Download Kinect PlayFit and earn Achievements and rewards for playing Kinect games

Microsoft today launched a free Xbox 360 application known as Kinect PlayFit for gamers who happen to own and use a Kinect on a fairly regular basis. No, it’s not a game, but it does pull in data from Kinect games you play to provide stats on how many calories you have burned or how you rank among your friends in terms of fitness.

These stats then feed into Kinect PlayFit to offer Kinect users rewards such as Achievements and Gamescore, and even Avatar awards. It’s an interesting sounding app that may actually encourage more physical activity by Xbox 360 gamers.

Head onto Xbox Live to download Kinect PlayFit for free right now.

Kinect PlayFit is a new fitness dashboard that aggregates and tracks the calories you burn as you play a variety of Kinect games, from ?Dance Central 2? to ?Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012? to ?Kinect Star Wars.?

Kinect PlayFit lets you view your personal stats over time and see leaderboards that show how you rank against Xbox LIVE members across the globe.  Get credit for the calories you burn while having fun with Kinect, and earn Kinect PlayFit Achievements, Gamerscore and Avatar Awards.

Kinect PlayFit inspires an active and healthy lifestyle through fun and play:

• First of Its Kind ? This is the first ever fitness tracking application on a video game console.
• Social Motivation ? Kinect PlayFit keeps it social with activity challenges, rankings on leaderboards and integration with the Xbox LIVE community to break a sweat together.
• Survey Says ? According to a recent survey*nearly 75 percent of respondents believe that video games should include a component that encourages physical activity. Also, 70 percent said that physically active video games can complement or supplement traditional exercise.