For a long time I’ve felt that we needed a physical video game. Video Game Helps Players Lose Weight describes how Dance Dance Revolution works:
The premise of DDR is simple: Players stand on a 3-foot square platform with an arrow on each side of the square — pointing up, down, left and right. The player faces a video screen that has arrows scrolling upward to the beat of a song chosen by the player. As an arrow reaches the top of the screen, the player steps on the corresponding arrow on the platform.
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More than 1 million copies of DDR’s home version have been sold in the United States, said Jason Enos, product manager at Konami Digital Entertainment-America, which distributes the Japanese game in the United States. About 6.5 million copies have been sold worldwide.The home version, which costs about $40 for a game and $40 for a flat plastic dance pad, includes a ‘workout mode’ that can track how many calories the user burns while playing.
The game was designed to be fun. But ‘what the creators knew is that this is a physical game no matter how you dice it,’ said Enos, who says he has lost 30 pounds playing DDR. ‘At some level there’s going to be people who want to focus on that element of the game for their own physical health or for exercise.’
One pediatrician is so convinced of the health benefits that he’s planning a six-month study of DDR and weight loss among 12- to 14-year-olds, in an effort to give the game credibility among physicians.
Anyone who’s seen Lost in Translation should be familiar with the arcade version.