Slashdot Mirror
Video Games in Gym Class - DDR 101?
Saige writes: "When I was in school, gym class was basketball, running laps, and icky locker rooms. Today, kids get to play video games - and get credit for them! No, it is not as bad as it seems. Apparently, someone has become clued in that Dance Dance Revolution promotes physical activity, and a school in California is making use of that. Can I go back and retake gym?"
Then we won't need the Slashdot mirror anymore.
Sign me up!!
Nice thought on a Monday morning...
"Insanity is doing the same thing over again expecting a different result."
Just to be informative ;-) If you don't know what DDR is, it's a Japanese Game in Konami's Bemani Series. Bemani games are games that usually involve music and some sort of strange peripheral. Others include Beatmania (turntable) and paraparaparadise (hand sensors). DDR is probably the most popular one and is now on it's 7th mix. I'm really surprised this made Slashdot today. I just read it on www.ddrfreak.com 10 minutes ago.
When I first saw ddr I said "That's the stupidest thing I've ever seen". Then I danced. Don't be afraid to play this game. Just go to the arcade and do it.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
Leave the coinboxes in and credit the depoits towards a college escrow account.
My
Limekiller
In gym class in elementary school, we learned how to square dance. Every year. We also learned some other dances.
Playing Dance Dance Revolution for a significant length time seriously kicked my butt before I got used to it. Good for your lungs!
If there's anything I hate more than gym, it's dancing.
No security through obscurity: my password is goatse. Stop me before I troll again.
In my opinion at least. Would the average school gym budget stretch as far as the exhorbitant prices a set or two of maracas go for on ebay however?
More seriously, having read the article I see that they are using the actual $8000 a pop arcade machines, rather than the much cheaper mats for the console versions. Presumably the arcade mats are a lot more study, but is the difference in cost really worth it to them, do you think?
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
one of the few I have seen girls playing in arcades. We need more games that have a broad appeal like that.
Strangely when I was at school I was the only boy in the gymnastics class (an attempt to keep fit). It seems strange that no other boys thought of the benefits of this class!
People are getting fatter all the time (I certainly am) so we need to encourage fitness, but I would be disappointed if this replaced something good with queues for the machine.
Usually, when there's an article that clearly does not belong to Slashdot, you can easily spot the relationship between what was "marketed" and OSDN/VA software, so what's the connection in this case?? :) Oh, I found it, took just a bit longer: pyDDR.... you were just waiting for someone to link to OSDN, right? So there you are!
Given that a good portion of the Slashdot readership (myself included) couldn't dance to save their collective bashes (ahem), I'm not so sure y'all should be rooting this on.
You realize, of course, I'm just kidding. But you have to wonder if the grade is linked to the score.
My
Limekiller
Since Q3, my backflip hasn't been equaled in ANY gym class.
Have you ever seen someone jump around like a rabbit for 45 minutes and ending with a tripple backflip into a canyon, while shooting a 3pointer upwards, carrying 150pounds of armour ?
Ha, I can't wait till this shit gets approved for the olympics !
When will I end this grieving ? When will my future begin ?
a littleSamba de Amigo for a full workout.
I want 2D games back.
Should work unless there's a poor choice of mixes for the students... I can just hear Nick being sung in lunchrooms everywhere...
My brother had DDR at his after prom. They didn't want to spring for a machine, too expensive, so they played it on playstation. It's a bad sign that my high school didn't want to spend the cash even though the average income back there is 6 digits i think... We'll see how well this catches on outside of the daring, or rich school systems.
but 'm glad the game is finally making it over here, at least a little bit... won't be as hard to find now.
Personally I find competitive sports much more enjoyable than mindless exercise on a treadmill or danceing jukebox machine!
The problem with slashdot is that most of its users were bullied and stuffed into lockers as kids!
Its greating seeing technology helping people keep fit. I just need to find something like this that I would like :)
So you think the world of The Matrix is a good and pleasant future then?
im just floored. its brilliant. get the kids to exercise by making them play ddr.
its priceless. maybe next they will teach history and geography using rpg's
if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans
Americans are sick enough with junk food and lack of exercise. Geeks are even worse with there fat, greasy, dirty bodies and vegetating in front of computers 24/7.
The principles are easy; you pick a dance track to listen to, and as the song plays, steps scroll up from the bottom of the screen. Your controller is actually a gigantic platform with four directional arrows on it, which you step on in time to the music. All you have to do is match the right arrow to the one scrolling by on screen. Easy, right? I mean, come on, we've all got incredible hand/eye coordination due to all our years of video gaming! No problem.
Here's the mandatory link to DDR Freak, which has some basic information on the game. And for the Python friendly out there, check out pyDDR, a DDR clone for Python.
*creative work at the P.R. companies* ?
I hear that in many US high schools they have vending machines that dispense flavoured sugar water. This is to raise money for the school (and large companies). Surely getting rid of some of those would do as much good to improve health as a modest increase of exercise.
This is not that much different than the "mat" for the track and field game that used to be available for the origional NES (Nintendo).
:-)
Used to be pretty good excersize. I remember working up quite a sweat as a kid on one of those, I can see why it may be used gym. After two days of using it, my parents made me take in down the basement to play it.
Ahh, the memories...
-Pete
Soccer Goal Plans
in 10th grade (1991), our school caught on fire. So we had to finish the rest of the year in this huge building with temporary walls (like cubical walls only taller). Anyhow, for gym we played board games. No kidding! Too bad we didn't have enough Apple IIe computers at that time for every one to play "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego", and "The Oregon Trail".
--
Does anyone remember
I'm assuming they'll be using the "American" versions of DDR? I believe most of the good mixes are Japanese (or Korean) and specifically not for export (music licensing issues).
Also, nobody's going to complain that some of the lyrics are possibly objectionable? Oh well, it's California...
"Come on baby do it to me right now, do it to me slowly" is not something my school principal would have accepted in school, i think.
they (the posters) mostly use english because if you use your language who will understand you, and if you use their language that's conceding a point...
The site itself is fairly moderate and informative. The people in the country are mostly lovely, but the internet doesn't always bring out the best in people.
When I was a kid I'd come up with wonderful excuses to mss gym, then I went home and played doom. Whats the difference?
Personally, I like this idea a lot better. Not that I like or dislike punk music, but it just seems so right.
Back when I went to school (Melbourne High, FWIW), we had to take a sport activity. One activity briefly offered was Phasor Strike, i.e., laser-tag. Students would run around in a darkened room with backpacks shooting infrared beams at each other.
This was canned after a year or so after protests from parents. (The fact that a former student of the school made news by going postal and massacring some 7 people may have had something to do with it; OTOH, the mass murderer attended the school before Phasor Strike, and was a product of the culture of militarism in its cadet corps, which nothing was done about. *shrug*)
As for me? I took golf as a school sport. It was a decent excuse to have a leisurely stroll, rather than wrestling in mud with 10 other blokes or something equally unpleasant. Even at the cost of lugging a set of cheap, decrepit-looking golf clubs back and forth on the peak-hour train.
DDR type games are one of those inventions that seem lame, but when you think about, are actually killer apps. For example. I hate dancing, it makes you look like a right prat. I don't see where the enjoyment comes from. But DDR is fun. I know this could be taken even further, with rows and rows of machines in clubs/discos etc. and with different variations on the theme. For example, virtual-DDR, where you use a vr-helmet to shut you out from the fact that people are staring at your bad dancing. The helmet shows you a crowed of people cheering you and if one of them boos or laughs at you, the game will allow you to either draw a virtual pistol out and shoot them in the head, or simply kick them across the room matrix style :) The _real_ crowd watching your virtual view on a monitor, will be to scared to mock you on PH34R of death.
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
Women don't like to be referred to as 'broads'.
:one of the few I have seen girls playing in
:arcades. We need more games that have a broad
: appeal like that.
Okay, usually it's a game best played after half a bottle of Jack Daniels:-) but on the harder levels you are left sweating and panting by the end.
Of course, it is more an upper body workout - although your glutes get hit a bit when lunging for the low ones.
This video game thing is pathetic. This country goes more downhill every year.
I hated gym class too. Golf, softball, dodgeball and all the other crap they had you do was a joke. I was the captain of my XC team, and gym class destroyed my season junior year b/c of an @$$hole in gym class blindsiding me playing basketball and fracturing my foot.
Sports are great. H.S. gym has always been lame. Video games just add to the lameness. My opinion is if you participate in a sport, you should't be required to take gym class at all. Oh well.
You'll know when Gym classes have really gone too far when they have Tai-bo (ewww.)
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I forgot to mention this in my previous post-
I attended public high school (back in the last century). Our gym equipment was pathetic, particularly the weightlifting equipment and the sports balls. They even had lacrosse sticks that appeared to be made out of bamboo. Public high schools should buy basketballs that still bounce and soccer nets without holes in them before they spend $8000 on a video game.
I'm sorry, but high school sucks enough without arrogant liberals like yourself trying to suck every last pleasure out of life. Come on, being able to get a freakin SODA POP at school shouldn't be a controversy.
"raise money for the school (and large companies)."
Or maybe they are there because people enjoy drinking soda. Please stop seeing life through a narrow Marxist lense. Gosh, Heaven forbid people buying things and enjoying them. Must be a conspiracy...
Brian Ellenberger
Konami (the same people behind Dance Dance Revolution)has been putting out quite a few games that can burn some calories.
Police 911 uses an image tracking system to move your on screen character based on your actual body position. In order to reload during the otherwise typical gun game you need to duck behind something. In order to duck, you have to squat/duck in the real world.
MoCap Boxing has you put on a pair of weighted gloves and actually punch and block in a first person boxing match. This will tire out more than just geeks. I've watched as macho buffed guys with their girlfriends walk up to the machine and brag about how easy it will be. Within minutes they are barely able to keep their arms up.
If game designers can keep coming up with creative and well done games like these maybe the arcade is not as endangered as it has appeared.
Once more unto the breach dear friends...
Something I remember quite clearly from my days in High School is the fact that the people who loved gym class, and sports and football and.. well the Jocks absolutely dispised the thought of dancing at dances. They would only show up at a dance if they were dragged along by a g/f. But, the guys like me who were computer/video game fans also quite enjoyed techno and most of my friends from HS are really into DDR (as well as me, I own every mix for my PS2), as well as the other Bemani games.
Now, here's the interesting twist. Since gym classes are switching to DDR (and potentially other games) to get their students interested, and the current jocks hate dancing...
Something to think about, I think it's a cute thought.
~ kjrose
The article mentions one of the kids having a 5$ a day habit playing DDR on his lunch break using his lunch money. (Sorry, dont have the exact quote, but its in the bottom of the article.)
It's great that he's exercising and all, and even better if he's losing weight while he's at it, but if he's not eating at all just to play DDR, this can't be good. Wonder how much the school is gonna be on the hook for when the kid stays after school to play DDR and passes out on the machine.
<crusty_geezer_voice> Back in my day we played golf, ran around the track, got welts from dodge-ball, and we liked it, none o' this song and dancin' around, by yimminy!</crusty_geezer_voice>
Roll forward 40 years and hear what some of today's kids have to say...
<crusty_geezer_voice>Back in my day, we danced around to a pattern onna computer, by yimminy, none o' this lightsabre fencin', runnin' around in our underwear or gettin' welts from paintball!</crusty_geezer_voice>
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
When I was in middle school they somehow screwed me into taking gym class all 3 years...
But I still woulda had a hard time if I had to play DDR... I suck so bad at that game
My friends and I built some arcade-style pads for the playstation version, and he has almost all the mixes for the PSX... it's just too bad they don't light up, but they look pretty much like the real thing
There are only 10 kinds of people in this world... those who understand binary and those who don't
Bemani = Play-along games, and includes other games such as Drum Mania, Guitar Freaks, and Keyboard Mania. As well, there are other games that you can play along such as "the punching game", and a few others.
:-)
I have always looked at these musical games and thought to myself that they would have tremendous potential as a music teaching tool. The only thing that would need to be changed is that as well as the little coloured bars falling to indicate which button, key, pad to press, hit, slam, they could also include actual music notation. Not only would this make it so that what they learn on the machines is applicable to the rest of the world (if they learn to read notes fast, then they can play music faster), but also allows the opportunity for teachers of music to teach students the fundamentals. (So, if anyone from Konami reads this, consider the possibility of putting real music notation in the games)
As well, not only is bemani games good for that, but Drum Mania at high real and extreme real levels is a fantastic arm workout, and "the punching game" (Sorry, i don't remember the name of it) is also an amazing reflex workout. There are other ones as well that would be quite effective in getting students to exercise and yet still be entertaining.
Just some thoughts on Bemani games.
~ kjrose
Why not play twister?
It's equally exhausting and keeps you lean too. Also a coed games of twister is much more interesting.
And there's no need for these silly computer thingies in the gym.
DNA is the ultimate spaghetti code.
I will be impressed when someone develops a "Running Laps" game that kids are fighting to play.
(Apologize to Matt Groening) - every generation or so parents and other authorities get their collective panties in a wad about "Kids aren't getting enough exercise!" and demand that legislators "do something about it" - such was the case in the late 60's when teachers got the orders to corral all us 5th graders into the gym and start doing exercises. Our gym was a very noisy place, bad acoustics, several classes at a time full of kids shouting, screaming, etc. I'm struggling with this routine called 'rocking chair' (12-2-3-4, 13-2-3-4, 14-2-3-4, ...) but the instructor (A Christian fundamentalist type math teacher) sees me lagging behing and shouts something at me. I said "What?" and he shouts again, still couldn't make it out. Finally someone in front of me turns around and says, "He said 'do you think you can do these exercises?'" so I shout back at him, "Yes!". At that he marches around to me and starts with the Sgt. Carter drill routine, like "Drop down and give me 20!!", singled out, public humiliation, the whole sad scene. Once that ordeal was over, after class talking with some other kids I found out what he really yelled was, "Do you think you're too good to do these exercises?"
I've abhored physical exercise ever since.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
Isn't that game $1 (or so) to play in the arcades? What a way for the school to make mass profit.
Student: That machine ate my quarter!
Gym Teacher: Next!
Efren Belizario
headspeak.com
has to be DDR. I enjoy just watching the retards playing it!
see here for details.
A single man playing both pads on "manic" mode. The dance was almost hypnotic.
Of course, it leaves those with crappy coordination skills behind in the dust.
"You sir, have just crossed my happy line..."
It seems my wife (a product of the midwest) had an interesting physical education experience.
They too would dance, but they would dance to the seminol electronic music song, Popcorn! (sorry for the amazon link, but they have a sound sample for those interested...)
Oh wow, this is a great idea for a fitness tape: Moog'ing to the oldies! (someone tell Richard Simmons!)
However this sounds like a MUCH better switch (popcorn gets damn annoying after a little while)-
as long as they can maintain the machine, kudos to them!
But what happens when the songs get old?
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
...And for all you people who do, try being on the cross country team for a day. At my school we run eight miles per day. That's nothing compared to dancing on some machine.
Dodgeball in middle school/HS was fun.
The other three games I liked:
Indoor hockey. I was OK at that, but it was endless amusement.
Indoor soccer. Bouncy ball, NO out-of bounds - INSANE.
"Deathball" - Someone in one of my classes introduced it. WEIRD combination of soccer and handball. More insane than anything but dodgeball.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
...it's no wonder the majority of Americans are overweight. Fast food and soda. More than just food, a way of life!
(For the record, I'm American.)
Since when do kids need to be taught how to exercise? Just send them outside, they'll figure out a way. They're a bit smarter than many give credit. When I was in gym class, we weren't really taught anything. It was just mildly organized mayhem with dodge balls a'flying and occasional laps around the track.
I can see it now... Dozens of future slashdotter being bullied out of their lunch and gym money.
--Turvey
I had a flame... but she had a fire.
DDR is definitely a workout -- at least when you're doing the 3 or higher level songs. It's also the only excercise in which I ever bother to engage. When I was working part-time and taking late afternoon classes I would play DDR for one hour a day three days a week. I lost weight (I'm not overweight, but I'm approaching an undesirable heaviness) and I noticed that I was getting significantly less winded when running from the parking lot to class.
Unfortunately I'm working full time now and my DDR playtime has dropped to zero. Recently some friends were over and the mat got pulled out and I found myself winded after just three songs.
STOP MISUSING APOSTROPHES, YOU MORONS!!!
Having seen this game before (but not having played it), it this really exercise? Seriously, putting in a couple of quarters and doing the hokey-pokie wouldn't make me sweat. It wouldn't even raise my heart rate.
Over here, the only people you see using those machines are orientals. So I guess that's why it appeals to californians: so many orientals there... :) :) :) :)
Well, maybe not most popular in DDR's case, but it's a craze catching on quick...
DDR meets Quake... Run, run, catch up to the mong with your flag!
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
"Apparently, someone has become clued in that Dance Dance Revolution promotes physical activity, and a school in California is making use of that. Can I go back and retake gym?"
Timothy, were you to see kids playing "Dance Dance Revolution" you would know it normally involves the player stringing together 70 or more flawless dance steps in an increasingly complex routine. As I suspect you are;
a) A Nerd
b) English (and therefore devoid of any sense of natural rhythm (speaking as an English person))
I personally would give you credit to go back into a secondary school and dance for the class...
"Never call chicks broads." =P
Bah, nobody remembers UHF anyway...
LOL! Sorry dude, but golf is not a sport. It's a game. It takes talent, ability, and a lot of practice, but so does playing the clarinet. That doesn't make it a sport.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying golf isn't hard. It's very difficult to do well. But it's difficult in the same way that chess is difficult.
Playing golf will not get you fit.
From the article, one kid claims to have lost 15 pounds in two weeks. I'd just like to point out that that is impossible to do healthily. The human body is only capable of dropping 1.5 to 2 pounds of fat per week. If a person is losing more than that, then they're losing muscle mass, bone density, and plain old water - none of which are healthy things to purge that rapidly.
Like woodworking? Build your own picture frames.
It's probably more expensive, but has anyone seen that pedal-plane game? (You fly a plane around a course - The twist is that you have to pedal it to keep flying!)
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Well since the origional poster didn't really want to hear all your old sweaty geek PE stories I'll get back to topic.
These DDR machines started showing up at movie theatre arcades here in MN about 4 months ago. At first I had the same thought as everyone...who in their right mind would do that!?!
After about a month I noticed that it seemed to be fairly popular with the HS kids waiting for movies, or just burning some time on a friday night.
No when I go to see a movie there is a line to get to the machine, a crowd watching, and usually a male/femal pair on it in full aerobic gear with water bottles near by. I don't think they intended to see a movie that night.
I think this is the cheeze wiz of excercise, with the added bonous of producing somone who can hold their own on a dance floor.
--Should work--
Adam's Song" Originally by Blink 182
"Stoner's Song" Parody by S.T.G.
I never thought,
I'd get this stoned.
I smoked some weed,
Crack, pot, and coke.
I'm burning all my brain cells out.
And all the scientists can't figure out,
Why I'm here,
In my bed.
I take another snort, I'll sure be dead.
I'm to depressed, to smoke on.
Two more Marlboros, I'll be gone.
I usually take pills regularly.
16's the limit just for me.
Days when I could feel my sides.
I overdosed on bong smoke.
The bong is wide, to long to try.
If I take puff, I'd surely survive.
I couldn't wait, till' I got stoned.
To smoke a joint in my room alone.
In a hospital, half passed out.
I'll probably be dead without a doubt.
Give my two pounds, to my best friends.
You'll never smoke joint in my room again.
You'll take my bong, pack it up.
Remember the heroine in the trunk.
Mom let me, smoke Methol.
But tell her it's not her fault.
I usually take pills regularly.
16's the limit just for me.
Days when I could feel my sides.
I overdosed on bong smoke.
The bong is wide, to long to try.
If I take puff, I'd surely survive.
I couldn't wait, till' I got stoned.
To smoke a joint in my room alone.
So much to do, so little bandwidth.
--
Try Mozilla
I liked DDR when it first came out. I was one of the few people who probably bought the entire system on the import PlayStation.
Though up until now I still majorly suck at it.
Anyway, for those of you who live in apartments and do not want to disturb your neighbours downstairs, a couple of games I liked were:
Para Para Paradise and Samba De Amigo. I prefer Para Para, just because I am soo out of shape and carrying those maraccas are too much work.
Samba De Amigo is available in Dreamcast.
Para Para Paradise is available on the PS2, but only in Japan AFAIK. Would be nice to get that game imported.
Archie - CIO-for-hire
King of the Hill even had DDR is a two-part episode when Cotton (Hank Hill's father) returned to Japan to apologize to the family of a man he killed in WWII ("dubya dubya eye eye", in case you haven't watched the show). Bobby meets a little Japanese girl (very Weezer-esque) and though they don't share a spoken language, they share the unspoken language of art. Episode numbers and original air dates are below.
6ABE20 12-May-02 Returning Japanese (1)
6ABE21 12-May-02 Returning Japanese (2)
...but I've *SERIOUSLY* considered getting this game + one of those silly mats just to get my ass back into shape. I also might even *gasp* learn how to dance! The only problem I would have would be if someone actually saw me doing it. After reading all of the other posts in this thread I'm glad to know that there are other geeks who feel the same way.
Remember way back when the Onion ran a story about how it was now officially ok to not like Tenacious D? Yeah, I think this story clinches it. For everyone too scared to say it because they're afraid of negative peer pressure:
It's not officially ok to not like DDR.
[o]_O
They would throw us in horrible units like Step Aerobics, square dancing, swimming (who wants to go swimming everyday??) and wrestling. Nothing was as bad as wrestling -- for those who dont know -- the starting position for wrestling pretty much looks like a gay buttfuck, one guy is on his knees, and the other guy is behind him also on his knees. This just isn't "a good thing" (tm) for your typical teenager. My best friend and I decided we would only wrestle with eachother because atleast we were comfortable with eachother ...
Anyways, the reason for my ramble, if someone had told me we had a videogame instead of buttfuck wrestling in PE, I might have dropped by more often :) and anything that makes kids excercise is good :)
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
No music in the DDR series can even be remotely classified as pop. By definition, 'pop music' needs be be popular. There are a few licensed songs by relatively big name groups (Chumbawamba), and licensed songs by much-lesser known artists (Silvertear, Tenth Planet); but 99% of all DDR songs come from Konami Japan's own label, Beatmania. In fact, about 70-80% or so are done in house by Konami musicians.
The new DDR machines from japan, DDRMAX 6th mix actually says something like "only for use in Japan except under special arrangement from Konami". I guess the special arrangement is buying one of these machine from your distributor.
I mean, isn't innovation what made [insert your country of origin] great?
No, it was mostly the unfettered exploitation and persecution of the people we didn't like.
--
Sorry, its almost completely offtopic, but without any mod points to call my own, I thought it was worth the possible karma loss to highlight the above AC post. Quality wit display, on a day when I really needed it.
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
...further efforts by the same school to trick children into getting their education include a recent announcement that the films they show in their Sex Education classes will be produced exclusively by Vivid Video. Additionally, Asia Carrera has been hired by the school to teach a few computer classes.
~Philly
If Dance Dance is taught in Gym..then Dungeon Seige should be in History class and Quake should be in every armed forces camp we have...how does playing a game vs. actually learning something first hand compare to be any better..? lets see..hand eye coordination and sittin infront of a video game that you can play at home vs. going to school and gettin off yer ass to do some actual work. hmmmmm.
Alicia...
-Alicia
I played video games durring Gym class. wait they said IN gym class
Forcing sports is stupid. as an asthmatic marrying a woman with flat feet, I think it's a waste of time to force people to take a class like that. The number of kids with asthma increases every generation (since medication allows them to live to adulthood and reproduce), yet they still tried to force me to run until i got a doctor to give them a note telling them to cut it out. Even then, I still had to take the class, despite my inability to participate. I could have spent that time doing much more useful things, like learning German or Welding or something.
In SOVIET RUSSIA... erm...NSA AMERICA, the Internet logs onto YOU!
> > I mean, isn't innovation what made [insert your country of origin] great?
;-)
> No, it was mostly the unfettered exploitation and persecution of the people we didn't like.
Ah, you must be from France.
> Sorry, its almost completely offtopic, but without any mod points to call my own, I thought it was worth the possible karma loss to highlight the above AC post. Quality wit display, on a day when I really needed it.
Oops, my bad. You're from Poland.
[PowerPoint] is a tool for capitalist presentation
It's a shame the dance game costs so much, but anything that gets today's pop guzzling, candy bar inhaling lazy blob kids off their dead asses is a good idea. Here's another. GET POP AND CANDY MACHINES OUT OF SCHOOLS.
How ya like dat?
Get RDRAM! After all, it runs faster on Pentium 4 (or at least until dual channel DDR and DDR-II comes out)...
I don't know, to me doing DDR in gym class seems every bit as lame as everything else we had to do in gym class, none of which I was ever interested in in the first place. (Note: I've seen DDR and I also have no interest in playing it.)
I would have been much happier if I could have gotten school credit for all the sports I did do, outside of school -- every winter I skied, every summer, I swam, and all year round I rode horseback. (One summer I was even on the local/provincial/national circuit.) Those were the sports in which I was actually interested, not gymnastics and basketball, field hockey and square dancing... Now I just go to the gym as often as possible, but that has nothing whatsoever to do with my experiences in phys ed in school.
It all comes down to this: Unless you're really, really into something before you do it in school, chances are, anything you do in school (and this applies not just to PE activities but to other things like, say, reading [remember "duty reading"?]) because you have to, you're going to if not outright hate it, then like it a lot less than you would have if you were just doing it on your own.
Duty DDR? --shudder-- Makes me think of all those awful books I hated to read in English class, and I love reading.
I'm not a geek, I'm just a clever script.
Fucking - A. THINK before you mod, people. You just look like fucking stupid monkeys this way.
Ooop Ooop, Monkeys! Ooop Ooop!
----
wTf
Only it didn't work on her.
"We shall party like the Greeks of old! You know the ones I mean." - HedonismBot
..they were all chronically fat and unco-ordinated. Plus, they could have really make some, ah, interesting routines with E-rotic's songs.
We noticed Pensellnek, the science fair winner, was starting to do really well and checked his locker, sure enough half a bottle of MD 20/20.
In other news:
This math test certainly must have been enlightening, vocational training?
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Here (44k). You should be able to play this with a fairly recent version of WinAMP.
Can you install Linux on it?
"The two most abundant elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity." -Harlan Ellison
Anyone knows what I should buy (mat, game, anything else?) to be able to play this with Dreamcast, and where to buy it?
Bah. Come on people, go out and buy a soccer ball! Or a tennis racket. Or something.
This is just wonderful. As a society, we're getting fatter and lazier, and more addicted to computers. The solution? Encourage our addiction! Forget about balance, richness, or anything else--just try to use the addiction to mask the symptoms (fat, lazy, unhealthy).
Teaching kids nice and early that computers can solve everything, and that we can't live without them is guaranteed to create a generation that _can't_ live without them, and will painfully discover that they can't solve much of anything.
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
I thought that only gooks & zips played that game...
kinda like how only white folks play "exterminate gooks, zips, & cockroaches."
A gooky-zippy game has no place in an American school.
First came judo, and next will be DDR :/
Actually, there is a competitive DDR team at my college, the University of Florida, and they've played teams at a couple of other schools in the Southeast. So it *is* possible to treat DDR as a legitimate sport. Dunno whether the NCAA will ever sanction it, but anything is possible...
I've seen lots of posts that say this is a good thing, because anything that gets fat lazy kids off their collective asses is good. This may be true, but why try to bribe the kids?
Here's a novel thought: The kids are REQUIRED to take Phys Ed in most places. If they don't participate, they fail the class! If they fail the class, they don't go on to the next grade! I think that's as much of a motivator as giving them computer games to play, so they never have to be disconnected.
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
If it gets kids into physical activity, I'm cool with it.
Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.
Good points there. Although it might also lessen the objections to "non-conventional" exercise.
:)
I now remember the name. I've played it once at the local movie theater. Interesting game.
I like it because I love flying.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
for a gym class to be good is to have A GOOD GYM TEACHER. I was a pretty docile hs student. And I *hated* that I had to take gym. But I had the coolest gym coach ever (Coach Elders - oddly, husband of former Surgeon General Dr. Elders...), and he motivated me. We had to do pullups. I could not do these to save my life. But Coach told me I could. I went out and bought a pullup bar and tried constantly until I could. Because I didn't want to disappoint Coach.
So, as usual, a good teacher is worth more than all the technology you could pile into a classroom.
Do you really *need* a machine to be able to get somebody energized and motivated?
Instead of spending 8000$ a machine they should spend 1000-2000$ for good motivational skills classes for teachers.
I don't see how a game like this can have more advantage then a perfectly energized soccer game.
Thats one of the lower quality MODs I've heard. One of the instruments sounds like a car trying to start in a minor key, and its used throughout the whole tune. Don't introduce people to .mod files as something worse than MIDIs...
:-)
If you want to hear a high quality repetitive music MOD, try Bubblegum.
Someone set us up the bomb, so shine we are!
Check out some of the following sites: http://ballroom.mit.edu http://www.usabda.org http://www.ballroomdancers.com
Or, failing that, mod grandparent down!!
So you start playing DDR (Dance Dance Revolution), and at first you kind of suck. But as time goes on, you get better, so the machine starts going faster. Eventually the game is giving you the steps DDR (Double Data Rate)-style, and you can't keep up unless you increase your step (bus) speed. Interesting. You play DDR at DDR.
Lack of eloquence does not denote lack of intelligence, though they often coincide.
Seeing as my high school just dropped a cool million dollars on a new fitness center, which is really for the (%#%^) football and lacrosse jocks, I don't think $8k for a DDR machine is really that bad. Especially because the game's a ton of fun... wish my school bought a couple of those ^^
Anyone ever managed to get a triple-A or SS on "Drop Out" on the highest possible level without killing yourself in the process?
Never pet a burning dog.
...was a system they had at my local Y involving recumbent bikes. It was very similar to something like this, except the game involved four bikes networked together where you play free-for-all or teams that tried to shoot a ball into your opponents goal. The faster you pedaled, they fast your pod went. The were some controls on the handles to fire the ball. The same game also allowed you to race on a variety of courses against on another or solo for best time. It was without doubt the best exercise equipment I've ever used. The time in the bike flew by and when you played against others I found myself work much harder than I normally would've. The game their describing in the article sound a lot like "Stomp a Mole." A great game for a kid, but what about Death Rally hooked up to a bank of stationary bikes. There's no end to the games they could marry up with exercise equipment.
Ruger
...I said "That's the stupidest thing I've ever seen." Then I played. Guess what: it's still right up as one of the top ten dumbest games of all time.
:-P
Look, the idea is sound, the implementation is shit. If you have any "gaming skillz" at all, you worked out how to beat the thing in five minutes.
Diagonal placement of the feet on the four buttons, then rocking each foot as needed. Big feet are not required, because even a slight touch to the button is enough to trigger it. The rim around the buttons gives plenty of space to balance on. No exertion, no effort, no workout... just a little foot-eye coordination. I played for about 30 minutes on 4 quarters (50 cents to play) before I got bored and wandered away. Haven't bothered since.
I mean, really. I see these people jumping around like morons, and while it's entertaining to watch, it's also a sad commentary at how few people realize how trivially easy it is to beat the game by simply changing the play methodology away from the expected.
Yeah, okay, you have to have rhythm, a sense of timing, and lightning fast reactions (on the higher levels), but these are needed for most games anyway.
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
You catch more flies with honey than vinager.
The arcade machine has many advantages over the home console. For one, the pads need to be durable, strong, and solid. Home pads really, really don't have the same strength or feel. The arcade machine is also a solid one-piece whereas the console has all sorts of cords and things to be tripped over and broken, a television to smash, and a PS2 to steal. Not to mention those crafty students that would slip in a copy of GTA3 when the advisor wasn't looking.
The arcade machines are vastly superior to the home consoles, in basically all ways. PS2's skip, the pads slide, you can't feel your feet, there is no bar in back to hold yourself up, there isn't a coinbox... Really, for serious usage the arcade machine is the only way to go. Most serious dancers I know have a full machine.
This Sig is a mnemonic device designed to allow you to recognize this author in the future.
Back in my HS days, what sucked about the food & beverage options was that they weren't even remotely on a fair footing.
For drinks, I could either choose from ice-cold soda or a lukewarm milk/juice from the lunch counter. For food, it was either the pizza hut pizzas they had brought in each day, or whatever semi-edible nastiness was being pushed out of the cafeteria. The choice between eating barely edible crap vs. good-tasting food that's bad for you isn't any choice at all.
The problem is two-fold. First, that school budgets are so fucked that administrators feel the need to profit off of kids' expanding waistlines, and second that the budget's so fucked that the school cafeteria system makes absolute crap & calls it food. Also, forced to buy through gov't food surplus programs, local vendors, etc, they're basically dictated what they can & can't make and what they can make it with. Force cooks to use only certain ingredients and there isn't much they can do. Either way, the schools have to be giving kids healthy food -- it;s as important as anything else in school. I don't see any place for soda in schools without soda company profits playing a role.
I heard a story on NPR about a guy who has a milk vending machine -- he goes begging for space at schools, putting his machines in at a loss trying to generate business. Why? Because Coke & Pepsi get exclusive contracts for a school, throwing in fat "sponsorship" checks to boot & shutting other, possibly healthier options out. On top of this, principals are rated higher based on their ability to generate such funding in-house without having to go through the district.
It's called graft, and it's as bad as if a school took the republican or democratic party's money to teach kids from their free history book. It should stop. Kids can have all the soda they want in their lives, but schools should set the example.
The only tool you've got against psychosis is experience.
OK. So you figured out how to "beat" the game by not really playing it, got bored, and wandered away. Yet there's all these other people just not as smart as you are... having hours of fun PLAYING the game. Hmmm.
I can appreciate the interest in figuring out how to circumvent a system. It is a part of designing better systems. Games included. But when it comes to games... if you don't play by the rules, you're no longer playing the game. And the enjoyment of a game is in its playing.
It reminds me of people who run auto-aim proxies, bots, and other cheats in various FPS games. And then they claim that they're only cheating because they got bored with the game. Once again, by circumventing the rules of the game (cheating), they stop actually playing the game. And once you do that - why bother?
Yeah, that is if we want to become a nation of Jabba the Hut's unable to move under our own power. We'll win an viedo Olypics event if there ever are any though. How sad. A nation of lazy selfiinterested pigs with no social or team skills. I can hardly wait. Sheesh.
Your idea works for beginner songs, but breaks down rapidly (what if the two pads one of your feet are touching need to be triggered at the same time)? And it does not work at all for harder songs. I would love to see you pass some of the 9-footers doing that. Hell, I'd love to see you pass a 7- or a 6-footer, even.
I wish my school had gotten something similar to DDR when I was a kid. I didn't find out about DDR until I was 23. I was on my arse in front of my Playstation or PC just about every waking moment or wasting my money in arcades on shooting/driving games.
I was in horrible shape at that time. I was at 260 lbs. and wearing size 40 pants. I REALLY needed to get in shape at that time but any excercise programs I tried to get into I find monotonous and tedious. I could never keep myself motivated for more than a couple weeks before dropping it like a ton of bricks. It all changed when DDR arrived in town back in late 2000. I immediately got hooked to the game and was playing it every chance I could get.
After just 10 months of playing DDR, I dropped 68 lbs. and went down to a size 34 pants. I'm still playing the same type of game after nearly 2 years and been able to maintain my waistline. While my preference of dancing game has migrated over to Pump It Up, I want you to find me a current video game that has a lot more benefits instead of being bashed by the mass-media for rotting our minds.
If it takes DDR to get kids motivated to exercise, more power to them. While our super-sized arses keep getting bigger (60%+ of population overweight/obese), there has to be other fun interactive ways to get you people to exercise. After playing DDR, I don't see why the rest of America can't get thin since it's SO much fun!
DDR is now being used in schools, SOMEONE SHOOT ME NOW
On the band bus?
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
The scariest part of gym class was definitely the teachers. Perhaps video game instruction will phase them out eventually.
If you want to see what DDR is like or practive your moves before going to the arcade, check out
StepMania, an open-source DDR simulator for the PC. A SDL port is in the works. If you're interested in helping with the project, please contact me!
do you really think you will do better the second time :)
Some time ago at school we pluged a DDR pad (those sold by Red Octane) in the computer (using the paralel port) and make some key bindings(using two programs that i dont remember rigth now), and we found that its really fun to play Quake2 (we hadn't quake3 yet) using the DDR pad to move and using a 3-button mouse to fire, strafe and jump (or course timing was a BIG problem, but its still fun) but of course it takes hours just to get used to the movement (once you got used ever circle-strafe its simple)
DON'T PANIC.
But the machines are so damned expensive.
:)
I play at the Metreon, and Sunnyvale Golfland. I was introduced to this game when my then-employer, Linuxcare, had an event at the Metreon, and we meandered into the arcade. I think a couple of the ddrfreak people were there at the time.
I have since become horrifyingly addicted. I play the CD of songs. I play DDR wherever I go, searching out the machines in vegas, colorado... and this summer, in europe.
Eat Eat Wallet.
I started playing DDR back in April of 2001. When I first saw it, I was like "....what the hell? Thats retarded." I didn't have any problems with dancing or anything, but a dancing video game? Gimme a break. But just for kicks, I tried it out. After my first game, I was saying "Okay, how can I buy this to play it at home?" I was hooked. And I had only played 4 songs, and I had worked up a considerable sweat. I ended up playing about 3 more rounds and I was completely wupped. I bought the recently released home version of the game and played it all the time. I was at 235 pounds at the time. 5 months later I was at 170. I had increased stamina, increased energy, and I just FELT better. I had tried just going the classic route of just walking/jogging or working out in a gym but I could never make myself stick to it, which is why I think DDR worked so well because I wasn't playing it to lose weight. I was playing it because it was FUN. With DDR you have specific goals, like beating a specific song or getting a full-combo (hitting every single step in the song with a Perfect or Great score) on a song. It wasn't like "okay I'm gonna go workout!" it was "ok I'm gonna go try to pass Afronova Maniac". And because of these goals, its what kept me doing it and in turn what made me drop the pounds. I still play to this day and I'm still at my 170 weight, and I feel awesome. I can pass the Maniac (hardest difficulty) songs with no problem. I think the gym program is excellent! Give the kids a workout that they ENJOY, and are EAGER to do, and you'll see results. Although I thought was funny about the report (if you watched the actual video of the report) was they called it "Dual Device Revolution, or DDR"... Hahaha what the hell?
A horse racing game where you jump on a horse and bob up and down and try to keep pace with the pack, prevent yourself being boxed in, and then sprint to the finish.
The bobing for 40secs or so really puts quite a strain on your quads and calves, and then the final 10 secs for the sprint point will bring your biceps and pecs close to point of failure.
All of my friends play a sport at at least a semi-professional level (basketball, australian rules football, soccer, and a triathlete)... and I'm yet to see anybody play more than twice in a row.
Glenn
The Smrt way to trade CFDs on the ASX
Retake Gym Class with DDR, your still gonna have to play Dodgeball!
Ever since I played TotD I've thought that twenty licensed copies of it for a school would teach much better typing than ever Mavis Beacon could.
Anyone else know any good replacements for subjects? A best of three round of Carmen Sandiego for a geography final?
Yahoo! Pipes are awesome. How awesome? http://pipes.yahoo.com/jesdynf/slashdot
Redwolf Airsoft
And best of all they are legal to import with mild modification.
Once more unto the breach dear friends...
Since the topic is about how to get kids fit, I fail to see how it is offtopic or a troll. Not exactly funny either, except in an ironic way (like the person who drives to a gym).
Obviously more contentious than I thought. When I was at school we brought relatively healthy sandwiches from home and drank water. Once a week I would have a meat pie and a doughnut. The coke addiction only started once I went to university.
Although that requires a large amount of space in an outdoor setting.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
yes i've seen DDR...and there is movement ofcourse..i was generalizing the fact that its a video game, instead of a teacher taking time to teach a course they are placing students infront of a game. now thats lazy too. so in response i appologize for generalizing DDR into a "sitting event"...any idiot knows its not...
-Alicia
Sorry, but I haven't used LHArc since like 1994. Seriously, what am I supposed to play this with?
If you're on a UNIXish system, shame on you for not being able to find a util.
If you're on Windows get FilZip, I've found it to be a very useful though slightly buggy program.
Someone set us up the bomb, so shine we are!