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PlayStation (Games) Entertainment Games

RedOctane Pushes DDR For Weight Loss Market 137

Posted by simoniker from the downstairs-neighbors-calling-cops dept.
Thanks to EWorldWire for reprinting a RedOctane press release advocating rhythm-based game Dance Dance Revolution for extreme weight loss, and using the story of Tanya Jessen, "who lost 95 lbs. playing DDR." The piece also points out: "A person weighing 150 lbs burns an average of 16 calories per song playing the latest Dance Dance Revolution game. In just one hour of playing it's possible for a person to burn around 640 calories, compared to only burning 501 calories jogging." RedOctane also has an official GetUpMove site, complete with before and after pictures, noting that "...most Dance Dance Revolution games have a Workout Mode which tracks the number of calories you burn while dancing", though RedOctane's own motivation for this diet push is to sell you their high-end DDR pads.
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RedOctane Pushes DDR For Weight Loss Market

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  • If it works, do it... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Godeke ( 32895 ) * on Thursday January 22, 2004 @03:13PM (#8058935)
    So what if it is less than selfless? With the American (and apparently from more recent data Europe is starting this tend) weights going out of control, anything that helps someone get started on weight loss is a good thing. The trick to weight loss is finding things you can live with: starving yourself only causes short term gains with long term rebounds that push you into even heavier territory. I personally dropped 25 pounds and went from a 28 to 23% bodyfat by:

    #1 Finding exercise I would do. In my case, an indoor rockclimbing gym provides my workout, and a good puzzle for the mind as well. BTW, exercise itself doesn't cause weight loss, but will help you keep weight off and muscle helps you burn more calories even when at rest.

    #2 Finding replacement foods. This means examining everything you eat. Replace the fast food hamburger with a 6" sub to start. Find a place with a salad bar. Get a "light" cooking book. Some of the stuff is horrible, but you will find a dish here, a dish there, that works.

    #3 Change your routines. If you have a habit of snacking to give yourself a break, find something else to do during breaktime. I personally have a gameboy with puzzle games on it that can be played in 5-10 minutes. Makes for a great break without attacking the snack machine.

    I applaud anyone who can figure a way to make a profit while bringing waistlines back under control. Weight induced illness is more likely than cancer to strike you if you get heavy, and can cause diabetic conditions, heart conditions and generally won't get you the girl/guy of your dreams. If playing DDR can get you healthy, high end DDR pads are cheaper than bypass surgery...
    • #4 Read the labels. Before you buy that candy bar or bag of chips, check the nutritional information. You'll be suprised at the number of calories (or amount of saturated fat and cholesterol) in most of the junk people eat. If you make checking the label a habit (and acting on it, of course; don't eat that box of cookies when you already know it's got 500 calories), you'll find that you'll start eating much healthier things. Want a bag of chips? Try some Chex Mix instead. Chocolate? Get a bar of dark; it's
    • I weigh over 250 pounds, and I'm currently trying to lose weight. I have a crappy old exercise bicycle which is way too small for my height (I think its actually designed for women) and VERY uncomfortable. I try to do 10 miles a day but its a pain in the ass. Literally. The seat is horrible!
      Aside from that, it's horribly dull. I gained this weight because I spend the whole day sitting on a very comfortable rocking chair, in front of my computer. If only I had some way of hacking my bike to interface with th
      • Let me recommend spending $350.00 (USD) on a decent bike. You can loose alot of weight just biking around and enjoying the scenery. I know it only works for 3/4 of the year though (winter is out). But, you're just gonna do yourself an injury if you stay on a bike thats' not suited to your body. I'd get off it asap.

        My own personal favorite machine is a rowing machine like these. [concept2.com] You don't need one near as expensive though, just make sure its got the fan. It builds the body and acts as a cardio machine. The

      • You want to have a bike workout video game? Well, here ya go! [branfordbike.com]

        Not bad for under $120, assuming you have a decent bike and a PS2 to go with it.

    • As far as replacement food goes, I have one thing to add to your post.

      All of us geeks like caffeine to get motivated in the morning, during work, etc. A lot of guys I know get this through Mountain Dew or Jolt or coffee.

      My suggestion is switching to unsweetened iced tea, or black coffee. Soda and non black coffee obvoiusly have lots of sugar in them, and as far as trying to stay thin goes, processed sugar is the worst food you can eat. Also, unsweetened iced tea has no calories and black coffee has ver

  • . . when girls realise how you excersize, and never go on second dates with you. :)

    I'm sticking to the strict regimine of sex.

  • Thanks, but... (Score:3, Funny)

    by TheSHAD0W ( 258774 ) on Thursday January 22, 2004 @03:16PM (#8058968) Homepage
    ...I lost my coordination about a hundred pounds ago.

    • Re:Thanks, but... (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      um, yeah... that's why start out with slow songs until you start gaining it back...

  • Huh. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by KyolFrilander ( 730272 ) on Thursday January 22, 2004 @03:23PM (#8059055)
    Funny, I started doing the same thing just recently after I found out how much it made my pasty overweight geek ass sweat while playing it at a friend's house. Too soon to tell if I'll lose any weight, but eh, it's fun, it's relatively easy, and it does get the heart rate up, if nothing else. If the $99 RedOctane DDR pads are too spendy for you, Buy N Shop [buynshop.com] or Level Six [levelsix.com] both sell knockoffs for half the price, and they're identical, from reviews.

    More information at Stepmania [stepmania.com] - even more if they ever get their board back from ddrmaniax.

    • Re:Huh. (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Cuthalion ( 65550 )
      My advice is: Get a cheapo pad. Play some. Decide if it's something you're going to keep playing for a long time. If it is, it's well worth the money to buy a metal pad. Both Red Octane's and Cobalt Flux [cobaltflux.com]'s are excellent, if expensive.

      The soft pads will break after heavy use. They also are less accurate and will piss you off when you start to get good, which you will do if you keep at it.

      I wasted a lot of time and money on soft and semi-soft pads. Now I have some Cobalt Fluxes (the red octane metal
      • Yeah, I'm planning on putting the money aside for either a RO hardpad (and fixing it before it fails) or a CF, rather than pissing away $50 per shot on the softpads. But through a shipping fluke, I find myself in posession of 3 softpads, and I don't have enough space for doubles, so I should have the softpads for a while yet. I figure if 6 months from now I'm still dancing for 45-60 minutes per day, $299 is cheap for a CF.

        ($90 _was_ cheap for a pair of semisofts, considering I was in the middle of a MAME

      • Re:Huh. (Score:3, Funny)

        by mESSDan ( 302670 )
        The soft pads will break after
        heavy use.
        Isn't that the whole point of the article? *grin*

    • Re:Huh. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Flunitrazepam ( 664690 )
      Just remember man, physical health has to be approach with a one-two method... you can do all the excersize in the world but if you don't consider your intake you aren't going to get far.
    • The knockoffs are not quite identical: the foam padding is of much lower quality.

      But in any case, the RedOctane Ignition and clones are only good for about 200 hours of serious use before they break down. Unless you're strapped for cash or are going to be moving around a lot, I recommend going straight from the cheap pads to the $200 RedOctane Metal, which lasts essentially forever.

      Oh, and regarding Level Six, they took my money in October for a ~$75 order and never sent me a goddamn thing, including a

      • I'm under the impression from the various 3rd party reviews I've seen that the only knockoffs that have the cheaper foam are the ebay 2-for-$35 semisofts and the cheaper levelsix models, but the L6 3.1 and the BNS DX-Ultra are both the relative equal of the RO.

        And doesn't the RO hardpad still need ter's MMB fixes to keep it from croaking eventually?

  • Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday January 22, 2004 @03:27PM (#8059106)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • I wanted to be able to go head to head with other people around the world on a stationary bike fitted to calculate my wattage output against my weight, taking into account my speed and what wind force I'd have to work against. I'm still waiting. I'd take any /. on any day! ;)
  • if these numbers are true i'll disappear before long and there wont be much i can do about it. Smoking - the most addictive weight loss strategy? WRONG! In comes Dance Dance Revolution. Note to anyone who tries ddr specifically lose weight: Go with DDR Ultramix for Xbox. Its full of speed mixes and really hard stuff, should lose you weight faster.

  • cost / benefit ratio (Score:4, Insightful)

    by theMerovingian ( 722983 ) on Thursday January 22, 2004 @03:33PM (#8059183) Journal
    Those high end pads are only a couple hundred bucks - much cheaper than home fitness equipment. If you think this is fun, and have the discipline, go for it.

    I prefer to spend $30/month on a gym membership. You get numerous cardio machines, free weights, weight lifting machines, and often aerobics/yoga/kickboxing thrown into the mix.

    Ultimately, it's about having discipline and consistency. No matter how much money you spend or don't spend.

    To quote Arnold:
    I've never paid for a push-up or a sit-up in my life.
    • I got a mad catz knock-off ddr pad for thirty bucks and its perfectly adequite. Preowned Xbox - $140 Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix - $30 Mat Catz DDR Dance Pad - $30 Respect at arcades and LAN parties...priceless. Also - humiliating my enemies. Priceless. :)
    • The most expensive home equipment is the CobaltFlux [cobaltflux.com] hard pad, cheap at only $299 per, or $580 for 2!

      (And I'm actually considering one. *sigh*)
      • RedOctane [redoctane.com] has a metal pad they just started selling @ $200 bucks. They will even bundle in a copy of DDRMax2 for 20 bucks or so, IIRC.

        To top it off, it comes with a conversion box, so if a buddy feels like getting a real good work hauling his XBox over, you can plug that into the same pad for some DDR UltraMix action.

      • I bought a cobalt flux [cobaltflux.com] in November. It works much better than the soft pads. My husband and I really debated getting it because it cost so much, but I am very happy we did 'cause we still use it almost every day. I love it!

        DDR Freak [ddrfreak.com] has a nice forum [ddrfreak.com] about the pros and cons of the various metal pads.
      • I love my Cobalt Flux dance pads! I've had them since early August.
    • "Ultimately, it's about having discipline and consistency. No matter how much money you spend or don't spend."

      I concur. I also think that like going to the gym, it's funner when you have a buddy to go with. DDR is alot funner with two or more dancepads (xbox version supports 4).

      It takes me about an hour or so to go through most the songs (skipping a few) on light level for ultramix. Keeping it consistent. I don't think my neighbors downstairs like me a lot now though. lol.
  • One of my ex-girlfriends once dragged me on DDR. Oh how I sucked at it, but it did give me one heck of a workout. I strangely had fun playing it, but boy was I embarrased at my lack of rythim. And, the next day I was quite sore :)

    Mewyn Dy'ner

  • You can dance under Linux, too (Score:4, Informative)

    by Pegasus ( 13291 ) on Thursday January 22, 2004 @03:34PM (#8059211) Homepage
    See PyDDR [icculus.org]. Prebuilt for most of the popular distributions, requires some work to get it working from scratch. Hook your pad (or two) to your PC with the help of a $15 adapter [levelsix.com] and you're ready to go. Song collections can be found all over the net.
    • See www.stepmania.com - they have one of the smoothest DDR-style games out there. The Mac OS X port seems to work just as well as the Windows port. Hopefully the Linux port is just as well-evolved.
  • With the ddr games you have to manually enter in your own weight and keep track of it youself via scales in the bathroom and input the data change back into the game. well at least with the Ultramix version for the xbox.

    It would be a cool feature if these high-end redoctane metal pads have built-in weight scales similarly to the high-end gym equipments.
  • If you could create/connect a DDR pad keyboard to your computer, and made people use it... people would have to play it well. That'd give "Mario Teaches Typing" a whole new twist.
    • no need for Mario teaches typing (although your suggestion implies that you'd be using the whole keyboard, which may make the screen display really cramped... besides, I think popcap did a typing shark-type game already.... but I digress).

      Just go to Flash Flash Revolution [flashflashrevolution.com] to get your keyboard dancing groove on.

  • Another two cents (Score:4, Funny)

    by Elwood P Dowd ( 16933 ) <judgmentalist@gmail.com> on Thursday January 22, 2004 @03:46PM (#8059359) Journal
    A friend of mine used to go jogging every day. He eventually screwed up his knee (shocker). He might be able to get his knee fixed, but he can't afford proper medical care. In the mean time, his knee isn't effected by DDR playing.

    He goes crazy without excercise, and now he gets his sanity from DDR. Every day. For a few hours. He loves that shit. It's particularly funny to me 'n' the rest of his friends just because he's the opposite of a video game type person, and he used to continually mock the asia-phile mallrats that typically play the game.

  • Double Data Rate? (Score:5, Funny)

    by scumdamn ( 82357 ) on Thursday January 22, 2004 @03:48PM (#8059371)
    I was wondering how sending data on both the rising and falling edges of a clock cycle would help me lose weight. I figured RDRAM would make me fat, but I couldn't see Double Data Rate actually helping me shed the pounds.
  • -not the best chosen before/after pictures. At least the before...she doesn't look like a 230lb-er

    -3 hours a day? Yikes, I'm a little less impressed w/ the power of the DDR power. Who the hell has that kind of time?

    -also, there's a big difference between the arcade mode most people play and even the lighter 'workout' modes, at least on the DDR pads I have...the latter is much tougher to keep up with

  • More about MTV and Team Seattle (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    If you want a more balanced view, there's an interesting bit where she asks her Team Seattle [ezboard.com] about the MTV show and asks them how much weight they've lost.
  • ... but not more calories burned nor more useful, nor is it even more fun in my opinion, than cycling.

    It may not be feasable for everyone, but cycling has replaced my car (and saved me a metric assload of money as well). This is in Calgary, a city with very cold winters and serious urban sprawl going on, although it also has an excellent public transit/bike path system.

    Anyway, it's just a thought. There are some excellent bike-commuting solutions out there. It's excellent exercise, good for the environmen
    • Here is my issue with the exercise while you commute option: sweat. If you have facilities to shower when you get to work then it would be good. Of course this also depends on the commute being the correct length. Not too long, not too short.

      But on a side note. You may burn more calories doing this dance thing than you do jogging- but not more than running. Jogging is o.k. if you are just getting started, but as your fitness level increases and you move to running- the benefits increase.
      • Baby wipes. No, I'm not kidding. It's like a shower in a box. Get to work, wipe the grit off, apply more deodorant, and you're fine. Works like a charm for me on my 10 mile commute. I _think_ it's because in the morning, after your morning shower, you're already fresh and clean and by wiping off the sweat as soon as you can it doesn't have a chance to get stinky.

        The biggest downside is having a tub labelled Huggies in your desk. They've started making non-baby themed wipes, but last I saw they wer
        • Baby wipes. No, I'm not kidding. It's like a shower in a box. Get to work, wipe the grit off, apply more deodorant, and you're fine.

          That only works for people who stop sweating after they stop exercising. That's not me. I usually need to cool down for at least 20 minutes before I stop sweating.

  • I have been playing DDR for an hour or an hour and a half each day. Partially for exercise but mostly because it's fun. My weight hasn't diminished by much I believe (I weigh about 220 pounds. at 6'2" I am not concerned about this to own a scale.)

    However, I have noticed that I feel significantly better and have way more energy. I am a pretty active guy (snowboarding, hiking, etc), but I've never got exercise with this kind of regularity before (even when I was fencing competitively in high school, I o

  • Ignition Pad availabilty and a Grain of Salt (Score:4, Interesting)

    by robbway ( 200983 ) on Thursday January 22, 2004 @04:01PM (#8059520) Journal
    I play DDR. I lost 60 lbs over 7 months. I stopped playing DDR, I gained 30 over 6 months. You definitely have to align your activity level, and it's a myth that you gain faster than you lose. You can lose weight more quickly and at a heatly rate. Anyway, I'm highly qualified to comment on this topic.

    Here's my grain of salt: you play 3 songs in 6 minutes because of the selection process, load times, etc. That's actually 30 songs and roughly equates to 30*16= 480 calories. You actually lose more if you're a beginner, because you make missteps. And, if you're using diet mode, don't use official steps, as it only counts correct arrows pressed. Use the default, all steps mode. If your leg moves, count it!

    I'd also say that a typical cookie box has more than 500 calories. Much more. Much, much more.

    Now, I have no experience with the latest Ignition pads. I do know they're available at EB and Gamestop. I know they're considered the best of the soft pads. But be warned! Every soft pad has a limited lifespan. When one arrow stops working, the rest of the pad is useless.

    Three things to counter this: Use stocking feet, place the pad on top of something immobile and soft, and never ever fold it once unfolded. Keep it under the bed or behind the sofa. You will also have a much easier time if you immobilize the pad with velcro (the hooks side) on carpet or taped down by corners.

    Ignition pads are the same size as arcade platform, while the bundle pack by Konami's pad is actually thinner. You can apply your home skills at the arcade, though you may be surprised at the faster response time and meaner judging of PERFECT, GREAT, GOOD, etc. at the arcade.

    Oh yeah, if you play for an hour, have a towel handy and a lot of water.
    • Point of argument:

      Working out in stocking feet may increase the lifetime of the pad, but it's hell on your body.

      All impact activity should be done with proper arch support. It is pretty easy to destroy your arches, and develop long-term lower leg pains from improper footwear.

      Anytime you're jumping up and down, or running, for long periods you need to be wearing good shoes for the activity - this goes doubly if you're overweight!

      • I ran into this problem when I first started DDR as a workout. To fix it, I ran out to the local Pep Boys and picked up some interlocking padded shop floor squares - they come in a pack of four and are a perfect size for a DDR pad (leaving room all around the edges for missteps).

        Since using those, I have had no problems with sore feet. They absorb nearly all of the shock and have held up well over the past two months.
    • And, if you're using diet mode, don't use official steps, as it only counts correct arrows pressed. Use the default, all steps mode. If your leg moves, count it!

      You're confused.

      The game will only count correct steps if you're playing in "Regulation Mode", which is selectable in the Options menu. Otherwise, it'll count calories regardless of whether or not your steps are correct.

      Whether or not you use official steps (as opposed to Edit Data) has nothing to do with it. I think you just got confused.

      You

  • Am I the only one? (Score:2, Redundant)

    by Zapman ( 2662 )
    Am I the only one who saw "DDR for weight loss" and thought: "What on earth does double data rate memory have to do with weightloss?"

    YKYR/.TMW...

  • Yes, it does work (Score:3, Insightful)

    by MonMotha ( 514624 ) on Thursday January 22, 2004 @04:42PM (#8059920)
    To all those skeptical about this, they are being serious. I personally lost weight (though I'm starting to gain it back...in muscle in my legs...) doing DDR. Also, I'm much more engergetic since starting to play DDR about a year ago.

    Yes, RedOctane does sell some expensive gear, but if you really like playing DDR it's well worth it if you want to play at home. Some people have indicated that the Ignition pads (their top of the line soft pad) doesn't last very long. I can't confirm how long they last, but a local club has 8 of them. 6 of them still work a year after they were purchased (with numerous people jumping on them like crazy every wednesday except during the summer) and the 2 that don't work seem to have a problem with controller somewhere (the sensors still work!).

    Regarding the weight loss, it is not immediately evident! Expect to actually gain a little weight first for those of you who are scale crazy (you know, it's those muscle things). You have to gain some muscle to actually move around before you can start burning up excess fat.

    Also, just like any other workout, don't forget to warm up!! Stretch before you begin. Start off with easier songs. Etc. I swear I almost gave myself a heart attack last night because I just stepped right on to the pad and attempted Maxx Unlimited (for those who are curious, I made it to the freeze, though I have passed before...yes, on Maniac difficulty).

    Also, don't get discouraged if you can't do it! Some people I know who are actually quite good now couldn't even pass "one footers" (the easiest under the difficulty ranking system) when they started. Practice, and you *will* get better (nobody just steps onto a DDR machine and starts playing on Maniac).

    Also remember that you can check it out before committing to anything in the way of home gaming. Many arcades now have DDR machines in them. Usually you can get three songs (if you don't fail) for $0.75-$1.00 just to try out. Many arcades now won't even fail you on your first song if you're playing on basic difficulty (called light on newer arcades).

    Anyway, give it a try if you're interested. There's certainly nothing to lose, other than weight!

    --MonMotha

  • calorie count? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by c_jonescc ( 528041 ) on Thursday January 22, 2004 @05:06PM (#8060146)
    "In just one hour of playing it's possible for a person to burn around 640 calories, compared to only burning 501 calories jogging."

    Uh, in my workouts I usually burn 900 to 1000 calories an hour, be it jogging or cycling.

    It's simply a function of intensity, so where does the number "501 calories for an hour of jogging" come in? I can see that someone a bit out of shape can only output so much energy, but to be specific to 500 and ONE calories?

    • Re:calorie count? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by stoolpigeon ( 454276 )
      You can't really do 'intense' jogging by definition. I guess you could ramp it up a bit with hand weights or something - but technically jogging is that kind of shuffling/not walking/not running thing that involves not getting the knees up much. If you want to see it in practice catch me at night jogging in my neighborhood. Once I'm in good enough shape to run I'll be less ashamed.

      Running at 5 mph, weighing 150 lbs. gets you closer, and running at a good solid pace puts you well over 640.

      I think they c
    • How do you know you're burning 900 to 1000 calories? If you're using some type of exercise machine that gives a calorie count, you should know that those are fairly inaccurate. They're an estimate. Besides, you shouldn't be focused on how many calories you're burning. You should just focus on getting your heart rate up for an extended period of time [30 minutes to an hour per day, at least] and consuming a reasonable amount of food.
      • I have a very good heart rate monitor that also makes an estimate of calories burned. It seems to be quite accurate based on a few little experiments I've run on the thing.

        I do mostly use the monitor to know exactly how intense my workout is, and the calorie count is just a number I look at at the end of a workout for comparisons sake.

        BTW, I am a liberal, but thought that you'd like a reply.

  • I lost weight/inches with DDR (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Jim Hall ( 2985 ) on Thursday January 22, 2004 @05:24PM (#8060295) Homepage

    Why? I live in Minnesota, so for half the year it's kind of hard to go outside for some kind of exercise. So I needed something that I could do indoors, as well. I have a PS2, so a friend recommended Dance Dance Revolution. I've been doing DDR for a little over a year (starting with DDR:Konamix), and of course now I'm doing DDR:Max2. I've been pretty good about getting 4-5 days a week of ~40min doing DDR. I do 1-2 "green" songs (easy), 1-2 "blue" songs (moderate), then the rest of the time I'm doing "yellow" (very difficult).

    Actually, I just bought one of RedOctane's high-end Dance pads (the metal one), but not because of this article. All that jumping around takes a good toll on my Dance pads. An off-the-shelf pad usually lasts me a few months. My current Dance pad is starting to get a little flaky. That's why I started looking around for a better pad, and found the RedOctane pads were highly recommended on several forums. Lots of people have had good reports about this pad. It's very sturdy, and should last a few *years*.

    Also, I've lost quite a bit of weight over the last year - I'm down to 224, and I've lost ~4 inches. Some of that is diet (I don't eat as much red meat, I eat oatmeal for breakfast, and I've cut out almost all of my snacks) but most of it is due to getting more exercise with DDR. I had to buy a whole new wardrobe, but I don't really mind. :-)

    • But all those emails promise me more inches, why would I ever want less?
    • You're misinterpreting the color coding of the songs in DDRMax2.

      The Green songs are the songs or mixes that are new to DDRMax2.

      The blue ones are songs or mixes that have appeared exactly the same in other DDR mixes/versions.

      The yellow ones are the regular songs you have to unlock.

      The pink ones are only playable in Challenge mode (and also must be unlocked). They are all remixes of other songs in DDRMax2.

      The red ones also must be unlocked. They are extra difficult.
    • Just a reminder: Carbs are bad. Oatmeal is a pretty balanced and nurtitous food but if it's proccessed you minus well be eating corn startch. Try fruit, like a banana some berries and yrou oatmeal and makes sur eit's pretty course oatmeal.

      Personally I try to go for a fruit heavy diet with lots of lean meat like chicken and avoid most carbs.
  • Any chance of this ever happening?
  • Is that what's been making the plaster on my ceiling fall? The lady upstairs must be a DDR fan.. ;)

  • Good for the entire family (Score:3, Informative)

    by FRandallFarmer ( 708658 ) on Thursday January 22, 2004 @05:40PM (#8060422) Homepage
    Don't underestimate the social motivations surrounding DDR.

    I'm a 43 year old lifetime (sedentary) computer geek with the body to prove it. I founded several start-ups and let them devour my 'free' time and that included any exercise time. My family (wife and two teens) followed my bad example.

    Until 4 months ago, when I bought DDR/Konamix for PS1 and a cheap plastic pad. My daughter had played before and showed me how not to return my foot to center. That was all I needed. Within a month, I had a metal pad (as the soft pad would slide under my ample frame) and was dancing an hour every night. Soon my wife (who has never danced) was along side me learning how to dance. She'll be up to the three-footers in game-mode any time now.

    In the last two weeks, friends of the kids have come over three times to play on our (now all metal) DDR pads w/front-projected screen. I even dance along. [I think they get a kick that an 'old guy' can out dance them! I know I do.] They've even brought over a PS2 and the latest versions.

    My son, who doesn't do anything athletic, is even playing some with his friends, even though he has the least skill at this point.

    My weight loss results haven't been as pronounced as anyone here, but I'm amazed how DDR has turned an entire family of internet-addicts into people actually getting a healthy dose of exercise.

  • or does anyone else find themselves always prefering the girl in the 'before' picture to the girl in the 'after' picture?
  • Might as well note my own experience.

    My basic formula was a 1500 calorie a day diet + burning 400-450 calories a day via DDR workout mode. Doing this Iost about 20 pounds in two or three months. I was 160 before, I'm 140 now, height is 5'10. The entire process was easy and pretty fun. 20 pounds was a lot of weight lost for me, as I wasn't really overweight to start.

    Note the calories burned estimate from workout mode is probably not accurate, but that doesn't really matter, what matters is I was burning ab
  • My neighbors may think I've gone off the deepend, but this sounds a hell of a lot more fun than my treadmill. Forget going to the gym... takes too much time.

    Now as I understand it, this DDR game takes several pieces of equipment, right? A board, a playstation(?), and a TV. I have a TV. Can someone give me a quick synopsis of how all this works? Where would one buy it?

    Thanks.
    • I'm glad to help. I got interested in DDR after seeing a display at the Taste of Chicago in summer 2002, and went out pretty soon after and bought my own kit. Play the game at the arcade a few times to get the hang of how it goes!

      You will have the best luck with a hard floor with very thin carpet, a good TV with stereo sound, a PS2 that won't fall down if you accidentally kick the cable, one of Konami's "DDR MAX" series of games, and a $20-$30 "beat pad" or "dance mat" from just about anyone. Nothing sp
  • like lighting, resolution, and a decent angle of the subject. Same hair color wouldn't hurt, either.

  • Want better before pictures? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by saenodahotmail.com ( 744456 ) on Thursday January 22, 2004 @07:42PM (#8061575)
    Hey everyone, I'm the girl that lost all the weight through playing DDR. I understand that the before pics SUCK, but that was just because my scanner wasn't working. I have a few pics that more adequately show the before, but it will be a day or so until they get put up on the site. Until then, feel free to ask any questions you wish.
  • I found a website with instructions on building a semi hard pad out of a sheet of plexiglass, pegboard or masonite, and duct tape. Here is the link [colorado.edu]. Some suggestions on putting it together that I found from experience: measure out the plexiglass on the softpad you are going to put this together with. I measured several and all of them needed slighty smaller pieces height wise in the middle section to fit properly. Sand down the edges of the plexiglass with 100/120 grit sandpaper, it will keep it from cuttin

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