Better than DDR!

August 2, 2006 12:46 PM

Dance Dance Dance!Called Dance Dance Dance (DDD), demoed at SIGGRAPH 2006, is a lot like DDR, but judges how well the dancer can match a silhouette against a white screen. Watch a video demonstration (wmv format). Other possible uses for this sort of technology, once it's sufficiently advanced: sign-language translator, or practicing martial-arts or other activities requiring precise physical motions.
posted by canine epigram (11 comments total)

He doesn't look like a tool at all.
posted by Mikey-San at 1:00 PM on August 2, 2006

But I mean that in a totally "if I did it once I'd be addicted to it just like DDR and would also look like a tool" way.
posted by Mikey-San at 1:13 PM on August 2, 2006

Once again, this discriminates against the obese and misshapen.
posted by Krrrlson at 1:26 PM on August 2, 2006

As I watched this, I realized just how damn cool Igor was when he did the psychedelic dance in the Hilarious House of Frightenstein.

Why can't the Asians invent something as great as Billy Van instead of this dance-dance claptrap? (er. . . craptrap)
posted by isopraxis at 2:37 PM on August 2, 2006

i was just asking myself how DDR could possibly get more gay-looking.
posted by kingpixel at 2:38 PM on August 2, 2006

no that there's anything wrong with that.
posted by kingpixel at 2:38 PM on August 2, 2006

And I dance dance dance, and I dance dance dance.
posted by Johnny Assay at 3:01 PM on August 2, 2006

man that kitty is a dancing fool
posted by Mikey-San at 3:22 PM on August 2, 2006

Given the minimal information in the linked puff piece, Dance Dance Dance does not appear to be new technology. Instead, it's a rehash or a different approach to the EyeToy. If you were to play Antigrav, for example, you have to use your whole body to control a hoverboard, including using your hands to hit targets and to perform tricks. The camera locks on to your head, which in turn controls the movement of the board. You must jump to get over obstacles, bend down to engage turbo, and otherwise use your entire body to control your rendered avatar. The game itself is short, but exceedingly fun. Furthermore, the movements are fluid and natural, as if you were actually racing on a hoverboard. DDD, on the other hand, doesn't look much like dancing.

Yu points out that it can only guide a person's feet. "With our system, you use your whole body," he says.

The journalist either didn't research the subject or is knowingly doing a puff piece and therefore doesn't care. DDR Extreme and DDR Extreme 2 are EyeToy compatible. Though it's trivially integrated into the game, you can actually use your hands. Yu either doesn't know about the EyeToy or is playing dumb to keep the image that this product is either new or worth something to potential suckers investors. All of the talk about DDR, and no mention of a little game called Groove.

If you step outside the confines of dancing games, Kinetic is a workout game that is heavily integrated with the EyeToy. It has the same feature set that DDD appears to have, but no need for an illuminated white screen behind you. Oh, and you can interact with the objects on the screen. Sure, Kinetic isn't jumping around like a fool dancing, but the work out routines are very similar. Plus you get a bunch of physically engaging games that are intended to work your whole body and give a good cardio workout.

I'm not a huge fan of the EyeToy. If you asked me, they missed the boat by not having a Tony Hawk game that you controlled like Antigrav or better first person games like SpyToy, without the childlike plots. The technology is there for interesting and engaging, dare I say Wii-like games without a controller, but Sony didn't encourage the game developers. The best software for the EyeToy is not offered by Sony, but has been developed by third parties that wanted to do something cool. If that same software had been developed and available to third parties via Sony, the EyeToy would have been a killer add-on.

Shorter self: *yawn*
posted by sequential at 5:27 PM on August 2, 2006

/lame
posted by Debaser626 at 8:02 PM on August 2, 2006

Wow, New Scientist actually replaced the video with a link to YouTube. That was very clever and bandwidth-saving of them.
posted by smackfu at 10:16 PM on August 2, 2006