dancing
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Manoi Go break-dancing robot blows our minds
We've got no idea how this nugget of glorious mechanized boogie snuck past us -- we'll blame it on the horror we experienced while watching Doka Harumi's robot dance routine. Another entrant in that same Japanese robo-dance contest, this red-blazered drone brings the pain, the funk, and all necessary accessories to rock your world. We're not kidding -- if you don't like this, you don't like technology. Skip past the break for not one, but two doses of that mind-altering video action.
Robots perform synchronized interpretive dance for the holidays, fill us with cheer
You know what we love? Dancing robots and Christmas tunes. So combining the two and throwing the video up on YouTube would be akin to heaven, right? Well, as you'll see in the amazing video after the break: it doesn't get much better than this. In fact, it might even be enough to clear the "bah humbug" out of us for good.
The Queue: Naptime
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's (almost) daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. I'm going to kick off today's edition of The Queue with a question for you, the reader. It's a gravely important question, so read carefully! What should I order from the local Chinese joint for dinner tonight? Should I go with my usual, shameful choice of orange chicken? Or should I go a spicier route and go for the Kung Pao? Heck, maybe I should bring a little variety to the table with a Pu Pu Platter? Help me, WoW.com! Sindrow asked... "Remember how faction switching caused all AT progress to be wiped? Is it safe to say that race change will not have similar effects, since everything is occurring within the same faction? Can you guys think of *any* negative result of a race change?"
Just Dance box art keeps it simple
Superannuation, like the rest of us, seems to have been drawn to Ubisoft's irresistible Just Dance. The combination of the imperative title and the goofy enthusiasm of the trailer make us follow the Wii dancing game a little more closely than others we don't really intend to play. The site alerted us to the box art for the title, which boldly advertises three songs: "U Can't Touch This," "Groove is in the Heart," and "Hot N Cold." We have yet to decide, but we think ... we might like the design. It'll certainly stand out on the shelf, commanding everyone who walks by to just dance. And the people on the box won't be as humiliated with their appearance as the Jam Sessions guy.%Gallery-70594%
The Daily Grind: What game has the best /dances?
There are tons of MMOs out there with /dance moves in them. Don't believe us? Search "mmo dance" on YouTube and you'll get an idea of all the various different ones out there. Sometimes they're easy to source, like all of the ones in World of Warcraft. Other times, they seem to have gone off and done their own thing, as perhaps with the video above from Aion. With that said, some games do /dancing better than others - at least according to players. This morning we thought we'd ask you - which game do you think has the absolute best /dance emotes? Which has the absolute worst? If there are several different dances your character can do like City of Heroes and even Fallen Earth, which one is your absolute favorite? Alternately, if you can't decide, feel free to list all your favorites in the comments below!
Video: Pleo gets new dance moves, alpha dev kit
We've seen the Pleo get shredded, overtaken by a Wii wand, and generally mocked for its status as a perennially endangered species. With no dignity left to protect, its makers have decided they might as well kick out an SDK, or PDK in this case, to let the great unwashed masses have their way with the originally autonomous bot. Still only in the alpha stage and not yet widely available, the dev kit has already borne fruit in the shape of a shockingly awesome dance video. We've got it for you after the break, but a warning first: prepare to fall in love all over again. [Thanks, Eric]
Just watch this trailer, and then Just Dance
The trailer for Ubisoft's just-dancing game Just Dance puts forth a pretty upbeat philosophy about life. No matter where you are -- the office, the convenience store, the, uh, 1950s -- it's the perfect time to turn on some dance pop from twenty years ago, turn into a glowing cartoon, and --Just Dance. Of course, Ubisoft would prefer that you just dance at home, by playing the Wii game this trailer is promoting, but you don't need to worry about details like that. You have one solitary obligation, and that is to dance. Due to its use of the Wii Remote, this game seems to emphasize arm movements in dance, contrasting with Dance Dance Revolution, which is based primarily on foot movements. We can't wait to see someone play both simultaneously.%Gallery-70594%
Ancilorn wants to know your favorite form dance
For some reason, this post in the WoW Europe general forums asking what shapeshift form has the best dance moves makes me suspicious. The poll itself is innocuous enough, although I don't understand why Tree of Life and Moonkin carry such a commanding lead (Cat is my personal favorite). No, the suspicious part is: why are they asking this now? New dances were a much-hyped feature in Wrath of the Lich King, although they have so far entirely failed to materialize. If they're still working on them, for 3.3 or 4.0, this might be some market research to see what sort of dances we like. On the other hand, it may just be an innocent piece of fun from Ancilorn. Who knows?
Ubisoft trademarks 'Just Dance'
In other news, Joystiq Publishing trademarked "Just STOP."
Breakfast Topic: Your favorite Alliance male dance?
So blue poster Ancilorn asked a question over on the EU official forums that was just offbeat enough that I thought I'd ask it here: What's your favorite Alliance Male Dance?I guess I never thought about it too much before, but really, Alliance male dances are just sort of... there. We have a bunch of old standbys. The Saturday Night Fever disco, the vaguely Cossack Dwarven dance, the old Michael Jackson Night Elf dance and that weird... thing Gnomes do. My favorite though, is the newest one, the Draenei dance. Tunak Tun was an old nerd favorite of mine, and was actually pretty popular on the Tarew Marr server community back when I played Everquest. It's dynamic and joyful without being as unsettling as the Gnome dance or nerdy as the human dance. In fact, when we finally get dance studios, I may switch some of my non-Draenei guys to it, if possible.What about you? What's your favorite?%Poll-30519%
What's your best BlizzCon memory?
Did you manage to get your tickets? I'm sure there will be plenty of folks who are returning to BlizzCon. I wasn't able to go but I followed WoW Insider's coverage of the event from the opening ceremonies to the final concert. It was an awesome time for fans to get insight on some of the behind the scenes aspects of WoW, including an art gallery, a sound panel, and an introduction to Ghostcrawler.I have to admit that even with the massive amount of information on classes and mechanics, my favorite part was the goofy fan stuff. I love how some people really get into their costumes and dances. I think I missed out most by missing the WoW Insider meet up. It's amazing that real people get so into our favorite game franchises.For those of you who went last year, or even were following along with me, what's the best BlizzCon memory that you carry with you?BlizzCon 2009 is coming up on August 21st and 22nd! We've got all the latest news and information. At BlizzCon you can play the latest games, meet your guildmates, and ask the developers your questions. Plus, there's some great looking costumes.
Learning to dance with WoW
I'm learning to dance. By which I mean, I'm learning various semi-ballroom or formal dances that are not characteristic of my native and well-honed ability to flop around on the dance floor like a seizing fish out of water. My fundamental problem with dancing is that I don't have any rhythm. None, nada, zip, zilch. I can notice a "beat" if it's being hammered on a drum, without any distracting vocals or "music" being played on top of it. But if that beat disappears for a millisecond, I instantly return to trampling my partner's feet.As a result, learning to dance has been a challenge. It's a little crazy, actually. There I was, struggling with the box-steps for a Waltz when a subtle inspiration hit me and my Draenei fiancee. For the box step, you kind of move around in a box. (It's not just a clever name.) But it's done on a three count. Very similarly to how you might call out Heigan's Safety Dance."Section 1.""Section 2.""Section 3.""Teleport."And, blushing fiercely as possible, I realized I had the steps. Yup, nailed 'em perfect every time, just by chanting that "Section 3 . . . Section 4 . . . Back to 3 . . . " The beat really was about exactly the same, and I didn't have any trouble after that.Things didn't get any better for me when we had to do "hesitation" side-steps. Basically, you take two or three steps with the beat, then omg hurry up and take two steps for one beat! And, in the grand tradition of dorks everywhere, I was struggling to do it gracefully. And then my Draenei fiancee impishly started muttering "omigod adds. . . amigod adds. . . omigod adds. . . amigod adds. . ." (Think Noth or Kel'Thuzad.)Yup, nailed the step right away again. So, while this may not be a direct buff from the Great Crab of Blue, Naxxramas may have helped me get my ballroom dancing right. I guess raiding makes dance steps more accessible?I will admit, though. I'm probably not ready for the Dance Battle.
Zarhym: Artists are "hacking away at" new dances
Okay, so we've been hearing this for a while now. The Dance Studio is coming at some point during Wrath, it's just been delayed. There's been no word about that beyond it though. We're not even sure if they have a rough target patch for it. It's just sort of out there, that unanswered question: Dude, where's my feature? Zarhym spoke out on it again the other day, and while on one level it's more of the same "it's coming when it comes" type of talk we've heard before, he does say that the art team is "hacking away" at it when they aren't faced with more looming deadlines like Ulduar. This is probably the first time that I can recall that we have had someone from the Blizzard team saying that yes, it is being actively worked on. Now admittedly, this still isn't a release date, and I'm still not expecting it until at least 3.3, but it's out there, which is the good thing. Here's looking forward to the day when I can have my Human Death Knight start dancing the Matt Dance.
Just /dance the night away
About how long are you in a new game before you decide to check out the emotes? These gestures have become an integral part of the personalities we ascribe to our characters - and perhaps none more than the /dance emote. Ravious over on KillTenRats recently explored dancing in MMOs since newer games without the dance animations have had to spell out why they opted to step off of the dance floor. Many games have more than one animation for dancing. In fact, RuneScape has moves that can only be accessed by paid members and Lord of the Rings Online has dances that can only be gained after completing festival quests.It remains to be seen if dancing is what truly brings a sense of community to the city squares as Ravious seems to allude. But one thing's for sure - anything's better than sitting around watching the toy train set that never ends!
'A' for optimism, 'D' for style: the Red Bull BC One DS
It's normally only the biggest names that get splashed across limited edition DS Lites -- the Nintendogs, Zeldas, Pokémons, Guitar Heros, and Final Fantasys of this world. Playlogic clearly feels that Red Bull BC One is ready to join that elite bunch, because it ordered in an unspecified number of Onyx Black DSes and proceeded to uglify them by slapping these forgettable transfers on each.We don't wish to be mean-spirited, but we're struggling to see who will pick this up. In our experience, limited edition DSes are based on games with either a rabid fanbase, huge brand power, or both. As out of touch with modern culture as we are, we're fairly certain that Red Bull BC One has neither. At least the children of Playlogic CEOs know what they're getting for Christmas.%Gallery-26441%[Via Go Nintendo]
Video: Sensacell's interactive floor shows trail of LED footprints
Far from being the first LED-infused floor we've seen hipsters and hippies break dance and boogie down on (respectively), Sensacell's latest contraption still manages to stand out by bringing back memories of when mouse trails really were the coolest thing about an operating system. Flashbacks aside, the installation -- which is currently at the entrance to the Comunitat Valenciana in Spain -- possesses over 1,000 interactive modules, each of which include capacitive sensors and a LED lighting system. The integrated tech enables it to recognize when someone is walking over it and consequently light up as if to leave an eye-catching LED trail of their path. Can you imagine how many hours days you could entertain an ageless kid with this? Video after the jump.
Taking a closer look at Helix
While some of you remain skeptical about Helix, we're definitely interested in Ghostfire Games' upcoming WiiWare title. Essentially, everything you need to know about the game is revealed by Ed Roman in this producer walkthrough (embedded up top). Ghostfire is really stressing the whole "exercise made fun" angle, and with the success of titles like DDR and Wii Fit, who can blame them? What we like most about Helix, though, is that the developers clearly put a lot of thought into every aspect of this dancing game. Take, for example, the calibration option, which helps the software map out your own specific movement quirks more easily. (MotionPlus, schmotionplus.) Also, according to Roman, you can still play the game if you only have one Wiimote, so if you lack two controllers that's not a game-killing issue.If you're curious about how the developers fit twenty-six songs onto a WiiWare title, or why they decided to use two Wiimotes rather than a Wiimote/Nunchuk combination, or anything else about Helix, for that matter, just check out the video above.
Happy Dance Collection intended to make J-pop fans happy
As if the fact that it's only being released in Japan (as of yet) and the J-idol theme aren't enough clues, Happy Dance Collection is a very Japan-focused game. Namco Bandai is aiming squarely at the female Japanese audience with this game, which does contrast a bit to the variety of J-pop, European dance and other stuff usually found in the Dance Dance Revolution series. There's no E-rotic to be found here, for example.Siliconera has posted a translated list of all the known J-pop songs appearing in Happy Dance Collection, which includes recent releases like Orange Range's "Ikenai Taiyou," and Greeeen's "Ai Uta" as well as more "classic" songs like Morning Musume's "Love Machine" and Koda Kumi's Cutie Honey theme (well, 2004 is kind of in the past, right?)
E308: Princess Debut shots dance the night away
Look what just arrived at the ball in our inboxes! As promised earlier today, Natsume has distributed lots of fresh media for its localization of Cave's Princess Debut, complete with talking animals, an entire wardrobe of accessories, and (of course) lots of dancing with charming Princes. That Cesar is such a dish! Pirouette your way into our gallery for plenty of new screens and art.%Gallery-27282%[Via press release]
Natsume officially introduces Princess Debut
Gamefly recently posted a listing suggesting that Natsume taken on publishing duties for Cave's Princess Debut. The company sent out a press release confirming the rumor, and officially announcing Princess Debut for the fall.In Princess Debut, a girl magically enters a fantasy world in which not only is she a princess, but she will attend a ball in thirty days, and must therefore learn to dance in order to successfully impersonate a princess and win the affections of one of six princes.The game involves two parts: an adventure portion in which your character must interact with the princes and convince one to dance with her, and a dancing segment featuring touch-screen-controlled ballroom dances. On her way to one of 14 different endings, the erstwhile princess can unlock 20 new outfits.While this is clearly not targeted at us, we like to see new interpretations of the "dancing game." This is like Dance Dance Revolution, except with more revolving.%Gallery-27282%[Via press release]
