IGN writes: "Kids can dance into the New Year at SUBWAY restaurants with the all-new DanceDanceRevolution promotion. Konami and SUBWAY restaurants today announced a partnership that will help promote a healthy lifestyle for children by delivering the fun and excitement of Konami's best-selling get-up-and-move video game to children everywhere. From December 29, 2008 thru March 29, 2009, participating SUBWAY restaurants will offer one of six exclusive, high quality DanceDanceRevolution branded premium toy accessories along with a $10 coupon good on any of the newest DanceDanceRevolution games with each purchase of a SUBWAY FRESH FIT FOR KIDS meal."
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One of the most important titles in the history of casual gaming can stand up proud this week, with Konami's Dance Dance Revolution dance mat series reaching the ripe old age of ten.

Known as Dancing Stage in Europe, the series first arrived in Japanese arcades on November 21st 1998 and quickly went on to become a gaming sensation. Konami ditched the traditional joypad or joystick and introduced a pressure-sensitive dance mat that registers when a player's foot hits each of the four directional pads.

It didn't take long for the arcade craze to make the move to consoles, and the series arrived on Sony's pioneering PlayStation in Japan early in 1999, bringing with it the first iteration of the console dance mat.
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The American Council on Exercise (ACE) put the video game Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) to the test and fond that the game can be a very good workout for children. ACE commissioned the study out of the University of Wisconsin to look at the caloric expenditure of players during the game.

The study used male and female subjects from 12 to 25 years old and half the volunteers were under 18. The study showed that players had a marked increase in exercise intensity as they participated.

Adults burned more calories and on average teens burned 5.9 kcal/min on light, 6.7 kcal/min on standard and 8.1 kcal/min on difficult mode. Test participants used DDR Extreme 2 for the PS2 and a dance pad.

The full report of the study in PDF format is available for download via 14U.
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In 2008, the team at MTV Games are proud to present to you the MTV Rhythm Game Track Finder, your beacon in the confusing swirl of rhythm games.

The regularly updated database will allow you to search any artist and any song to find out which rhythm games it is in and to compare song lists for any major music-based video game.

The database currently indexes song lists for more than two dozen rhythm games, including a range of SingStars, Guitar Heroes, Dance Dance Revolutions, Rock Band, and lesser-known favorites such as FreQuency, Elite Beat Agents and the Donkey Konga series.
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