Slashdot Mirror
The DDR Workout - It's Official
webster1 writes with a followup to a recent Ask Slashdot question. "An AP news story just released says that Dance Dance Revolution is becoming the weight-loss routine of choice for many young gamers. One quote says '"At first I was playing it for fun, but when you see results you're like, Yeah!" said Matt Keene, a 19-year-old from Charleston, South Carolina, who used to weigh more than 350 pounds and wear pants with a 48-inch waist.' It's for grown-ups too. Even Jason Enos, product manager at Konami Digital Entertainment-America, which distributes the game in the U.S., has lost 30 pounds playing the game. There's even a site for DDR wieght loss fans: www.getupmove.com - My wife and I have been playing for months now with this goal in mind, though we aren't yet seeing these results." (A post from a few months ago talks about getupmove and gives some calorie-burn specifics.)
i used to get a workout from playing old-school arcade games, the ones where you had to press buttons 10 times a second. on the other hand i'm sure eating pizza and drinking soda more than counteracted any sweat i produced.
That's right Jenny Craig, you're going down! Quickly buy your own DDR and get rid of that stair master!!!
The best way to predict the future is to invent it. -Alan Kay
It's too bad im an uncoordinated computer geek...
He say 1 and 1 and 1 is 3, got to be good lookin' cause hes so hard to see...
Seriously, could this kid have lost more weight doing a low impact exercise regime instead of putting extreme weighty pressures on his stressed joints?
I lost 60 pounds in 3 months just by starting a resistance weights training program. My fitness wasn't an issue, just excess weight.
If I point out that you are incorrect, making me a foe does not make you any more correct.
I'm not sure how it could NOT work.
If you do DDR for 45 minutes, 4-5 days a week, you'll be losing about 2 pounds every 3 weeks.
Worked for me, and my daughter.
You should be getting up to about 180BPM near the end of your workout- not sticking to some 130BPM songs.
For me, having the Xbox version, and downloading new songs was a lifesaver- otherwise I would be completely bored of the songs.
And finally- you won't lose anything if you are using the controller! Get a good dance pad!
No reason to lie.
Man, since this is Slashdot wouldn't you expect the article be about computer memory when you see 'DDR'...
I call DDR my 8, 9 and 10 foot work out!
(DDR levels are based on how many feet the song is rated! 9 foot songs are great fat burners!)
It's was never designed to do that...
This is the perfect time to plug StepMania, an open source version you can get here. I'm not a developer, just someone that enjoys short techno songs and a frantic workout.
You zap the moderators with a wand of humor! The moderators resist!
Im sure the bullies will be losing weight to beating the snot out of him.
Yesterday's article about DDR weight loss
Is slashdot sponsored by DDR?
the pun is mightier than the sword
Oh, that's right.
/. recycles the link for the same news on DDR. A simple search for "DDR weight" comes up with both the dupe and the original (posted by Cliff no less!).
It seems like CNN and Yahoo use the same AP news for DDR, and
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
"up-up-down-down-a-a-b-a"
This konami code reference from the 'department' bar is horribly wrong. Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start is the correct code.
The Braying and Neighing of Barnyard Animals Follows.
I'm not saying DDR can't work for weight loss, or that getupmove.com or the AP story aren't valid. However, the site is run by RedOctance, a DDR pad supplier. Check out the contact information for getupmove.com or the suggested pads under 'Get Started.'
Again, I'm not denying the posibilities of using DDR for weight loss. After the Ask Slashdot thread I downloaded StepMania and am seriously considering buying a pad and USB adapter becasue it does look like tons of fun. I just think it's important to be concious of where you're getting your information...
-Trillian
I hate dance music, but some of my ManOwaR songs get up to 200BPM. That would be a workout. :)
I'd worry about RSI injuries, DDR is a lot more intense than a focused workout, you're slamming the pads to make time somethines, whereas on a jog or a bike you can conrtol the physical impacts much better.
"Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
I personally loving the many Boxing games that are around.
I've been doing martial arts for years and still find these games a challenge and I sure work up a sweat.
Perhaps there is a future in the "Virtual Fitness Industry!".
this isnt that surprising really, video games are a lot more interesting to some kids than sport. Its great to see some measurable positive results from gaming. Next we could have super fast text scrolling across our screens to 'train' us in speed reading.
Do you need a website upgrade?
There is a free software version of DDR, written in Python. It used to be called PyDDR but now it's called PyDance.
You can play it with a real dance pad, or just play it with your keyboard. I suspect you will not lose much weight if you play it with your keyboard, however.
http://icculus.org/pyddr/
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
This isn't exactly an original idea, but I thought I'd share it anyways.
A local arcade has Para Para Dancing (you use your arms, for those who are unfamilar,) and DDR 4th Mix. My friend and I always thought the ultimate work out game would be some mystical combination of the two. Made, that would get dead tiring (not to mention confusing as hell.)
I'm for a challenge like that though. Hard core gamer for life.
IMHO, people just need to work out! whatever that is - scary-looking gym machines, biking, jogging, skating, rollerblading, having sex (huh, like that one! :-), or play this musical jumping game. Work out! For fun and health!
There are both Windows and Linux versions avaliable, as well as source code. Avaliable here.
It dosn't come with any song/step files, however, you can make your own or download ones made by others. Word is, entire official DDR mixes for Stepmania are avaliable out there on the net.
but someone should really send cowboyneel a link to this one.
It's true! I used to laugh, say I would never play this game. And now, 2 months of DDR have me not only looking better, but feeling better as well. I am active in general - Football and Wrestling - But DDR has something neither of those have. The biggest problem with exersize is it's repetitived nature. But when you can practice a form (specific Dance) and recieve real time data based on your accuracy, it encourages it to repeat. So far, my only health conern has been the sheer addictiveness - I landed wrong on an ankle after a 4 hour marathon session, and was out for a week. But in general, the experience has been nothing but positive. Hope the next one is online - how about a /. competitive league?
Physics is nothing like religion. If it was, we'd have an easier time trying to raise money!
I would never buy Britney style American pop, or J-Pop, but if either is on and I'm in the right mood I can enjoy it for what it is.
Just imagine, not only will you be sweating off those 3 extra big macs you ate for lunch, but you'll also be providing hours of endless laughter and entertainment those around you!
Micikawa baku-baku kawaii dorrriffftuuuuuuu! Bentu kama nichi pento baki? ^_^
Most slashdot readers probably already have atleast an original Playstation (and if not, used ones can be had for around $20 to $30 or the computer version of DDR can be used). Throw in the cost of a good dance pad (~$50) and the game (another $20 to $30), and your workout system only costs you ~$100, including the cost for a Playstation.
I suggest a dance pad like the one above, because the form insert really helps cut down on the strain on your joints (a must if you are going to be DDRing often as a workout)
Ultimately weight loss is not about how much you eat or how much you exercise. What you need is a negative energy input, on in plain English: You must burn off more calories than you take in.
The reason this works for some and not for others may well be the fact that people naturally increase their energy input (eat more) when their energy output (exercise) increases.
But regardless of if you loose weight or not, any activity causing your pulse to rise will make you more fit. Which is a good thing.
.: Max Romantschuk
i second that. plus the extra advantage of getting out of the house and being around people is probably as good mentally/socially as any DDR homestyle crap in your living room.
But going to a gym and wearing spandex really won't help the slashdot crowd. Sure we might lose weight but chicks defently won't find that cool, and spandex is just asking to get beat up(Just try going around wearing season 1 uniforms from ST:TNG).
Playing DDR not only is good exercise but the females totaly think it's cool. Your not playing some dorky game trying to kill things or collect items, your dancing! They love to dance! Now get out there and knock yourselves out, before you know it, you'll be slim and covered in chicks!
What insensitive clods! What about those of us who need to pick up a few extra pounds? They need an exercise game that encourages eating more and doing exercises that build weight!
:P
Or maybe a video game based on SuperSize Me bundled with discount coupons would be a more tasty way to approach it?
This will be placed right along side the Atkins diet! It's all a conspiracy by the neo-Zionist Christian Communist Right to get geeks to slim down! Soon there will be no more fat geeks, and then the geeks will marry, and then what will happen to Slashdot!?
Karma whorin' since 1999
not really
Didn't they have something for their powerpad? I swear I've seen it before.
Semi related, we still bust out the powerpad sometimes at family get togethers. I forget the name of the game we usually play, but it's team based and has weird competitions (six legged race, pump up a bubble and run inside it) It used to wear out the whole family by the end of the night.
so how are you enjoying your first day here at /.?
Yeah DDR is/was fun for me.
I still enjoy playing it occasionally, but about 6 months ago I hit a brick wall where I stopped getting any better.
I played for about a year, and there's only a few songs on Extreme (arcade version) I can't pass (most of the 10-footers except for Sakura, Bag and Paranoia Survivor which are quite achievable with practice).
The problem is that it's really expensive if you want to get good. I've pumped at least AU$300-400 into DDR both at lock-ins (ie. 6 hours of unlimited play for AU$13 etc.) and just normally (AU$2 for 4 songs).
No doubt about it being a good workout. After playing for 6 months I went down from about 85kg to 74kg.
I stopped playing and started eating pizza again and I've put so much weight back on (ie. almost 20kg).
It kinda got boring for me as I found a new game (Beatmania IIDX).
By all means, don't just pass DDR off as lame like many of my "friends". God knows the number of payouts and sexual preference innuendo I've received from them for playing it ("not that there's anything wrong with that!").
It is fun in moderation, and if you're determined to get into it (and you have a lot of kesh), it WILL keep you fit.
Good endurance songs (not necessarily difficult):
So Deep (Heavy)
Can't Stop Fallin' In Love/Speed Mix (Heavy)
Rhythm and Police (Heavy)
Homonyms are fun!
You're driving your car, but they're riding their bikes there.
You're a bitter sweaty old man. I bet you have an "under-13" profile on Yahoo.
Don't feel bad. I did, but she's over 13 now. I guess we all have to grow up sometime. Meet me at the 2nd floor arcade in the Mall, the men's room is right around the corner.
It's a Japanese video. I wonder wny they call it Surf Surf Revolution.
Not too long ago (and even today) gamers were stereotyped as social recluses who couldn't interact beyond the realm of their own computer. But with the internet, multiplayer gaming is common place, spawning catch phrases like netiquette and the establishment of clans and clubs.
Now gamers are purportedly too fat, too skinny, too pasty, or some other unhealthy physical attribute. I hope that DDR represents a small-scale gaming trend where games become more physically intense. Imagine if some of the games out today could be adapted like that.
Or more likely they'll end up in that great Power-Glove graveyard in the sky.
Corporations: your universal scapegoat for all society's ills.
I'm already thin, I cannot diet :)
The biggest problem for most computer gamers I know, is that they drink cola with sugar and eat candy bars. Their biggest arguments for not drinking diet coke are: doesn't taste well, aspartam is dangerous for your health.
:-)
They simply don't get the priorities right - being overweight is much more dangerous than drinking diet coke! The only way to lose weight is to consume less kilojoule (4,18 Joule = 1 Calories for those Americans who don't understand the metric system) than you spend on living. If you want to continue drinking sugar-cola and eat candie bars, you really have to do a lot of exercise!!! - more than most people with that kind of weight problems can or will do.
Personally I lost 15kg in 5 months without doing any exercise, without any special plan for what I eat, just by replacing coke with diet coke and removing all fat and sugar from my meals, replacing food with low-energy and diet products. At Christmas 2004 I expect to have lost 30kg, and spring 2005 I expect to have lost 35kg, and then I have reached my ideal bodyweight and will have to do something to keep my weight up
It certainly helps, but if you still eat too much, that will certainly not change radically. I'm in the US since a month and weighty people is a stunning reality.
For my own person (and it engage only me) I see some bad habits (that I begin to take):
- not eating at regular schedule and eating all day long
- piece are so huge!!
- go to work by car ; it is known that walking
every day (1/4 jour or half an hour) is very
healthy.
Link to that I read an article about a doctor that
sold a slim method that worked: instructions specified just 2 things:
- take the pil after the dinner, at around 8PM,
- don't eat anything after
nothing more.
After a period of time, 2 facts have been revealed:
- treatment was working
- the doctor was prosecuted, because he was selling a placebo.
Indeed the doctor played on the fact that people was still eating after the dinner during all the evening.... quite smart.
my 2 cents
Sometimes I like the Old Fashioned fun of getting outdoors and riding my bike. Of course, I have a GBA duct taped to my handlebars so I can have some real fun. It's fairly low impact... most of the time.
If you check out the www.getupmove.com website, you will notice a gal by the name of Tanya Jensen. I used to work with her at Microsoft testing for the XBox group. What a trip!
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.
(sorry, couldn't think of a better subject.)
My friend remarked at the end of the 2nd semester that DDR was the only thing keeping him in shape, as us aspiring engineers don't have as much opportunity to do, well, active things.
I'm not sure if DDR can be classified as aerobic, though. True, you don't get a break until after the song (or if you fail), but songs are generally 3 minutes, and so does not meet the definition of aerobic.
It does, however, cause you to jump around a lot (only if you're doing difficult songs), and it is almost like running in place, but with more coordination.
I get my DDR pads (that I ordered from eBay) on the 27th. Tomorrow if I'm lucky. I'm ready to shed some pounds. =P
What next? DDR - Atkins Version, now with fewer carbs!
For a mere $39.95, you could have had a controller with a turbo button to do that button pressing for you.
What I found truly amazing about this story was that Konami still existed. Can you dance up up down down left right left right b a b a start? If so, what does it do?
paintball
I've been playing various versions of DDR (as well as Stepmania) for about two years. I couldn't even jog a mile, heck I couldn't walk it without cramping up, but since then I've been able to pass pretty much every song (sans Paranoia Survivor Max Oni), and through this, I can now run a mile in less than seven minutes. I wasn't ever fat to begin with so unfortunately I don't have any I lost 100 lbs story, but wow, having not done any other physical activity besides type on a computer for close to 6 years (when I quit soccer due to lack of being in shape), I can run a freakin 6:40 mile. Hail DDR in all its nerd-refining glory!
From the up-up-down-down-a-a-b-a dept... Perhaps you ment up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-b-a-select dept? That's the Konami code, if that's what you're thinking of.
Since when has this country used intellectual elite as a pejorative term?
If you want to play DDR but aren't otherwise a big console gamer (and don't care about song variety), why not just get an old PS1 and one of the older games... I'm playing on a dreamcast I got for free but it's more of an effort to scare up the necessary items to play on a dreamcast.
Bull Smith
BS Newswire
In the news today, teenagers have discovered that moving around alot helps you to lose weight.
"I tried the pizza dieet, the deep-fried pork diet, and the ice cream diet. Nothing worked until I spent hundreds of dollars a week playing Dance Dance Revolution!" said one formerly husky girl
Adults were a bit confused by the whole affair. One fit mother exclaimed "You mean they pay to dance? I've been doing that for years without paying a dime!"
This phenominon has already spawned a whole new industry. Entrepenurs have in the works a dollar bill treadmill/slot machine combination for gambling adults as well as a bicycle that takes credit cards and which commuters can rent by the day in order to get fit on their way to work.
Sapere aude!
It's a morale booster too. The cool cartoon characters strobing around onscreen spouting positive things like "what a cool guy you are!" and "wow, what a dancer!"
I agree with you but why stop there?
I recently decided to stop drinking soft drinks and go for water (Mountain Valley Spring Water), and I also noticed that I had much more concentration, my sleep schedule became more normalized and my attitude was generally more positive.
It's not just sugar. It's the myriad of chemicals that we put in our bodies in massive quantities that screw up our body chemistry. Dropping sugar may help with caloric intake, but it doesn't address the more serious problem that we're constantly poisoning our bodies with chemicals.
You don't have to be a vegan, but you can choose to shop where they sell meat and produce that isn't bathed in pesticides, antibiotics and other things.
Afterthought to my previous comment: While I applaud the article, or the notion of the article, the underlying principle is rather simple. Any activity (keyword: active), eg. one that requires jumping, rapid movement, etc., over a prolonged amount of time and repetition can cause one to lose weight. Such activities include: running, playing certain sports, and yes, DDR. The key to losing weight is to watch what you eat (calories) and exercise. The exercise portion can arguably do more, and can be considered important. If DDR is such an activity that one enjoys, by all means, use it as an exercise. I would like to reject the comment made near the top (about how Jenny Craig should dump the stairs machine and make a DDR-type variant), and point out that DDR is not the next 'miracle-lose-weight' fad. It's simply an activity. I don't mean to be harsh on the poster of said comment. I know it was meant humorously (and not to be taken too seriously), but I'd just thought I'd point that out. At least now there's something to keep those geeks that like to play DDR in shape, to offset all that time spent in front of the computer. 'Fingerdancing' (playing StepMania w/o pads) doesn't count. =)
...but a 350lb kid lost 30lbs playing this game? Forget Comedy Central, I would pay to see that!
Hrm screw dance parties someone needs to license this games hardware tech with a little modification to make a game that will teach me Kung-Fu :)
-- - REDWiRE
I also found that the "DDR workout" was really good for helping with my asthma-like symptoms. Much better exercise for the lungs than just sitting around all day in front of a PC...
I of course have to take this opportunity to plug our homebrew music beat game for the Dreamcast, Feet of Fury. Like DDR, but with player vs player modes, the ability to create user Swap CDs of your own music, and of course a Typing of Fury mode!
It's not free software, but I maintain the toolkit used to develop it (KOS) under a BSD license, and this toolkit is used by pretty much all DC homebrewers now (with the notable exceptions of DSNES and SCUMMVM). Two new homebrew games just came out actually... check 'em out here if you have a DC and want some more games: Games Of All Types. Yes, I know what you're thinking.. but that's a safe link ;)
Cryptic Allusion - New Mac and Dreamcast Games!
Extra Extra Read all about it!
Exercising helps you lose wight!
Film at 11.
*sigh*
I forgot.. whoops :) Link to KOS for anyone who's interested.
The harshest part, of course, being "seeing 350 lb. people play DDR."
But seriously, folks. Go swimming. Look up your local Masters club. Best full-body, low-impact workout you can get (just watch those shoulders).
DDR.
;)
This definition of DDR too should help you lose weight if you do it regularly.
i recognize that Tanya chick
SAENODA FUCKING SOLD OUT.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
Sounds like DDR is the DoubleRate enhancement of the old Nintendo World Class Track Meet game released years ago which included a PowerPad to record track times and longs jumps!
Anybody who thinks they will immediately lose weight playing this game is kidding themselves. This game at best provides a moderate intensity workout with the added twist of being challenging and perhaps addictive.
One thing I have always observed with "I Lost Weight!" articles is they almost always pass over the DIET - that is generally the diet gets an obligatory one line comment (if that) somewhere after most of the information of the article has been devulged.
Anyone who really knows what they are talking about in terms of weight management will tell you that the most important thing in losing/gaining/maintaining weight is your DIET. Your exercise is merely there to burn excess calories you consume over your maintenance calorie level - and of course to promote cardiovascular health and whatnot. (that is, the number of calories required to maintain your current body mass). Easy to understand how you got fat in the first place when you consider what happens when you excess calories are not burnt off
This is my opinion goddamnit.
DDR is pure trash. I don't come here to read about stupid jap-pop fads that some anime fanboys pick up on. I come to slashdot to read about technology. I come to slashdot to read about software, about linux, about open source politics, corrupt corporate monoliths, and about kernel releases. Hell, those fucking annoying SCO stories are on topic at least.
We have enough crap fads from America, we don't need to import Japan's crap fads. I'm all for good anime, give me Akira or Ghost in the Shell any day, but shit is shit no matter what country it comes from.
But they can take their Pokeman, their Dance Dance Revoltingshit, and their other weak fads and shove them up their ass.
Jesus christ. Forgive a man for having taste, will ya?
And here I am lifting sticks of RAM. Even the 2gb sticks aren't much of a workout. :/
Most folk'll never lose a toe, and then again some folk'll...
That Jarred guy from subway have nothing on this guy image shamelessly linked from ddrfreak.com
My roomate here at Caltech did DDR for 3 units of PE credit last fall as a self designed fitness program. 5 or 6 others did it with him. He would have continued in the next term, but he broke his back :( DDR just isn't the same anymore
Pffft...
... IT BEGINS!
I lost weight by eating pizza once. It was left out over night, and then put in the fridge. I didn't know that, and had a few slices.
8 hours later
Over 5 hours of water works from both ends of me every 15 minutes. After about the first 2 hours I stopped the dryreeching(sp?) and began to take in fluids.
The next day I weighed myself (I do it every day) and I was just over 7Kg (15.4lb) lighter. Mind you, my weight is only 65Kg (143lb).
Trust me, it is the best (and fastest) diet you could ever have.
BTW, it took me about 2 weeks to get my weight back up to where it normally is.
it is only after a long journey that you know the strength of the horse.
It works. I've gone from 200lbs and kinda flabby to 170 and muscular. It hasn't done much for my arms, but it's done wonders for my legs & metabolism.
I have a video of me doing a particularly hard song. It's neat. MAX300 AA, without clinging to the bar
Yeah, DDR fucken sucks! Mod this guy up!
$la$hdot. The next lame joke.
The last console I bought was a SNES. Where do I turn in my geed card?
paintball
Yeah, you can achieve the same results by going out clubbing on the weekends, and as a side benefit: you might even get laid.
Heavy people quickly damage their knees with their weight only and jumping around a lot doesn't help much I guess.
I speak german fluently, in a horrible american accent. Whoever was singing that song shares my proficiency.
paintball
the only problem with this workout is that the only people that don't look like complete idiots playing ddr are 12 year old asians and they sure as hell don't need to lose any weight.
U U D D L R L R B A B A [select] start
The following text is included to defeat the lameness filter, conclusively demonstrating that the lameness filter can not pass itself.
paintball
http://www.cobaltflux.com/
You can run 'em over with an SUV as the video there demonstrates. $300 but a steal compared to the arcade...
And I don't think they'll buy it now.
Parents: "It's a nice day out - go outside and play."
"But I'm only one stage away from beating super mario brothers for the first time without dieing!"
Parents: "You're never going to get anything from video games."
"Video games increase hand-eye coordination!"
Parents: "ooooooooo, you've convinced us, play video games all day!"
Could you lose some weight playing DDR all the time? Probably. That doesn't change the fact that you wouldn't be a LAZY FATASS IF YOU GOT AWAY FROM YOUR FREAKING GAME CONSOLE FOR MORE THAN 5 MINUTES AT A TIME!
If you're seriously considering using DDR as a means to weight loss, maybe you should consider TURNING OFF THE GAME CONSOLE for good and going to PLAY SOME BASKETBALL or something, you lazy physically and socially uncoordinated fatass.
paintball
Does anyone know if this can help with real dancing skills? I seem to be rather cursed with a lack of rhythm and other such things required to be a good dancer (in an environment away from a DDR machine, mind you), and I'm wondering if anyone has noticed a difference and/or gained skill in "real" dancing.
Being currently in Berlin, when i first saw the headline i did a double-take, and steroid/blood doping came to mind in a mental image not unlike Rocky IV (where the Russian boxer was working out).
I think you made a very important point. The problem of pathological shyness is often related to the neurotic anxiety that could be described as "OH MY GOD I'M GONNA TO LOOK SILLY IN PUBLIC AGAIN". I think every geek and nerd has experienced this kind of panic at least once. It's like when a gorgeous girl approaches you and says "Hi, how are you?". If you are too much afraid of looking silly in public, you'll get that kind of panic, the panic will eat your tongue and you will probably mumble some uncomprehensible "Um... errr... ahem... nice... I mean, fine... I mean, ok... I mean, cough, how are you....". Then you'll start to realize, that the fear of looking silly in public made you actually look silly in public and then you will feel very silly. In public. So the panic will incrase and you will look even more silly (in public).
But if you get rid of that fear and STOP being afraid of looking silly in public, you might just have a friendly laugh with the gorgeous girl and say something like "Now, that was surely the Guiness top ten of the worst small-talk ever... speaking of Guiness, can I get you something to drink?", and the problem will be gone. You would no longer look silly, because you HAVE LEARNED HOW TO ENJOY IT!
When do they come out with the SD workout? or the PCI workout? IDE Workout?
...is this a joke?
There is a big down-side to the current DDR-craze, which I'm all too well acquainted with.
Let me be blunt about this. DDR is an arcade game, designed to be played in arcades, which are large, inherantly noisy places that you spend a few hours in, of your own choice. It is not a game to be played in the home. Sure, you can buy dancemats for the home, but the design and marketing of these basically seems to imply they're aimed at pre-teen girls, for occasional use. When played in the home by an overweight gamer in his mid-teens or older, this machine is loud, disruptive and, when used for extended periods, downright antisocial.
One of my housemates has taken up DDR as a means of weight-loss. He has all the kit... a custom-built arcade-style mat, the expensive sound-system etc. This basically results in several hours play each day. During this period, the noise is unspeakable (DDR music really doesn't improve with repetition) and even if you were stone deaf, the fact that the entire house is shaken apart gets annoying fast. Since he took it up, we've had a serious drop in quality of life, disrupted sleep patterns and complaining neighbours. In fact, it's getting to the stage where I'm hoping the neighbours will call the police, as this might be the only way we'll ever get any peace.
In short, while DDR may be a means of dealing with one of the classic gamer stereotypes (obesity), it just seems to exacerbate some of the others (complete lack of consideration for others being the most obvious).
The only trouble I see is that geeks don't get laid often, and practising Virtual Valerie won't help you get any better.
I doesn't matter how you look. If you are ugly, you can get ugly girls :) If you have the social skills. Or you can get even good looking girls, if you have great social skills. (Being rich and terminally ill helps also)
Just slimming down doesn't help. If you still don't have the social skills, you wont get laid. On the other hand. If you are young and good in DDR, you are in great position to improve your social skills by hitting on the teenage girls that flock around the DDR machine.
--
"Follow your dreams. You can reach your goals; I'm living proof. Beefcake, Beefcake!" - Cartman
Ok, and what if I am a 30-something male virgin with atrocious social skills? I don't think I should go about practising hitting on the teenage girls that flock around the DDR machine?
Please help me!
In one way or another that should get you laid. If you're lucky, it'll happen with a teenage girl who's got a thing for men old enough to be her father. Or alternatively you'll get to share that very special, intimate moment with Bubba your cellmate.
Hell, maybe you'll even hit the jackpot by getting it on with the girl and Bubba.
This is silly. Surely you can't lose weight by installing Double Data Rate memory. That's crazy!
;)
You're a brave man, promoting a MS product on /. ;-)
No.
The actual gameplay concept DDR is basically a cross between playing the drums with your feet and jumping like a jackrabbit on amphetamines. The only thing the game grades you on is how close to the beat you are (the highest step grade is within about 30 milliseconds).
I'm a hardcore DDR player... I can pass just about all the songs on the game and with a good grade, but my dancing sucked awful before I started and it hasn't got any better (trust me. There's bad dancers and there's people the bad dancers point and laugh at).
DDR's really good fun and all but I strongly recommend you don't try and bust out Max 300 on an actual dance floor. Although, to quote a guy on a DDR messageboard: "You wouldn't DDR step in a club, but then you wouldn't mosh in a ballroom either". Dancing has a fairly broad definition... but even so it does tend to involve some upper body movement. A lot of expert players just clamp their upper body to the support bar behind the dance stage so that they can hit 10 steps per second and still stay upright, although I personally find this to be bad form.
Me: *slightly slurrish* Hi, howsh thingsh? ... *eyes slowly, and very floppily blink* ... Shpeaking of Guinessh, reckon there's any chance I'll get a lay outta you tonight? Like, if I buy you one or ... *hic* ... shomething?
:/ Next morning I woke up naked next to the pub's seventy year old bar hag.
Gorgeous Girl: Go away. Not interested you drunken son of a bitch.
Me: *laughs heartily* Well, that was shurely the Guinessh top ten of the worsht shmall mrshnahmblah
And that's all I remember
Thanks a lot man.
Obligatory SA misunderstood tech terms:
DDR Ram
Somehow never worked out.
The inventor of the RAMBUS workout is suing all other companies selling workouts.
At my girlfriend's gym, they have a couple of exercise bikes that are linked together like those racing games with Link Play.
Along with the obvious racing games, they have a load of fairly abstract 'collect the stars' games; you control your direction with a pad built into the handles, but you have to pedal to control your speed - so if you're playing against a competitive friend you end up pedalling like mad to zip your sprite around and pick up all the things before the other guy does.
Now THAT's a good idea!
http://ddr.bandwidthmonkey.net/csa2/jsb%20vs%20ref lex%20-%20legend%20of%20maxx.mpg
http://ddr.bandwidthmonkey.net/csa2/jsb%20vs%20ref lex%20-%20daikenkai.mpg
http://ddr.bandwidthmonkey.net/csa2/jsb%20vs%20ref lex%20-%20the%20least%20100sec.mpg
http://ddr.bandwidthmonkey.net/csa2/jsb%20vs%20ref lex%20-%20trip%20machine%20climax.mpg
http://ddr.bandwidthmonkey.net/csa2/jsb%20vs%20ref lex%20-%20xenon.mpg
http://aaroninjapan.com/ddrvideos.html
I doubt these sites will last long from the slashdot. In anycase hopefully someone will mirror these.
http://ddr.bandwidthmonkey.net/csa2/jsb%20vs%20ref lex%20-%20legend%20of%20maxx.mpgw idthmonkey.net/csa2/jsb%20vs%20ref lex%20-%20daikenkai.mpge y.net/csa2/jsb%20vs%20ref lex%20-%20the%20least%20100sec.mpgn dwidthmonkey.net/csa2/jsb%20vs%20ref lex%20-%20trip%20machine%20climax.mpg. bandwidthmonkey.net/csa2/jsb%20vs%20ref lex%20-%20xenon.mpg
http://ddr.band
http://ddr.bandwidthmonk
http://ddr.ba
http://ddr
http://aaroninjapan.com/ddrvideos.html
I doubt these sites will last long from the slashdot. In anycase hopefully someone will mirror these.
Fixed.
I have track and Field on Mame working with the power dance pad. Check out some pics from it here
http://ddr.bandwidthmonkey.net/csa2/
f lex%20-%20legend%20of%20maxx.mpg
It seems that I am unable to hotlink these files. Check out the JSB vs Reflex videos. Especially the Legend of Max one.
Enjoy.
http://ddr.bandwidthmonkey.net/csa2/jsb%20vs%20re
I also play Konami's other major music games, such as BeatMania IIDX and DrumMania. Now, the idea of a DJ Simulator and hitting a bunch of percussion drums might sound stupid, but comparitively speaking, the music on IIDX is far supirior to that of DDR.
DDR is a fun game. I started playing it with a few friends about two years ago. Now I'm doing songs in the 290-300 Beats Per Minute range.
But most of all, it isn't the weight loss, or the idea of 'dancing', but because some of my favourite artists like TaQ and Taka are on there. I love the music, and have recently given to freestyling on the harder songs.
Songs like TaQ - Era (DDR), Des-Row - Daikenkai (DrumMania) and TaQ - QUASAR, and others like Taka Resp. Bach - No.13, cannot be found anywhere else.
Konami's music department is excellent, and thats why I love the game.
Is their anyway to change the music on ddr ? only I am extremely particular about dance music. I only like certain stuff. I abhor most commercial pop / dance music. The ability to chuck in your own CD's would make me more likely to pony up and grab a copy.
...
nick
Electronic Music Made Using Linux http://soundcloud.com/polyp
I actually started doing this myself for just this purpose a while back. I can't stand working out but I love video games, and the DDR in arcades looked fun but I couldn't ever try something like that in public. So I picked up a pad and DDR for X-box, and it certainly is a work out. But not orthopedically safe, necessarily. If you're overweight and doing DDR you have to be aware to all the stress you are putting on your lower joints, specifically your ankles and knees. All that pounding on your feet is just not good for people who are very overweight. But for the more mild, it's fun. Of course, I think I spend more time dancing around the "select" and "start" buttons to get the game started than I do in game.
The only way to lose weight is to consume less kilojoule (4,18 Joule = 1 Calories for those Americans who don't understand the metric system) than you spend on living
Great post otherwise, but "for those Americans who don't understand the metric system"?
We don't use your units. Just get over it and stop taking it so personally. It gets really old seing little digs slipped into everything. If I need a conversion ration (which is pretty rare) I'll look it up.
"Don't know" (something which in my environment is pretty useless information) != "don't understand".
* stop eating and you get even more time to spend in front of your computer with your babies on the screen.
I have been playing DDR now for about 5-6 years(since the 3rd mix machine came out), and have also been running track for a similar amount of time. Pertaining to fitness, here is what I have learned about DDR:
1) It is a great excersize and keeps you in great shape if you play it regularly.
2) If you start out with no skill, and completely out of shape, Great! Because of the way the game works, you start out slowly and as you build up your skill, you get to harder and harder songs. This accomidates your fitness level to the songs you play.
3) Cardiovascularly, I find playing DDR at the higher skill levels to be better than running, not to mention being much easier on the joints.
And for those who play DDR, but feel they need an additional challenge try playing Pump it Up. In my opinion, it is a much harder version of DDR. It has arrows everywhere DDR doesn't.(Corners and middle) This makes it a much more physically challenging game IMO.
You should be getting up to about 180BPM near the end of your workout- not sticking to some 130BPM songs.
3 6001433/qid=1085574104/sr=8-3/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i3_xg l14/103-3003779-7209430?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)
o c. htm
Actually, if you are trying to lose fat, you should keep it around 130 BPM. IANAEP (I am not an exercise physiologist, but I engage in endurance sports) but you burn more fat during moderate exercise than intense exercise.
At any workout intensity, the energy required comes from a mixture of fat metabolism and glycogen metabolism (and possibly other sources -- again, IANAEP). As I understand it, the energy source for higher intensity workouts comes predominantly from glycogen stores in the muscle, liver, etc... as this is more readily metabolized and hence keeps up with the energy demands you are placing on your muscular and CV system. At lower workout intensity, the body has more time to break down fat and use those byproducts for energy.
The fact that you are working less in moderate workouts means that you will have to work out longer to burn the same number of calories. A quick experiment supports this -- walk one mile with a HR monitor with a calorimeter and then run the same mile. The number of kcals burned are about the same. However, the source of those calories will tend to be more from fat in the moderate workouts.
See Endurance Sports Nutrition (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/07
or a quick google turns up these sites:
http://www.thefactsaboutfitness.com/research/ep
http://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/fatburn.htm
-- The Genesis project? What's that?
Right now. Far too silly.
Comes with a (non-working) light-saber and a million-zillion virtual Sith attackers! Also includes a webcam and high-speed connection for off-site backup of your workout videos (via Kazaa Lite)!
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
You might use more fat as a substrate during low-intensity exercise, but that doesn't mean you'll lose more bodyfat overall. The 1994 Tremblay study demonstrated that high-intensity interval training, which burns mainly glycogen during the workout, induces bodyfat loss much more efficiently than endurance cardio even though fewer calories are burned overall. This article provides an overview of the study and its results.
I think the main thing here is motivation. I am a member of a gym and when I go I come out feeling really good and think to myself that I should go more, but its getting the motivation to go in the first place thats the problem and I think I would be the same with a DDR - after the super enthusiastic honeymoon period ( where you go to the gym >3 times a week for the first month) even if I know its fun and even if it is sitting in my living room its actually having the motivation to set it up or go to the gym thats the problem!
I love games that involve physical training, and I hope to see many, many more titles like these. This opens up new doors to geeks by offering them a way to learn a new ability that isn't strictly mental.
I can only speak for myself, but learning any form of athletics is extremely difficult for me, mostly because learning requires other people. And I am so awkward and uncoordinated that is humiliating for me to even try.
Games like this allow me to learn the way I like to, alone where I am free to make mistakes. It also provides a completely unbiased measurement of progress. (Nothing says improvement like a new high score!)
it seems some abbreviations will never die like ddr ram. but "dance dance revolution"... i bet they choose this silly name only because they are nasty communists planning to take over the world. if i remember correctly, ddr is the german abbrev. for gdr (you know, the country that always won the olympic games). man, this is so obvious, a console game involved physical action with the name "ddr". btw, i'm starving, but i can't go outside, i read somewhere that they now have rays that go even through tinfoil hats.
beer as in "free beer"
I have known about DDR and other dancing games for quite a time, but it wasn't until half a year ago when I started actually playing the game, and let me tell you, it's a bliss. Not only you do excercise and listen to pretty enjoyable music at the same time, it also improves social skills if done at the arcade and properly. People gather around watching you dance, and it always feels good to hear some complete strangers say nice things to you, doesn't it?
:)
Myself? I have lost about 10 kilograms, and I can surely lose more. A friend of mine made a hard dance pad out of plywood and had a article written about him in the nationwide GameLand magazine. Now we are in for organizing a tournament.
BTW, after getting hooked up to DDR and being long-time Eurobeat fans, we went further to discover other BEMANI games like ParaParaParadise where you dance using your hands to cross infrared motion sensors imitating the para-para dancing style popular in Japan, and many others like DanceManiaX. Go and see for yourself, it's fun!
___
On Slashdot, Russians comment on YOU!
The makers of the RAMBUS workout are suing the makers of the DDR workout, claiming that the DDR workout's prices were fixed in a subversive plot to drive the RAMBUS workout off the market.
When contacted, the makers of the DDR workout commented "Hey, hey, let's go, so let's fighting."
The makers of the RAMBUS workout had no comment, but stated that their case is very strong and legal action is already in progress.
Why is it relevant to know the brand of the water you drink. Why, why, why?!?!?
Water is water, you know, H2O plus a few minerals dependinf on the source.
Arghhhhh!
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
The "myriad of chemicals" line verges on crackpot. The part before it is an advertisement. It is true that some chemicals found in food can modulate behavior and physiology, but blaming chemicals is like blaming matter. Many soft drinks contain caffeine. It is well documented to affect sleep and hydration. Caffeine withdrawal can lead to headaches and irritability.
Actually, in video game stores :) Back when I was really heavy into the DDR scene, I was playing for the sake of, "Hey, this is a new game," and "I bet I can get a higher score." I mindlessly pumped credits into the machine every day, playing at least 4 hours a day rotating with other DDR players. I probably got in a solid hour of DDR. After a month of sweating, I noticed my stamina was a lot higher, my pants were looser (31" waist on the pants), and I was just so damn happy all the time because of all that J-Pop music!!!
I don't recommend going to the arcade to play DDR as the most cost effective way to lose weight, but the home versions are pretty good and even come with workout routines built in.
It is fun for a while, but sometimes the attitude of the kiddies around the machine get on the nerves.
Try Mocap Boxing. It's pretty realistic and simulates going a few rounds. You will sweat your ass off and it's great fun ...
i 3 DDR
GENERATION 26: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation.
Dance revolution ? Uhh. I want Rainbow Six version that tracks my movements. I wouldn't mind all the running around. Better VR is needed though.
PKU is a lifetime condition because it is a lack of an enzyme. Without a special diet free from phenylalanine, PKU is most detrimental to young children. People with PKU cannot metabolize phenylalanine normally. In people with PKU, phenylalanine is metabolized by an alternate pathway that leads to toxic products. In young children, these toxic products lead to abnormal development of the nervous system and mental retardation. If the diet is free from phenylalanine, people with PKU develop normally. Even though the risks are greatest in early life, doctors currently recommend that people with PKU eat a phenylalanine free diet throughout life.
On another note, a friend didn't believe me that stopping a 1 candy bar a day habit made me lose 5 pounds in college. He claimed I should have kept losing wieght because I was supposedly burning more calories than I take in. Consider this:
1) You're at equilibrium. Calories in = calories burned.
2) You start eating an extra 200 calories/day
3) Your weight increases a few pounds and stops
Why? How much more would you burn if you carried a 5 pound weight around with you 24 hours a day? I assert that for a given activity level, there is a stable weight for a given calorie intake. That is why I didn't lose weight indefinitely and is also why increased activity works better than diet alone. I use DDR for just that purpose now.
Sugar is not bad, what is bad is the amounts of sugar people subject their bodies to.
How many soft drinks, sweets, ice-creams, cakes, etc do you eat daily? Have you checked the added sugar in industrialized food?
Get counting, you will soon realize that if you have a weight problem, the insane amounts of sugar you are taking are a big contributing factor.
As for the people fearing aspartame: obesity has so many bad effects in your health that in a cost-benefit analysis one should be able to risk brain cancer (very debatable) if in exchange one loses weight. No brainer to me (pun semi-intended).
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Many chlorinated organic chemicals pose significant health risks. When they are metabolized, free radicals form. In these chemicals, chlorine is covalently bound as part of the structure.
In table salt, the chlorine exists as chloride, the -1 charged ion. It is not likely to lead to free radical formation, and it does not appear to pose the same risks.
The problem many people have with Diet Coke is that it does not taste good to them. "Well," used as an adjective, means healthy and not sick. "Diet Coke does not taste well" has two nonsensical interpretations. "Diet Coke tastes sick" is one. The other is similar to "Diet Coke hears well."
I understand that you probably are a Dane and not a native English speaker.
I use it as the exercise part of The Hackers' diet and voilà! instant weight control. I lost 10 of the 20 pounds extra I had.
You're not old until regret takes the place of your dreams.
Perhaps you would have seemed less trollish if you'd not posted AC?
I support Mac For the Masses
What pad is the best bang for the buck? I bought a $50 pad at buynshop.com, it died within 2 months, and they say it's out of warraty. Granted that I weigh 220lb, and I don't want to spend $200, what should I get?
What people don't understand is that bodbuilding can be a geek sport. Take the following scenario:
You wake up in the morning. For the day, you log everything you eat. You log your workout in excruciating detail. You log your waist/hip/biceps/everything-else measurements. You maintain what you're doing for a few weeks or months.
After those few weeks or months, you tweak your diet a bit. You tweak your workout a bit. You continue logging and monitoring results. You repeat.
Sounds a lot like what some of us do for a living, huh? Why treat your fucking web server better than you treat your body? Once you get many months of logs stored up, it's fun (yes, I said fun) to look back and gauge your results.
I'm a big fan of First Person Shooters, and I love to go out and play a good paintball match...
Of course, it wont help you burn calories if you're one of them bloody campers.
PyDance is way cool.
Open source, ogg support, works well with dance pads for the PS/2 and it's easy to make your own songs.
No, I am seriously interested. I do plan on some changes, I participate in an excercise program, but I am unsure where to set my goals. I was looking for some input.
Also, I want to do some self improvement, but right now I am a social novice, and need to know what to improve. I have no problem around strangers, it is when it moves into the potential relationship that I falter. It seems my lack of social skills (relationship wise) continually hinders me. One question is where can I meet people with the goal of a relationship? Also, what skills can I improve or develop?
You can have it fast, accurate, or pretty. Pick any 2.
Techno? Ok, sure I like some of it, but 4/4 isn't much of a challenge when you're used to Dream Theater, King Crimson, Zappa, Ozrics, and the like. Difficult, but some of it is pretty groovy and danceable. Especially the Ozrics.
DDR "Advanced Version." Not only would it be educational, challenging, train your coordination, but it would also be a great spectator sport. I hear it's fun to watch hippies try to dance to "Almost 12" by the Flecktones (it's in 11, so every three bars... you can guess).
One thing I've found particularly helpful in developing romantic relationships: stop thinking so much. A lot of geeks tend to over-analyze things, and it doesn't help that guys tend to devote lots of brain time to girls anyway. Just be yourself, and don't try to manipulate the situation or angle things to work out a certain way--it never works, and it seems like most people do far better without it.
And it was a blast. Yeah my legs are sore. But DANG I had fun with the kids. I kicked their butts. we were all sweating at the end, the kids were vowing that they would get better then me, and my youngest daughter was expressing shock and dismay that she had been beaten by "my uncoordinated brother!". LOL. The wife unit stood back and mocked me. even turning her webcam on me to show her freinds. I then pointed out that if she continued with such behavior I wouldnt buy her more computer toys. Said behavior stopped. Bottom line-Good execise, good family fun, but expect some taunting from non-participants, and some competition within the family. Will I lose weight? I don't really care. The family had fun.
I highly recommend that you watch a movie named "Swingers" (no it's not about sex party involving couples) by Jon Favreau. This movie has perfact examples of what to do and what not to do.
1f u c4n r34d th1s u r34lly n33d t0 g37 l41d
Too bad the thing doesn't work on their busted up looks.
Nice before and after pics!
Any /.er's in Costa Rica seen a DDR machine there? I can't seem to find any, and I've checked places all over San Jose. Any clues?
It seems my lack of social skills (relationship wise) continually hinders me. One question is where can I meet people with the goal of a relationship? Also, what skills can I improve or develop?
:)).
My suggestion would be to read some novels (preferably ones written by females, but not necessarily) that actually depict normal social interaction. And relationships. You know why they call them 'chick flicks' (and/or books)?? Becuase girls watch them! And that's where they get their expectations of how relationships work. So that's where you should learn, to, if you want to speak their language.
(disclaimer - I am a male, but one who is good once in the relationship. I just have the occasional problem getting into one
So are you saying that this works better than single data rate RAM?
Protect your browser with the Force Safe Search add-on
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
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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:
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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."
I had played it a bit a couple years ago in the arcades, not very much, just enough to be intimidated by the really good players. But then a couple months ago, I started spending more time with my 14 year old niece, who is a DDR fanatic and wanted me to take her to arcades in between other activities. We'll be driving around and she'll be like, "Do you know if there's a DDR machine around here somewhere?" Anyhow, we played it together in the arcades to the point of exhaustion, for several consecutive days before I decided to go get a dance pad for my PS/2. It's an awesome workout for one simple reason: It doesn't feel like 'work', yet it truly is. The motivation to keep going, to beat a given song, at a given difficulty level, is very compelling. My DDR rig is right beside my main PC, and is often running throughout the day, so I can just get out of my chair, take a step to the left and I'm playing. Do a few rounds, while waiting for something on the computer, and take a break. Rinse, repeat. It's great if you know someone who plays, because you can encourage each other. I've gotten competant at Light mode now, but my niece has edged into playing on Standard more often, so I've got to catch up, because we still hit the arcade a lot.
My weight was already acceptable to me, just over 200 lbs, with a slight gut. I'm in it for the cardio workout. What I really notice from it is the energy I get out of being more active. Other forms of activity (well except for sex) just aren't fun to me. But a video game that's keeping score, that really keeps me going. And keeping active carries a momentum with it, one tends to *gain* energy from burning all that energy through working out regularly. It's nice to see that there's a whole 'movement' forming out there around the fitness this game encourages. I've been telling everyone I know that it's the best piece of excersize equipment I could have ever bought.
In response to the complaint that you have to pay mucho bucks to play, compare to a dance class or aerobics/yoga/pilates class at a gym. 1$ for six minutes of DDR translates to 10$ an hour - just as much as a class at a gym would cost
I love the game... I just have to save up for a high quality metal pad. Unless I can figure out how to make a nice one. Then I can have big parties, and all the girls will love me.
I forgot about that.
So are there any dancepads with an equal amount of buttons as a standard keypad?
At 15:00 raise the neck of your LCD,
Ride your chair out of the way,
Role out your pad on the floor,
Dance in the numbers.
Dennis
Yeah, everyone thinks if you play DDR you will immediately be able to eat all day and as long as you spend 5 minutes playing DDR you will lose weight.
Come on! I don't know how your comment is informative or insightful. I think just about everyone here knows that the food you put in your body has an affect on your body. Excercise + Good Diet is better than Excercise + Bad Diet which in turn is better than No Exercise + Bad Diet.
But the question of the day is: which is worse, No Excersize + Good Diet, or Lots of Excersize + Bad Diet?
Anyway, I find your post condescending and dumb.
After playing DDR at a friend's, I thought what a great workout it was, so I got it myself along with a nice thick pad.
The problem? It's pretty high impact when you really get going, even on a 2" thick soft Red Octane, and that's bad for people who aren't used to exercise. Or if you have weak ankles like I appear to. I can't DDR more than once or twice a week if I want to avoid ankle and knee pain.
But it's great for someone who's already in better shape and wants a high-impact aerobic workout. More fun than doing another workout tape, because you can make your own moves.
Not all water is the same. I can appreciate the frustration of seeing packaged water, but this stuff from Arkansas tastes better and is more "natural" IMO than most of the other "spring water" out there.
If the young man in the article did not eat like a pig for most likely all of his childhood, he would never have reached 350 pounds. (350 pounds is huge, unless you have a medical problem you must eat enormous amounts of food to reach this weight.)
All this "diet a, diet b, exercise regime a, b" stuff is purely the result of people who know no bounds to their greed and gluttony.
350 pounds is 160Kg for heaven's sake! At 19!!
That's a hard question to answer. A friend of mine who's what you would consider a normal person, has been single for a few years now. He's had relationships his whole life, and just happened to break up with his last gf coming out of college. After that, he just doesn't meet anyone. I'd have the same problem at this stage of the game too.
:)
It's a hard call. Sometimes you meet people who you get along with and you meet in a situation that they just want to be your friend and don't want anymore then that. I have only dated 3 women in my life, so i'm no casanova. Most of them I met, and once we had spent time together, the relationship just sorta happened. Basically we both couldn't stop talking to each other and our sense of humor and world views sorta fell into place and that was that.
Well, let me think of some stuff off the top of my head that will help with women. The first and easiest thing you can do is clean yourself up if you havent already. I used to wear the same ratty old sweatshirt all the time like a coat and never get my hair cut, so I was pretty henious looking. I tend to notice that "younger" women like the shorter haircuts and older (40's and up) like longer hair. Kind of funny that.
But make sure your cloths are clean, neat, and match. Make sure the cloths still fit who you are and what image you want to put out, but still are somewhat current so you don't stick out like a sore thumb. Make sure your nails are cut, you're shaved, and you don't wreak of BO. This sound's basic but I unfortunatly know a lot of people who don't take care of this stuff.
So that's the basic stuff, stay healthy and keep yourself clean, and now your not just a nice guy but "cute". This is good.
From here we have conversation. I'm not great at meeting new people and I'm even worse at communicating with people who have nothing in common with me, so take advice with a grain of salt.
When you meet a girl that is attractive to you and seems to enjoy your conversation, don't go overboard. I knew a guy who every time he went out on a date would be buying them presents or writing a song or something about them for the 2nd one. I think this scared a lot of people away.
Really pay attention to what the other person's saying, and don't spend all your time talking yourself up if they don't seem interested. I know I could ramble on about games or something to my fionce but she'd just smile and nod and try to be polite about it, but she really doesn't give a shit that I just hit level 5000 in disgaea.
I guess this is all pretty basic stuff, so really as I said before, be yourself, be polite, if you are getting along, enjoy yourselves. The rest should just sort of fall into place. One big pitfall to watch out for is to insult or be rude to the woman for not paying attention to you or not responding to you as you want. I no sometimes it hurst the ego and it's tempting to throw out insults at the person, but that's not going to help.
These are just thing's I've observed over time, but every persons unique, so this is all just bs anyways. Good luck
When I started dieting, I also got a copy of DDR for my playstation. The game actually has a "workout mode" that keeps count of calories burned. I would play it everyday, for about 30 minutes to an hour. I noticed improvement after the first week: when I first started, I couldn't play for more than 5 or 10 minutes without getting winded. After a week, I was able to play for 20-30 minutes. I stopped playing it a few months ago. In the end, I dropped around 85 lbs. I feel much better doing it this way (a traditional program of diet and exercise) than going on, what is IMO, a "fad" diet, like Atkins.
"What does double data rate ram have to do with a workout?" ... "Oh, that stupid game.."
Cola is fscking EVIL. Even in the absence of the ever-present "health nut water bottle,"you're still far better off chugging unsweetened coffee or tea. Caffeine is not the enemy, sugar is. So think about dumping the soda. You WILL lose weight, and your teeth will thank you for it. You're a human, not a hummingbird.
Oh, gross!
If any guy pulled some chick-flick movie stunt on me, I'd barf. Unless, of course, that stunt involved you standing outside of my window with a boombox a la Cusack, but you'd probably still end up with a restraining order.
Seriously, think about it - a lot of the stuff you see in girl movies, were you to do it in real life, is actually and legally stalking or harassment. Filling up a girl's apartment with roses is not romantic, it's creepy, and I'm going to be calling the cops.
I support Mac For the Masses
If any guy pulled some chick-flick movie stunt on me, I'd barf. Unless, of course, that stunt involved you standing outside of my window with a boombox a la Cusack, but you'd probably still end up with a restraining order.
Touche. What's hilarious is that I had to force my just now ex-girlfriend to watch Say Anything a few months ago, because her and her friends didn't think John Cusack was hot!
I'm not talking about the big stunts, though. Just getting used to the way girls talk, and the things they talk about. Perhaps it's also because I had older sisters. I had one girl (who was, ironically, putting the moves on me at the time) tell me she could tell I had sisters because I was capable of having a platonic conversation with a girl. Which is defintitely necessary for getting from the "Uhh...I like your shoes" to the "Wanna, y'know, do stuff?" stage successfully.
totally off-topic:
:)
John Cusack? Yeah, I'd hit it, but he was hottest in the Grifters, rather than, say, America's Sweethearts (blah!)
I get the thing about growing up with girls. It's a very potent thing - I actually grew up with no women, just my very young father and his brother, and as a result it's very easy for me to get along with any guy, because I get how they tick, I guess, but I'm just as awkward around girls as any guy is. It didn't help that for a long time I wanted to get in their pants just as badly
I support Mac For the Masses
Two friends of mine and I built our own arcade style dancemat in my friends garage over a weekend. Just google it and you can find sites dedicated to it.
Basically all it was was a wooden frame, 5 aluminium panels (thin wood squares with alum-sheet bent over them), 8 peices of shatterproof perspex (two peices with the decal sandwiched), 4 microswitches and a hacked old second hand ps contoller. We made it for about $160AUD though it may cost a bit more as we got the perspex at cost-price. It was really easy and once we got it all fine tuned it was increadibly satisfying.
"The stupider people think you are, the more surprised they will be when you kill them..."