost 320 Microsoft Points, is available on April 29, and comes with a series of food items to take on, such as:

• Blazing Banana (92 calories)
• Chocolate Challenger (416 calories)
• Mighty Milk (198 calories)
• Peppy Pizza (302 calories)
• Steady Celery (25 calories)
• Supersonic Soda (133 calories)

Points 2 Ponder:

• At first I wasn't a fan of "fighting" and competing against foods - especially the healthy ones. But on second thought, nutrition knowledge is at such an all-time low, if kids who don't know anything about the USDA's Nutrition Guidelines, and they know that a banana is 92 calories....at least that's a start.  Gotta check to see if a banana is 92 calories.  That seems close but I'll check.
• Did the designers use calories from a standard nutrition chart?
• 302 calories for pepperoni pizza seems a little low considering the size and content of many popular slices of pie.
• You can play against your friends on Xbox Live but I'm not sure what that will look like. Will your friend be their own avatar or that of the food mascot?

Wouldn't It Be Cool (WIBC)

• It would be great to have a customizable set of game details to include other nutritional components (fat, saturated fat, carbohydrates, sodium, etc..)
• Imagine if you could QR code the food you ate during the day and fight the food you ate.  Now that would be a really cool way to learn about energy balance.
• If these stats and time working out on Kinect could be exported to another profile aggregator (Raptr) there might be a nice built piece to build on for the National Active Gaming League.

[Via Arstechnica: Kinect Sports: Calorie Challenge makes you fight your food; Photos via Joystiq]
Rare's blog and press release after the break:

Break a Sweat with the “Kinect Sports: Calorie Challenge” Game Add-on Launching April 26

London – 19 April 2011 – Jump into action and feel the burn with the “Kinect Sports: Calorie Challenge” game add-on for the best-selling title on Kinect for Xbox 360. In the new Calorie Challenge Mode, your favorite lunch foods and snacks will take the forms of your Avatar Calorie Rivals. Compete against Peppy Pizza, Super Soda and others, as each food mascot represents a calorie goal to burn off through a series of challenges set within an allotted time period.

Available for 320 Microsoft Points exclusively on Xbox LIVE starting April 26, the “Calorie Challenge” game add-on offers 250G of new Achievements. Whether you’re swinging a punch at Mighty Milk in Boxing or racing against Steady Celery towards the finish line in Track & Field, bring your A-game for healthy fun with the “Kinect Sports: Calorie Challenge.”

“Kinect Sports: Calorie Challenge” Calorie Rivals
• Steady Celery (26 calories)
• Blazing Banana (63 calories)
• Mighty Milk (91 calories)
• Super Soda (129 calories)
• Chunky Chocolate (177 calories)
• Peppy Pizza (238 calories)

Turn your living room into a world-class stadium, bowling alley, soccer pitch or track-and-field arena. With “Kinect Sports” you’re not only the star player, you are the controller — through the magic of Kinect for Xbox 360. See a ball? Kick it. Spike it. Bump it. Even give it a little topspin. Simple, intuitive and instantly fun, “Kinect Sports” delivers the ultimate party experience — whether you are trying to outmanoeuvre the goalie to win the soccer match or cheering on your friends at ringside. The first full-body, controller-free sports game that lets you physically compete with friends over Xbox LIVE, “Kinect Sports” is so real, you will almost feel the wind in your hair as you fly over hurdles and the sand in your toes as you set, bump and spike your way to volleyball victory.