Dance Dance: Is it a Game or a Dance?

Those who aren't big fans of gaming systems may not realize that Dance Revolution is actually a video game for the Playstation 2 gaming system that actually has taken the industry by storm. It was one of, if not the very first attempts of the gaming industry to combat the idea that playing games robbed children of the physical activity that is so important to their overall health and well being.

The solution was to introduce a game in which the players were scored based on their ability to dance according to the directions of the game. If you haven't tried this game, let me be the first to tell you that it requires some fancy footwork and more than some degree of tunnel vision. The really cool thing about this game is that you can adjust the level of difficulty and combine games with friends who have the same game for a competition. Competition with yourself is all well and good but the idea of crushing your friends with your dance talents is even better.

This is a game that happens to be crossing generational barriers however and making quite a splash in doing so. Mothers and fathers are competing against sons and daughters and the wagers are quite fantastic. I know I've been known to win a week or two off from washing dishes as the result of a rousing round of friendly competition. The irony is that I'm not really that good at the game. It is a great deal of fun though and I feel less guilty about letting the kids play this game for an hour than I do about allowing them to play some "all your base are belong to us" sort of game for an hour.

The wide popularity of the game should be completely obvious in all the 'knock off' versions of this game that have already flooded the market. I do expect to see more games along this line in the near future particularly with the new Nintendo Wii system making waves for the physical nature of many of their games. The hope is definitely that the Playstation Dance Dance Revolution. We have already seen follow up with Dance Dance Revolution 2, Dance Dance Revolution Extreme, and Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova. I can only predict that Playstation will attempt to bring this successful line to the ailing Playstation 3 in the near future.

As far as the workout reality of this game goes you will find that it offers an excellent aerobic workout and great exercises for your legs. The arms are really up to you to a large degree. If you chose to approach in a river dance sort of method your arms are likely to receive quite the excellent degree of a workout that your legs will receive. However if you put everything into your dance moves then the revolution will be all the calories you burn as well as the strengthening and toning you manage as a side benefit.

While very few of us consider video games to be a great source of health or fitness, this game may be the one exception to the rule. Who would have ever thought you could get all of these things and so much more from playing a video game. Next thing you know they'll come out with Mountain Dew that is a health drink.