> -----Original Message----- > From: Michael Dinowitz [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Sunday, April 13, 2008 12:20 AM > To: CF-Community > Subject: dance machine > > Judith wants a game machine with something to dance/excercise to. > What's the > best to buy? > Thanks
Well - if it's going to be a single purpose machine (heck, even if not) then a PS2 is probably your best bet. Lots of dance/exercise titles. The PS2 EyeToy (camera-based VR) games are incredibly fun and incredibly active and many of the "Dance" titles use it for additional functionality as well. For example as you're dancing the correct steps are rolling across the screen - with the EyeToy added the screen is also getting "dirty" at the same time and you have to wave your arms to "clean" it as you're playing. "EyeToy Kinetic" is an adult exercise title specifically designed for the EyeToy by Nike. It provides all the stuff you'd expect: initial analysis, goals, calorie counting, etc. The EyeToy can be picky about lighting, but not so much during the day (all you can really do is give it a shot... return it if it doesn't work). The EyeToy is the most "whole-body" experience you can get. PS2, being (still) the most popular system also gets all the other music games as well: Guitar Heor, Rock Band, etc. The PS2 has a truly enormous library of games (if you just want to play without moving too much some time). Since its last gen a PS2, EyeToy and Dance Mat will, in total, set you back about $160-$200 or so (depending on which peripherals and whether you buy used). The Wii may be a good choice as well. It's basically "last gen" as well in terms of hardware so it's the cheapest current offering (at $250). Many of the games are active... but only a few are really what you're asking about: the majority of them are traditional games with motion controls added (to varying degrees of success). "WiiFit", a, intelligent balance board and minigame collection, is coming out but doesn't offer any kind of "dance" (think hula hooping as most of the games have your feet completely stationary). In any case the WiiFit unit isn't out yet so it's hard to recommend or pan it - you may want to wait a month and see what the reviews say. The Wii's motion controls are centered in the controllers - so the games tend to be upper-body focused. You can also, of course, lie like a lump and barely twitch... you really have to "get into it" to get any real exercise out of it (which isn't hard). The current offerings are kind of anemic. The pack-in game (Wii Sports) has a "fitness" mode... but all it allows is for a daily round of random games and a completely arbitrary "age" score being applied (basically you play games of skill and it correlates that to your fitness age). The Wii has a LOT of potential in this regard and its popularity makes it a reasonably future-proof purchase. Unfortunately it's also been over a year and only a leper's handful of games have even comes close to tapping that potential. But for casual active gaming you can just do what everybody else seems to be doing: buy it, play Wii Sports and ignore all the other games. ;^) Other than that there really aren't any viable options. The PS3 would be closest - the new "Eye" (next generation EyeToy) is getting a slow start, but the few games that are out are impressive. The motion control's aren't as flexible as the Wii's but are starting to get some fun stuff (PS3 bowling is vastly better than Wii bowling)... but right now you'd be spending $400 to play a few $9 games. ;^) Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;192386516;25150098;k Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:258414 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
