MOVE THAT BODY: Biggest Loser trainer Michelle Bridges films scenes for the Your Shape: Fitness Evolved game for Xbox 360 Kinect. Source: Supplied 
GEARED UP: Biggest Loser trainer Michelle Bridges wears her motion-capture suit for filming scenes for the Your Shape: Fitness Evolved game for Xbox 360 Kinect. Source: Supplied 
VIRTUAL SELF: The resulting Michelle Bridges avatar that appears in the Your Shape: Fitness Evolved game for Xbox 360 Kinect. Source: Supplied MICROSOFT launches its futuristic controller-free gaming device, Kinect, today with an Australian featuring prominently in one of its biggest launch titles.
The Biggest Loser trainer Michelle Bridges is one of only two instructors to feature in Your Shape: Fitness Evolved, an Xbox 360 game that takes a 3D scan of your body and tracks your every move while you emulate on-screen exercises.
Ms Bridges said she propositioned game maker Ubisoft to choreograph training sessions for the title and later discovered she would feature in its worldwide release.
In what is potentially a blow for personal trainers, the 20-year veteran says playing fitness video games such as this can raise your heart rate enough to keep you fit and out of the gym.
"I played part of the game called Smasher recently and my heart rate reached 160 beats per minute," she said.
"If you can roll out of bed and turn on your Xbox and get into it games like this one, you've just cut your travel time to get the gym, to find a park and you're good to go. There's a real opportunity to spark a passion to get into your fitness."
The Your Shape game is among the first to use the Kinect for Xbox 360 accessory that plugs into the game console and uses a camera, infra-red sensor and microphone to recognise your movements and commands.
The technology eliminates the need for a game controller or button-pushing, allowing players to navigating game menus and play games by simply moving their limbs or announcing instructions.
Ms Bridges says the lack of a controller could open games "to a wide audience" that might have been baffled by the technology previously.
Other Kinect launch titles include the pop-themed Dance Central, virtual pet game Kinectimals, and racing game Kinect Joy Ride, which involve busting moves, patting tigers and moving an imaginary steering wheel.
Microsoft's Kinect accessory costs $199 and requires players to stand at least 1.8m from the games console.
The Xbox 360 add-on will have plenty of competition this Christmas, however, with Sony selling cheaper movement-sensitive controls in PlayStation Move, and an extra game and different controller added to the Nintendo Wii sales pack.
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