DDR grooves back onto the 360
Dance Dance Revolution is finally coming back to the 360, after plentiful releases on the PS3 and Wii. The new game will feature two new game modes--Dance off and Club Mode--as well as the expert-oriented Visual Jockey. This is great and all, but where is the Kinect functionality? Is Konami that dead-set on differentiated its Kinect flagship DanceMasters from the venerable DDR?
I guess I can understand that strategy. Penny Arcade's Tycho said that his wife was never fooled by DDR's non-game veneer--a DDR mat is just a D-pad on the floor, after all--but that she was hooked by Dance Central. Maybe I can warm to this strategy. On Wii we saw waggle invading every genre once the console got big, whether they needed it or not. Clearly delineating the traditional rhythm and dance games from the ever-growing casual flood might be a good idea in the long run. If only Microsoft had done this with Rare; ok guys, we have our Kinect sports and that's all well and good. But where's my Perfect Dark 2 and Konker?
KONAMI ANNOUNCES THE RETURN OF DANCEDANCEREVOLUTION TO XBOX 360™
New Music & Special Features Added to the Longest Running
Rhythm Based Game on Xbox 360™
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. - Dec. 8, 2010 - Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. announced today that the latest DanceDanceRevolution game will make its triumphant return to the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. The new release will combine the innovative pick-up-and-play mechanics DanceDanceRevolution fans have come to love, with the physically engaging and interactive gameplay that has made the franchise a classic.
DanceDanceRevolution on Xbox 360 features two new gameplay modes - Dance Off and Club Mode - both filled with non-stop dancing action. In Dance Off, up to four players can take to the dance mat, each taking turns, similar to a dance battle. The winner is the dancer who can step and dance accurately to the arrows. Special gimmicks await players to add for an extra level of challenge as well.
Club Mode is a feature designed for the more hardcore DanceDanceRevolution fan, allowing players to play four to 20 songs back-to-back with varying difficulty levels depending on how well they perform. If the player changes the options to non-stop, they can keep dancing, regardless of the Dance Gauge! The game also features a high-difficulty level - the Challenge Level - for the experienced player with diagonal arrows added to the standard up, down, right and left arrows.
DanceDanceRevolution for Xbox 360 will come fully equipped with the Visual Jockey, a feature which awards dancing pros with new on-screen graphics for a more engaging gameplay experience. Additionally, players can use their Xbox LIVE™ Vision camera to appear in-game and watch themselves dance on screen. In true DanceDanceRevolution fashion, the game boasts a vast song roster with 20 licensed tracks from some of today's hottest musicians, and more than 30 original songs by Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.'s original artists. Players can also download new songs and add them to their playlist through Xbox LIVE.
DanceDanceRevolution for Xbox 360 is rated E10+ by the ESRB and is scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2011.
