In Front Of The Music
Morbus Iff — Tue, 2004-06-29 13:27
I love music gaming. Not just Dance Dance Revolution and its ilk, or the Sony-produced Amplitude and Frequency, but weirdo stuff like Gitaroo Man, Parappa, Space Channel 5, and embarassing attempts like Britney's Dance Beat. Am I the only one? Would anyone care for an article on the various music games available for the PS2, or just "closet" gaming in general (Karoake Revolution, EyeToy: Groove, Ribbet King, etc.)?
- Login to post comments
Honestly I never understood these games. I don't get it but there must be an audience for them if they're made. I downloaded a cracked copy of Britney's Dance Beat on my PC along with a patch that made her naked. That was good for about 20 minutes worth of entertainment before I went back to my 8 bit roms.
-----
Ahahahah. You should screenshot that.
Anyways, Britney's Dance Beat is, literally, the /worst/ one to get if you're just exploring the genre - it's rather boring, easy, and repetitive. The newest "neat" game that has come out is either Donkey Konga (GameCube) or Taito Drum Master (PS2). You get a huge drum controller, some breaddrumsticks, and you get to beat the shit out of it. Gets pretty loud though - definitely not a night game (same with Karaoke Revolution and Dance Dance Revolution).
If you're just looking for "weird" stuff that'll make you itch yourself in "the hell?!"dom, than yeah, I'd still recommend Parappa, Gitaroo Man, and Space Channel Five (in that order). If you're into classical music (but, to some degree, a harder game), check out Mad Maestro.
Nevermind on that screenshot. Speaking about random acts of boyfervor, have you seen Rumble Roses?
I have DDR on my PC. I don't play it terribly often, but I like it.
I'm a 40yo white guy.
I've never played DDR on the PC, because I try not to spend money on things that I can get for free - check out StepMania.com, which is an opensourced clone for Mac, PC, and Linux. I run it on OS X just fine. Of course, you can play it with a keyboard, but you'd have to investigate USB adapters for any existing pads you may have. As for songs, there's a very active community behind the "stepfile" format that StepMania uses, and you can download literally thousands of songs with BitTorrent at http://www.ddramerica.com/bttracker/.
None of which are legally licensed...
I'm sorry, I'm an author, I have a moral imperative to actually PAY for the IP I use, if the artist requires it.
Stepmania is useless without the stepfiles, and I was completely unable to find stepfiles made from legally accessible music.
Not entirely true - there are people doing their own remixes, and their own creations, in a stepfile format, but granted, they've been submitted in TournaMixes, themselves filled with 30 to 60 second submissions of songs which permission has not been granted. You can find them on the author's personal sites, but naturally, that's hunt and peck (same as freely available music and game content). And, for what it's worth, I'm an author of two books, contributor to 7+, planning two more, writer for Apple, blah blah blah, and all the code in my second book was licensed as as open source. ;)
Sorry... too much work, especially since DDR works just fine for me already.
I played a demo of Donkey Konga at a local GameStop and was bored with it in a little over 30 seconds. When I was a stoner I would sit for hours in front of PaRappa ("punch, punch, kick!") but now that I have my brain back it just doesn't hold my interest. I guess it's just one of those things that some people like and some people don't.
I actually deleted Britney's Dance Beat beacuse it was really annoying exposed boobs or no but if you have a sick sense of curiosity you can check out some screen shots here.
Too late and nope.
I'm pretty sure those games are a deperate attempt to get people to exercise...
Most of the home games have calorie counters, yes. But, you say this like it's a bad thing. I'd much rather exercise if I've got a smile on my face and I'm racking up a high score. Of course, I live on the second floor, so my monkeycizing is limited to Eyetoy at the moment.
is DDR any fun without a mat?