Master the Dance on Kinect
Remember how Rock Band dominated the music genre and then everyone copied it, even Guitar Hero? Well it's about to happen now that Harmonix has set the bar again with Dance Central. The first challenger? DanceMasters from Konami. It has 31 tracks and superimposes your image onto the screen, tracking your exact performance. Luckily there are lessons for the rhythm-impaired (me), and difficulties ranging from light to stealth. I'm not sure about that last one--is Konami doing a series crossover with Metal Gear Solid? Maybe it teaches you how to dance in a cardboard box.
I'm a little surprised Konami isn't just retrofitting DDR to Kinect the way they did for Wii and Move, but maybe they're trying to differentiate DanceMasters and establish a new IP.
KONAMI DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT, INC. ANNOUNCES DANCEMASTERS EXCLUSIVELY AVAILABLE FOR KINECT™ FOR XBOX® 360
Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.'s World-Renowned Rhythm and Dance Development Team Introduces Original Dance IP
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. - Nov. 4, 2010 - Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. today announced that DanceMasters for Kinect™ for Xbox® 360 is now available at retail outlets nationwide. As one of the first titles available to utilize Microsoft's Kinect for Xbox 360 3D motion capture technology, DanceMasters is the next generation in full body dancing and gives gamers the ultimate virtual dance club experience with the most realistic and exhilarating dancing game yet.
"DanceMasters has allowed us to build upon what we do best. Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. has a great history in the rhythm-based music genre and we've used that experience and wealth of knowledge to build something truly unique for the next generation of music games," said Shinji Hirano, President of Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. "With Kinect, we've built and created our most interactive dance game to-date with full body movement, providing gamers of all ages a high-energy experience set to some high energy dance music."
In DanceMasters, gamers can watch themselves and their friends in real time on the screen thanks to the new technology of Kinect for Xbox 360. They can also save up to two of their original dance moves at any time in order to watch their past performances as back-up dancers in the game. As players boogie in tune to the game's music, they can take snapshots of their favorite dance poses, save to local albums and share the fun with friends. Utilizing Xbox® LIVE Arcade, players can also challenge up to four friends from around the world.
Dancers can move to their favorite songs from a list of 31 tracks from a wide variety of original club music including Hip Hop, R&B, Pop, and Techno, including non-stop set lists and all-new songs available through Xbox LIVE. DanceMasters boasts three gameplay modes for the ultimate dance experience - Dance, Lesson, and Status. In Dance Mode, gamers compete to become the 'dance master' as they play and unlock their favorite songs and groove along with a friend. Lesson Mode allows users to train in a tutorial, and Status Mode enables them to check their play records and review the titles they have earned. Players can also compete to determine who is the ultimate dancer with multiple difficulty levels including Light, Standard, Extreme and Stealth.
DanceMasters is now available on Kinect for Xbox 360. For assets and more information, please visit www.konami.com/dancemasters.
