One franchise that hasn’t made the headlines in quite a while is the DanceDanceRevolution series, that has taken it upon itself to lower childhood obesity. It may have little attention due to it’s less than stellar Xbox iterations of recent years, that attempted innovation but did not have the setlist to appeal to us fans. I know this because I am the resident DDR fan here at IGX, I have played all console versions up to the 360 releases. The main reason for this was because the songs appearing in those games were overflowing with ones that appeal to 12 – 18 year old girls and less BEMANI created songs, which most retro dancers enjoyed.
It appears that Konami is trying to get DDR back into the public eye with it’s first PS3 release, that is going to use the Move controller, which will probably mirror the Wiis motion controlled brethren. This choice was made to allow for more interaction from the player, and they have replaced the avatars found in the previous games with a silhouette of the player. It has not been mentioned yet what aspect of Move will be incorperated into gameplay, or whether the game can be even played without, though I am assuming so to keep a broader audience. Naoki Maeda one of the creators of the series promises “players will be able to access DanceDanceRevolution on the PlayStation Network” and that “there will be a lot of downloadable content coming down the line”. Look forward to Bemani songs as well as the traditional pop songs found in more recent games. No specific release date has been announced, but expect it late this year.
I am actually really looking forward to a new DDR though I will have to wait and see what songs will make it in, I could care less about any story or adventure modes they may have planned for it.