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While this list is exclusive to locations that have DDR and other closely related music games, its a nice starting place to find locations of non-chain arcades throughout the country: http://www.ddrfreak.com/locati...

Those aren't just DDR pads - they look like stainless steel DDR pads. Those things should be in a rest area bathroom.

Seems like a lot of work for something that isn't that novel. I sense that a DDR with additional EyeToy functionality would be just as good, and I already *have* most everything for that.

Indeed. Both DDR Extreme (and its sequel, DDR Extreme 2) have EyeToy support and include a "Hands and Feet" mode. You're supposed to supplement the foot movement with left and right hand movement. It doesn't give the whole-body positioning that the article discusses, which is a *good* thing.

Konami's simplified method of adding upper-body "dancing" gives you more flexibility to come up with a "routine" of your own. The article's suggestion of a system that requires you to put your body in a precise position is pretty goofy by comparison. It would be like a version of DDR that requires you to use a particular foot to hit a pad -- sacrificing gameplay flexibility for an "enhanced workout".

Plus, the manual for DDR Extreme 2 (which I just bought for my teenage daughters and my long-past-teenage self) suggests only that the background be contrasting, without a lot of motion. No requirement that it be white and illuminated. I guess Konami figured out how to do motion detection in the real world after all.

You know, there's a good argument here that university research types ought to spend more time in the freshman dorms before they announce their "new" discoveries, especially if they're based on a popular video game.

Here is the DDRFREAK.com topic (with pictures): http://www.ddrfreak.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=116 708 . Click the pictures to see them enlarged.

http://www.ddrfreak.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=592 54

That topic has *lots* (too much, probably) of info on this. There are several different designs. Personally I would think that the wood-based ones developed there are better (and they are the most common). I am designing a CCFL-lighted(one tube per arrow which light up permanently, when you step, or when you're SUPPOSED to step depending on mode), microcontrolled (PIC18F4550 based), pressure-sensor-based (no moving parts, at least not substantially moving), adjustable (you can set up how much pressure trips the state machine and registers a step), triple-system (USB,XBOX,PS2) wood DDR pad (check out the last couple of pages on that thread).

An older DIY design is here, and Riptide's videos as well. Build costs are estimated at 140 and 200 dollars. One more here.

The main problem with the InventGeek design is that it doesn't appear to have any tactile feedback. You need the subtle height differences to be able to read with your feet. Also, you want the standing surface in the middle to be solid metal (unless you're going to play Pump It Up, as that provides further feedback.

It also doesn't use any vertical crossbeams in the pads, leading to sensor and support disparity. This is why the base is generally built out of wood, or a bit more metal. That keeps the right side of the left sensor feeling the same as the up, down, and left sides. As it stands, I wouldn't be surprised if stepping on the right side of the left sensor crushed the pad material for a permanent button-down signal. Or if the acrylic began to bow there.

For that matter, generally you want Lucite or Lexan for the deck. Hard as hell, and going to take it for a while. But people have successfully used other things.

And if you're going to buy metal, you want a Cobalt Flux. Unless you're more casual / like your knees, at which point get an ignition. Most of the 150 metal mats will leave you disappointed, especially compared to the Cobalt. Though I've heard the 200 ninja is ok too.

An older DIY design is here, and Riptide's videos as well. Build costs are estimated at 140 and 200 dollars. One more here.

The main problem with the InventGeek design is that it doesn't appear to have any tactile feedback. You need the subtle height differences to be able to read with your feet. Also, you want the standing surface in the middle to be solid metal (unless you're going to play Pump It Up, as that provides further feedback.

It also doesn't use any vertical crossbeams in the pads, leading to sensor and support disparity. This is why the base is generally built out of wood, or a bit more metal. That keeps the right side of the left sensor feeling the same as the up, down, and left sides. As it stands, I wouldn't be surprised if stepping on the right side of the left sensor crushed the pad material for a permanent button-down signal. Or if the acrylic began to bow there.

For that matter, generally you want Lucite or Lexan for the deck. Hard as hell, and going to take it for a while. But people have successfully used other things.

And if you're going to buy metal, you want a Cobalt Flux. Unless you're more casual / like your knees, at which point get an ignition. Most of the 150 metal mats will leave you disappointed, especially compared to the Cobalt. Though I've heard the 200 ninja is ok too.

It's really hard to take the creators seriously, their price range itself is quite a laugh, from $250 to $1000.
I have built my own pads, and as has been mentioned, movement is a very bad thing for actually playing DDR, and the most expensive I have gotten one of my pads to cost was about 150, with LEDs, a polycarbonate surface instead of the acrylic. I had tested an acrylic setup by making a steel square (what I was using to hold up each arrow) and having friends jump on it, which is a little more realistic than "stacking a 55 pound anvil on top of a ballpin hammer and hitting it with a 20 Lb Sledge hammer." at 150lb, with a hard jump, I broke it. My 300lb friend didn't even get a chance to try.

I really think if this kid was trying to be serious about selling them to a school, he would have designed his own control box, it's not hard to make a HID device, and costs much much less.
For more information, check out this thread on making DDR pads: http://www.ddrfreak.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=592 54

If he is interested in finding an arcade DDR machine, he should check this site out.

Or the way some people play, they might want to invest in a RedOctane metal pad which I can personally vouch for.

I would seriously hope that if Microsoft ever plays the patent linked in the article, it's immediately thrown at as invalid for prior works.

Regarding gaming patents, just last month the seldom-known niche 'Bemani' community was up in arms over a Konami-initiated lawsuit.

(Quick clarifications: Dance Dance Revolution/DDR is apart of a series of games by Konami called 'Bemani'.
Bemani is the name of Konami's Sound Simulation Series of games. Other games include Guitar Freaks, Drum Mania, and Beatmania (Guitar Sim, Drum Sim, and DJ Sim, respectively).)

An American upstart company Roxor Games created a DDR Clone called 'In The Groove'. The snafu is that In the Groove requires a DDR Machine to work.

Konami officially initiated the lawsuit last month (details at http://www.ddrfreak.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=104 583).
While the design/similar nature of the game is not the SOLE complaint, it is the obfusication and confusion of consumers.
Meaning, the game is not infringing because it's similar, the game is infringing because it's similar and requires Konami's Intellectual Property to function.
Thus causing confusion as to the game's relation to Konami, and making gamers think that the games are one in the same.
(And it's true, I'm at my arcade often enough to see, seeing as we have both an 'In The Groove'[ITG] and DDR machine, people don't know the difference.)

Good points. My rebuttal:

It can be assumed that a family has at least dial-up, but not broadband. You point out that the broadband requirement limits the market. I contend that the broadband requirement limits the market to an unnecessary extent. Some of the Live-only features, such as some games' expansions, don't especially need high speed or low latency. For instance, given what I know of Bemanistyle's simfiles database, a song file in Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix can't be bigger than 10 MB, which is a 40 minute download on dial-up. In addition, some games such as Tetris and Yu-Gi-Oh! are largely turn-based and small-universe and wouldn't benefit much from low latency.

I don't know if I would call it limiting to an unnecessary extent. If you will concede that voice communication in every game is a major tenet of Xbox Live!'s mission, then it makes sense to require broadband. I agree that you certainly don't need broadband to get downloadable content, but an enterprising person can find ways around that. I wouldn't go trying to play games, but the downloads will work just fine.

In addition, consider a touch of service tying. The Xbox division and the MSN division are close to each other on Microsoft's income statement, and I can assume that the Xbox Live setup kit advertises MSN broadband. Requiring broadband for Live, even on games that otherwise wouldn't really need broadband, generates more broadband subscriptions in areas where MSN has a contract with the telco or cable company that has a geographic monopoly or duopoly. In those areas, you need MSN in order to get on Live.

Sounds like a conspiracy theory more than anything. Also, MSN no longer offers any direct broadband services. The only way you're going to get MSN is if a carrier has a bundle providing a premium MSN subscription along with your broadband. In almost all of those cases, I believe you can decline the MSN subscription, though I don't know if it saves you any money (in the same way that my Comcast cable comes with a free Rhapsody radio subscription, but if I never actually sign up or use Rhapsody, does it really affect me?). As far as the monopoly argument goes, I wouldn't try to pin that one on Microsoft. That's the cable and phone companies' (read: the government's) doing.

Again, not all game genres benefit from broadband as much as first-person shooters do.

I'd argue that most do. Racing games and fighting games in particular benefit immensely from broadband while not fitting into the FPS mold. In fact, I'd contend that any head-to-head style game will have a much better experience on broadband than not. That excludes "thinking" games (chess, turn-based strategy games but not RTS games, board-games like Mario Party though the mini-games would benefit from broadband, etc).

<snipped NIN discussion>

Very interesting. I never knew that about NIN's albums, so you can see how I could miss the point. :)

The point here, possibly made better in another one of my comments to this article, was that such a high-profile title as Bungie's Halo 2 for Xbox left out support for custom soundtracks. Whoever decided to ship without that feature deserves a head like a hole.

This I'm indifferent to, personally. I don't think I've ever built a custom soundtrack, and most of the time when I'm playing online I have the music turned off anyway (in halo 2 so I can better hear what's going on around me, as situational awareness is key; in PGR2 because the engine sounds are infinitely better than any music I could play, and it helps to be able to hear the engine so I'll know if I need to downshift before going into a turn; etc). That's just my personal preference, and unti

I am in the market for exactly one pad. My wife has told me, flat out, that she prefers not knowing how much better at it I am than she is.

Then buy two pads and play the game in 8-panel mode, with the pads duct-taped together in the middle to form a hinge. Doesn't this chart look more interesting than this chart? Even if you don't want to try double, you can still get a single BNS pad for $60 shipped.

I am in the market for exactly one pad. My wife has told me, flat out, that she prefers not knowing how much better at it I am than she is.

Then buy two pads and play the game in 8-panel mode, with the pads duct-taped together in the middle to form a hinge. Doesn't this chart look more interesting than this chart? Even if you don't want to try double, you can still get a single BNS pad for $60 shipped.

These games come in many forms, such as a "fox and hounds" game, capture the flag, or a treasure hunt.

In the 1973 Woody Allen comedy, Sleeper, it was cigarettes that turned out to promote health. Now, we have instances where video games promote physical activity.

I think (hope!) that we'll be reading in Wired about a young entrepreneur who turns this into a viable business, either as a service, where games are hosted professionally (as in MMORPGs), or as a product, where games are purchased and played on a peer-to-peer basis (as in most retail games). Perhaps I'm looking at this through rose-colored glasses, (I miss playing laser tag as a kid), but I think this has the potential to turn out some fantastic stuff.
___________________________________
Inago Rage - Create and Fight in an Indie-Developed First-Person Shooter

I've been a home player for about a year now and have sunk some serious time and money into this game. From buying consoles specifically for DDR to importing to modding to buying and building more durable hard pads - it's a fun hobby.

As far as arcade play goes... I've done that only once.

AMD's CPU-to-DDR latency is much lower than Intel's.

But does this lower latency help me hit more arrows?

Amazing how such a stupidly simple game[PONG] could be so captivating to a primitive audience. Are we smarter these days or just more jaded?

How are the achievements of a game any less real than any other activity you can participate in?

Sit-down games don't seem to promote good health as much as, say, aerobic exercise.

When I exercise my mind solving a puzzle in a game, I've gained "real world" value.

If you happen not to live in an area with professional gaming leagues, what real world value have you gained?

If you finding yourself constantly frustrated, maybe you are trying to play a poorly designed game?

When most PC games on the shelves are poorly designed, what does one do?

I've beaten level 260 of Whac-an-Arrow. Does that count?

www.getupmove.com

Registrant:
Redoctane
955 Benecia Ave
Sunnyvale, California 94085
United States

Registered through: GoDaddy.com
Domain Name: GETUPMOVE.COM
Created on: 30-Dec-03
Expires on: 30-Dec-05
Last Updated on: 30-Dec-03

Administrative Contact:
Huang, Kai akim@redoctane.com
Redoctane
955 Benecia Ave
Sunnyvale, California 94085
United States
4084819121 Fax -- 4084819123
Technical Contact:
Huang, Kai akim@redoctane.com
Redoctane
955 Benecia Ave
Sunnyvale, California 94085
United States
4084819121 Fax -- 4084819123

Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.MAXIMUMASP.COM
NS2.MAXIMUMASP.COM

end whois

Don't get me wrong, I love DDR. I have 3 copies on the PlayStation (1 and 2) as well as just about every song out there on the PC.

For those of you that like DDR, or maybe just like the idea of a new way to loose weight/get in shape, check out the sites below, they are not simple product advertisments. Tsk tsk redoctane.

www.ddrfreak.com

"DDR Freak was started on March 12, 2000 for the benefit of Northern California DDRers to get together and promote DDR around the SF Bay Area. It began when a small group of DDRers gathered at Milpitas Golfland every friday night to play DDR. As the group became larger, we decided that a website was a good idea, and it was first hosted on a UC Berkeley instructional server. Weeks passed, and DDR Freak started to get more than a few hundred hits a week, then a few thousand... Eventually, ddrfreak.n3.net became ddrfreak.com, and it continued to grow.

DDR Freak has since expanded its reach to DDRers nationwide and continues to serve as a community for DDRers."

www.ddrgame.com

"Welcome to ddrgame.com. We are the leading sellers in dance dance revolution games such as DDR Konamix, DDRmax, DDRmax 2, and the new Xbox DDR Ultramix.We are also the leading experts on dance dance revolution pads such as regular pads, non-slip pad, ignition pad, metal pad, and arcade super metal pad. At our website, you can find great selection and high-quality products, and also the best shopping experience. DDRgame.com is pleased to have you as our customer. We hope you will enjoy the shopping experience here. If you have any questions about our products, please feel free to contact us at the following information. We do welcome school purchase orders."

p090.ezboard.com/bddrjamzglobalbbs

"A heavily trafficked ddr message board with area specific forums and lots of cool goings on."

www.akddr.com

"One the the biggest DDR site in way up North! They have a DDR for PC Game to download as well as many ddr pad reviews."

That Jarred guy from subway have nothing on this guy image shamelessly linked from ddrfreak.com

That Jarred guy from subway have nothing on this guy image shamelessly linked from ddrfreak.com

You can go to ddrfreak and go check out some stuff there.
There's song lists, codes, step charts and chat forums to meet up with out ddr fans out there.

Good luck, and have fun.

First, try playing at an arcade first. A few games will be relatively cheap. If it turns out you don't like it, you'll have saved much more money. Investing in a game you end up not liking is ever bit as bad as investing in exercise equipment you don't use. DDR Freak offers a directory of machine locations.

If you do like it (and don't have downstairs neighbors... *sigh*) playing at home is the cheapest option. Again, I'd go cheap at first; you can scale up as you need to. If you don't have a console already, grab a cheap used PS1 ($30 bucks or so), a cheap vinyl dance pad ($20), and a used copy of the original DDR or DDR Konamix for the PS1 ($10). The cheap pads are just fine to start. Which of the expensive pads to get is a much more complex question, but if you reach the point where you really want one, you'll have learned what you're looking for and be better able to sort through the available information.

All that said, just increasing your exercise level alone won't necessarily help if you just eat more to compensate. I know this to be true. Ummm, I'm talking about, er, a friend, yeah, a friend, that's it. Anyway, consider at least some minimal dieting in addition. I, erm, I mean my friend found The Hacker's Diet to be a welcomely rational discussion of dieting.

Somebody over at the DDRFreak forums had even mentioned that they created a stepfile generator.

Learning to dance saved my social life -- talking ballroom dance here, swing and waltz and foxtrot.

Is the four-step close enough? Or should I save the DDR for my computer's RAM slots?

Likewise, is DDR a former communist country, a type of SDRAM, or a rhythm video game?

And I thought "CRM" was Christopher R. Milne, son of late children's book author A. A. Milne.

I bought a cobalt flux in November. It works much better than the soft pads. My husband and I really debated getting it because it cost so much, but I am very happy we did 'cause we still use it almost every day. I love it!

DDR Freak has a nice forum about the pros and cons of the various metal pads.

I bought a cobalt flux in November. It works much better than the soft pads. My husband and I really debated getting it because it cost so much, but I am very happy we did 'cause we still use it almost every day. I love it!

DDR Freak has a nice forum about the pros and cons of the various metal pads.

A lot of games require several moves of the joystick per second (fighting combos, etc). How many folks, even in great shape, can make gross (as opposed to fine) motions that fast?

You think the button commands in 2D fighters are tough? Try this game. One of the levels, called "Max 300", makes the player do a 33-button combo in 3.3 seconds... with his feet.

I've always been enthralled by the idea of integrating technology into exercise so that people were more motivated to engage in cardiovascular activities. One of the best examples of this is the Dance Dance video game. One can't deny that getting good at the game is directly proportional to how in shape you are. In a market dominated by games where people hone skills such as shooting people, it's a refreshing change. Disney Quest also has some interesting video games that involve lots of physical effort and something like their giant human pinball simulation is an all-around exercise.

Now what we need is some kind of game plug-in that exposes players to sunlight and gets their Seratonin levels up to norm.

Dance Dance Revolution! ... I'm not sure their product can match DDR's popularity though...

You don't need $695 to get exercise while gaming. Dance Dance Revolution is pretty good, if you've got a decent pad.
As long as we're heading toward the exotic, how about a martial arts game that combined a floor pad with location-sensing gloves and a kick/punch bag?

To the best of my knowledge, only Gamespot and DDRFreak have covered this, but Konami also unveiled the next DDR game for the U.S. region, DDR Extreme. Here's the official site, and GameSpot's coverage. I first saw the news on DDRFreak.

For those of you about to lament the unfortunate use of "Extreme", it should be noted that this is more of a "greatest hits" collection of the best, most challenging, or most popular DDR tracks throughout the series' seven-game lifespan, as well as imports from other Bemani series such as Guitar Freaks and Pop'n Music. The game should also introduce new gameplay mechanics such as "mission mode", but details are as of yet unknown.

Don't look at me like that, somebody here must want to know this.

The feet are vastly underutilized in gaming, relegated to simple acceleration / deceleration, but they are capable of far more than that.

something like, i don't know, dancing?

Throw in some stepdancers

Can't you find some of them on the various rhythm game sites?

What the hell are saying? Karaoke Revolution was the FIRST game on TIME's game list thingy...

You're using Karaoke Revolution's placement on one list as your counterpoint? Time magazine, for that matter. Not exactly what I would call a trusted source for video game reviews, or a good indicator of what's hot in the U.S.
Keeping with the Karaoke Revolution example, I bet you didn't know that there are TWELVE versions of Karaoke Revolution scheduled in Japan, with (I'm sure) many more coming? Or that another Japanese company beat Konami to the punch on Karaoke games, with 3 or 4 versions already?

Checking IGN's list of PS2 music games, I see only a handful that were developed in the U.S. Most of the big names started off in Japan, and they have a lot more versions to boot. DDR has 20 console versions in Japan, a whopping 5 in the U.S. Most of the arcade versions are supposed to be Japan-only.
Mad Maestro has four different versions in Japan. The only (good) music game which is U.S. (and Europe) only is Frequency and its sequel, Amplitude.

And then there are games which won't ever see the light of day outside of Japan due to the expensive controllers that are required to play them, and also due to the insane learning curve. Most of these come from Konami's Bemani line. Games like Beatmania (5 keys and a turntable) and Beatmania IIDX (7 keys and a turntable), Keyboardmania (2 octave keyboard), Pop'n Music (9 round buttons), Guitar Freaks & Drummania (umm.. a guitar and a drum set). Non-Bemani games include Taiko no Tatsujin, Donkey Konga, Vib Ribbon (and Mojib Ribbon),

Here are some links to some nifty videos of a few of the games mentioned above. Watch them and tell me something like this would go over well in the U.S.
Beatmania IIDX 1
Beatmania IIDX 2
Drummania
Keyboardmania

Try importing them sometime. They don't require knowledge of the Japanese language, they're a lot of fun, and well worth the money- I highly recommend them.

Then perhaps you should try mashing some buttons with your feet instead of with your fingers. I don't know about you, but CowboyNeal could certainly use some Dance Dance Revolution. You'll get your "intellectual challenge" figuring out which way to turn your body to pass each part of "Afronova" or "End of the Century".

jogging can be boring as hell, and more interesting activities like basketball leave you sore and injured often

This is why DDR is the best video game ever invented. It makes exercise fun, even when it's just you.

The only thing that could top it would be a hack & slash video game that worked both upper body and lower body, but I think we'll have to wait for holodeck technology for that one.

You don't need PE to learn to dance. All you need is DDR (no, not the RAM). Score -1 against public schools' PE programs.

Q: How do I correct burn-in on the 42 or 50-inch Plasma TV?
A: Note: This function only works on part number 2800308 - Gateway 42-Inch Viewable Area Plasma TV R1.

1. On the remote control, press the left arrow button for more than 5 seconds, and then release.
   
   
2. Press the right arrow button for more than 5 seconds, and then release.
   
   
3. Press the Favorite Channel (FAV. CH.) button, and then release.
   
   
4. A bright white eraser screen appears. This eraser screen refreshes the Plasma screen and reduces the visual effect of burn-in.
   
   Note: The eraser screen needs to remain active for a period of time. The more severe the burn-in, the longer the eraser screen needs to be left active. A light burn-in can be taken care of in about 12 hours. A heavy burn-in may require up to 50 hours. The test can be tailored by running the test for a given number of hours, and then making a judgment. If the result does not seem good enough, run the test again until satisfactory results are attained.
   
   
5. To shut down the eraser screen, press the Favorite Channel button, and then release it. If necessary, repeat this step until the white screen disappears.
   

From the article:

Additional features include the use of HyperTransport buses and support for fast double-data-rate (DDR) memory.

So will I be able to turn it all the way up to "Max 300"?

More recently they put 32bit processors in the palm of your hand

Ironic that you use "palm". Palm had a 32-bit handheld before Nintendo did, but you correctly point out that GBA outsells any PDA platform unit-for-unit, if only because the GBA plus a game costs less than the magic $100 psychological price point.

It is a fact Nintendo squashes misfires such as as the virtual boy, superscopre, power pad

Power Pad may have been a misfire, but the idea behind it has rebounded tremendously since then. Had Konami developed for the Power Pad, the revolution might have come much sooner, possibly back when DDR was still a country.

Smartest #23, 1993: Namco and Sega Bring Arcades Home, seems to be the most depressing "advance" for me. As noted in the editor comments, designing arcade games for future home use pretty much spelled the end of the 1980s arcade culture.

In the 80s, you had mom-n-pop arcades in little hole-in-the-wall spots. My favorite was one in downtown Tulsa that you'd never have found unless you happened to walk past and look inside. That's the one where I lost my $10 (see my lame-o attempt to First Post this article). Another was across the street from the grocery store I worked at, and was a great place to wind down after bagging groceries in the days before "paper or plastic?"

Now, it's virtually impossible to support a stand-alone arcade. Oh, you can drive down any street in Texas (at least) and see video parlors, but they're devoted to Cherry Master and Video Poker, not Pac-Man and Asteroids. The only place you can find a real game selection is at the mall or the movie theater. I wasn't into the mall scene as a teen, and I'm even less inclined that way in my 30s.

Although I did manage to embarass my daughter at DDR. She tried it out, but was wearing the wrong shoes and bailed. So I hopped on, much to her embarassment, but to the amusement of the rest of the teenyboppers. I don't think she's forgiven me yet...

Try doing THIS Dance Dance Revolution song!

The dance game genre is a thriving market all over the world now. Ever heard of a little game called Dance Dance Revolution?

Yeah, you're totally right! No gamer one would ever want to hop around on a pad and get exercise!

just know that the size of your penis increases proportionally with ... how many buzzwords are associated with the system you run: HT, DDR, 8x AGP, etc.

So if I can pass "Max 300" on heavy, I can do better in bed? I better practice for an hour a day! Or should I just buy a white box manufactured in former East Germany?

</double-data-rate-pun>

As long as you tell them its DANCING then they won't care if its excersize

For game reviews, gamefaqs. The FAQs are great, but it is also a great place for reading user reviews. If I need more reviews, I head to Amazon.

For screenshots/video, I refer to the "biggies": gamespot and ign.

For Game Boy Advance, I go to: gbacentral.

For Dance Dance Revolution: DDRFreak

However, my favorite site at the moment is for the ol' Atari 2600: Atari Age

AtariAge is amazing: screenshots of almost every Atari 2600 game, very active forums, store that sells cartridges for new "homebrews", etc.

--
jason