BallStrike for Windows 8: Tons of Fun!

I'm really having the time of my life right now. It's so much fun in Windows 8 and the extravaganza is simply breathtaking! I'm loving each and every piece of it -- apps, the UI and everything! You don't know how much fun I'm having unless you already tried the Windows 8 Release Preview. I'm not talking about the Windows 8 Consumer Preview here and don't get confused with CP and RP. Windows 8 CP was the first Beta version for the public and Windows 8 RP is the final Beta version available for free download at the Windows site.

Windows 8 CP was though, a mere waste of time for me. Along with it came a lot of bugs and yes, must remember that it was just the Beta version. I just spent almost a week playing with it as I got bored with the limited apps and the streaming glitches. Most apps never worked with the CP version and I started hating it day-by-day.

But Windows 8 is totally different. It's a 100 times better than CP and most of the apps work perfectly. I'm so loving it and I'm having a great time with it. I won't delve into much more as I'm already planning a separate review of mine for Windows 8 RP coming really soon.

This post is all about BallStrike, a fun app for Windows 8 available for free download from the Windows Marketplace. I never even checked the details of the app before downloading it as I downloaded, if I remember correctly, almost all the apps from the Marketplace. I was so anxious to test each and every one of them, regardless of the publisher and other details. I never ever thought this would be so much fun.

To put it in short, BallStrike is an AR fitness app that uses your camera to recognize the body gestures and puts you in a virtual world where you break the balls which appear on the sides of the screen with body actions. AR stands for Augmented Reality, a technique which interprets the real world from the eyes of the computer. That means everything that you see around you, the computer adds more to it by recognizing each and every object and showing details about the object. If you still don't get it, Google's Project Glass is the best example. It uses AR techniques to interpret the objects which the camera see and displays the information. There are many AR apps on the Play Store and iTunes which you can check out. Some of these includes Map Apps with AR options where you just point your phone's camera towards a specific place and details about it appear just above the object. I'm not going much into describing AR as I don't want to make this a lengthy one.

So, back to BallStrike. BallStrike ueses AR techniques to interpret your actions. You just need to have a Webcam on your PC. Place your device and stand in such a way that your whole body appears on the screen. Now, simply press play and you're set to begin. You have to break the glowing balls which appear on the screen with body actions. So, when you move your fists towards a ball like you're hitting it, the ball breaks and you earn points. There at present, 3 levels with increasing difficulty as you play. Break as much balls as you can.

I had a lot of fun with BallStrike and I don't remember how much times I played it. Me and my sister played it for hours even with the small display of my siz's Aspire 4810T. And there's much to talk about the performance. If you don't know, the Aspire is a low-grade laptop and doesn't have much specs. I was amazed to find that Windows 8 ran super-smooth on the same and BallStrike worked perfectly too with minor lags! And I even tried connecting the laptop to my Panasonic Viera through an HDMI cable. With a bigger display, it was much more fun! We enjoyed a lot and I guess I did lose some of my weight playing with it all night.

If you're a Windows 8 user, BallStrike is a must try app for Windows 8. I'm sure you'll love this pretty app made just for Windows 8. And if you haven't tested Windows 8 yet, it's a pity. Though, you can download it from the Windows site, here.

Will be back with the review and more news on Window 8. Stay tuned. For now, Adios!