Video games and exercise

[Kitalrez]

Re: Video games and exercise

1/2 gallon cups.... some of us are adult enough to slowly kill our livers with alcohol or rot our lungs out with tobacco, I guess the weaker of the species needed to get in on the fun by blowing out their kidneys.

This really saddens me. I miss the good old days when gamers were easily identified by our huge manly thumbs. What's all this using my legs, arms, waist and shit? When am I ever going to need these muscles? Pop one big pillow on the floor so your butt doesn't fall asleep, load up the next cartridge, and play til the only useful muscles cramp up too bad to push the buttons on the controller anymore. If I need to get out of the basement that bad, I'll use my giant thumbs to text message for help.

[Feba]

Re: Video games and exercise

Murphie, are you sure those 1/2 gallons weren't intended to be shared by an entire family? The A&W near here has a program like that, you buy a half gallon jug from them, and you can have them refill it at a lower price than if you had just bought it elsewhere.

[Aksannyi]

Re: Video games and exercise

You know, I've been a dancer (ballet, tap, jazz, before you fuckers get into 'dirty' mode!) for over 20 years, and I think I'd be flat out horrible at DDR. I've never tried it, because who wants to go to an arcade and try it for the first time, and look like an idiot? Especially because I talk a big game. Everyone who knows me knows I'm a dancer, so they'd expect great things from someone like me, even though DDR is nothing like any of the dance styles I've actually done.

It looks fun, though, so maybe I should go to an arcade during off hours so I don't look like a tool. I mean, I probably still would, but less people would know about it.

[Murphie]

Re: Video games and exercise

Murphie, are you sure those 1/2 gallons weren't intended to be shared by an entire family? The A&W near here has a program like that, you buy a half gallon jug from them, and you can have them refill it at a lower price than if you had just bought it elsewhere.

I'm pretty sure. It had a single straw in it.

[Feba]

Re: Video games and exercise

That's sick.

And Aksannyi, while you could just say "I'm new to it" and most people wouldn't mind (most people worth caring about, anyway. There are some self-righteous pricks out there that think if you aren't doing 8 foot you shouldn't be on the machine, but they're pricks), if you really want to give it a shot, I recommend buying a home version. The foam pads can't stand up to heavier play, but they work alright for beginners. The amount of money it takes to buy a home version wouldn't last you very long at all at an arcade; a home version gives you plenty of time to understand how it works, get used to it, and increase the difficulty. Also, you have kids, and having DDR would be a great way to get them used to playing video games AND keeping them busy (by which I mean running out their batteries). They wouldn't be able to use an arcade machine (literally, they'd be unable to see the screen), but they could use a home one just fine.

It's also much easier to stay motivated on a home machine. If you want to try DDR, you put in a dollar, select your difficulty and song, and instantly fail, you're going to be a lot more tempted than if you put in $60, select your difficulty and song, and fail. Because with that $60, you get a second chance. And a third one. And a fourth. And however many you want or need. If you try it at an arcade, you don't get enough of a chance to mess around with settings and difficulties and try different songs.

If you have a Wii, there's DDR Hottest Party; and they're planning on releasing HP2 by the holidays. There's also Mario Mix for gamecube, and yes, it's all Mario music. You might have a hard time finding it at a reasonable price, though. The other consoles also have DDRs, but the above are supposedly more oriented towards beginners. The others do of course have a beginner mode, though, so it's not a huge deal.

[Aksannyi]

Re: Video games and exercise

Wow, you've sold me! If I ever get a job, I'm gonna have to get me some DDR.

Ever considered going into sales, Feba?

[Armando]

Re: Video games and exercise

What Feba said. With the $1 per 3 songs price that most machines have around here, I'd have to pay $20 to play for an hour at an arcade. When I first got into (back when I didn't live at an apartment and I still had my pads) I'd play 1-2 hours a day. There's no way in hell I could afford to play that often at an arcade. I'd have to take up a minimum wage job full time just to afford that hobby. Plus, yeah, if you're self-conscious about how you'll look when you're starting out, being able to play in the privacy of your own home is a big plus.

If you get a second pad, you can get any family member or friend into it at any time, too. Both players choose their difficulty individually, so even if you're already really good and playing in Heavy Mode, Player 2 can still choose to play the same song in Beginner Mode.

Doesn't Hottest Party force you to use your hands with the Wiimote and Nunchuk too though? I think I read something like that, that the option to use your hands can't be turned off. It's not really that big of a deal, but I would probably prefer the PS2 ports of the arcade versions. Whichever you choose ought to be fine though.

By the way, the game's tutorials show the character with both feet standing in the middle of the pad. Don't do that, you'll never be able to play at a higher difficulty that way. There's absolutely no penalty for stepping on the panels when there's no arrow near that panel on the screen, so just keep both feet on the Left/Right arrows when you're idle.

EDIT: Also, yeah, DDR and dancing have nothing to do with each other, unless you do Freestyle. Search for "DDR" and "Freestyle" in Youtube to see what I mean. Not really something you have to worry about (most people don't ever play freestyle), but I figured I'd point it out lol.

[Feba]

Re: Video games and exercise

Armando: You mean $10? That sounds about right. three songs, two minutes each, and time to navigate menus, drink water, and so on. As for the hands thing, I remember reading that it could be turned off, but you had to tell it to do that every time you turned on the console (the game, I suppose, since you can stop a game now without turning off the console). I'll check it.

Aksannyi: yes. Ironically, when I really try to promote something, people never seem interested.
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From IGN's review:

Since this is essentially the first DDR experience on a Nintendo console (the spin-off Mario Mix was fun, but not really a traditional DDR effort), Konami sets the stage once again to a presumably new crowd. There are tons of tutorials, new co-op modes that basically take the best score out of any current player and apply it to every member of the dance team, and even a pretty lame (admittedly) "learn to play DDR" song, that contains incredible lyrics such as "remember, leave your feet on the left and right arrows. Don't move them back to the middle." Not exactly one for the hardcore.

And from some review site I've never heard of:

As a Nintendo gamer I am glad that this Nintendo system has earned itself a ‘true’ Dance Dance Revolution game, even if I was a bit disappointed with the Wii specific controls which I disable every time I turn the game back on (I am not sure why the game was designed to not save that setting).

Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party (wii: 2007): Reviews

Reviews are pretty mixed, but generally it seems like it would be a great place to get started with the series.

[Kailea]

Re: Video games and exercise

DDR is going down hill, the latest one (the one on Wii) has a poor song selection

[Feba]

Re: Video games and exercise

Like I said, Kailea, mixed reviews. But it's not really inclined towards the DDR fanatic, it's made to get new people interested and playing, which is why it's song list is much more mainstream. You also have to consider all of the actual GAME features that were added to Hottest Party, even with songs not being as good.

Personally, if I were to take up DDR again, I'd probably invest the money into a high quality mat and hook it up to my PC and play Stepmania. Setting that up is definitely not as easy as having it on a console; and in Aksannyi's case having it hooked up to a console and TV would be better for her kids than having it on a computer. And multiplayer is greatly expanded in hottest party compared to other DDRs and Stepmania.

EDIT: Another note about the song list being mainstream, look at how well that's worked out for Rock Band and Guitar Hero. DDR's tracklist has very few songs that most people would like (which is probably one of the biggest reasons Stepmania is so popular) or even recognize, which does not really help it.

[Mhurron]

Re: Video games and exercise

I was at KFC with a friend today getting him some dinner, and they had 1/2 Gallon Drink cups. A half gallon! That's ridiculous.

It's going to take a lot to wash that horrible KFC taste out of your mouth.

[DakAttack]

Re: Video games and exercise

Fat people... I don't want to hate on anybody, but come on. Maybe these things weren't meant to make big people small, but to prevent small people from becoming big? Maybe video games aren't the answer when you've let the problem go so far?

Subway GO!

[Feba]

Re: Video games and exercise

Are you talking about the batshit crazy people in the OP? Because losing weight with DDR isn't at all uncommon. Even playing Wii Sports has gotten some people to drop 10 pounds, although it's much slower of course.

[Murphie]

Re: Video games and exercise

It's going to take a lot to wash that horrible KFC taste out of your mouth.

Surely a pedant like you would note that I didn't say I was getting myself anything.

[Omni]

Re: Video games and exercise

It's all about Wii Fit. I'm not sure if its out yet here but I was playing it last Christmas when I was in Taiwan and it is FUN.

Lots of moving around and balancing at the same time.