Working out with Fitness and Exercise games on the Sony Playstation 3

The success of Just Dance franchise have spawned a dizzying number of “copycat” games that use motion controls to let you do “real dance moves”. This holiday season alone there have been more than 20 different games across the three major platforms. It’s enough to give anyone dance game fatigue.

The latest entrant into the morass is Get Up and Dance by O-Games. That’s right, the same company that brought you that fun game Jewel Time Deluxe and John Daly’s ProStroke Golf. Not to be confused with Bejeweled or Tiger Woods PGA Golf. No really, they’re completely different.

All sarcasm aside, throughout Get Up and Dance you can see the resemblance to Just Dance. You select songs to dance to from a “cover flow” interface and see icons which represent the number of dancers, complexity of the song, and “cardio points” representing the intensity of the song.

• Hollywood – Marina and the Diamonds (2 stars, 2065 cardio points)
• One Week – Barenaked Ladies (3 stars, 1242 cardio points)
• Boom Shack-a-Lak – Apache Indian (1 star, 818 cardio points)
• Push It – Salt-N-Pepa (1 star, 675 cardio points)
• Me, Myself, and I – De La Soul (1 star, 950 cardio points)
• Where’s Your Head At? – Basement Jaxx (2 stars, 2416 cardio points)
• Poison – Nicole Scherzinger (3 stars, 1186 cardio points)
• I Like to Move It – Reel 2 Real Feat. The Mad Stuntman (2 stars, 1241 cardio points, fitness choreography available)
• Bulletproof – La Roux (2 stars, 1019 cardio points)
• Common People – Pulp (2 stars, 1651 cardio points)
• Kickstars – Example (2 stars, 1436 cardio points, fitness choreography available)
• Come on Girl – Taio Cruz (2 stars, 1126 cardio points)
• Down with the Trumpets – Rizzie Kicks (2 stars, 939 cardio points)
• Badman Riddim (Jump) – Vato Gonzolez Feat. Foreign Beggars (3 stars, 1396 cardio points, fitness choreography available)
• Saturday Night – Elton John (2 stars, 1848 cardio points)
• Ooh Ahh…Just a Little Bit – Gina G. (2 stars, 828 cardio points, fitness choreography available)
• Mr. Saxobeat – Alexandra Stan (3 stars, 1876 cardio points)
• Unorthodox – Wretch 32 Feat. Example (2 stars, 1101 cardio points)
• Achy Breaky Heart – Billy Ray Cyrus (1 star, 732 cardio points, up to 2 dancers, fitness choreography available)
• I Only Want To Be With You – Dusty Springfield (1 star, 1116 cardio points, lead & backing)
• Don’t Cha – Pussycat Dolls (1-2 stars, 2097 cardio points, lead & backing)
• Dancing on the Ceiling (1 star, 2003 cardio points, lead & backing)
• Don’t Upset the Rhythm – The Noisettes (2 stars, 1289 cardio points, lead & backing)
• Hot Stuff – Donna Summer (2 stars, 1343 cardio points, lead & backing)
• The Promise – Girls Aloud (2 stars, 1054 cardio points, lead & backing)
• I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You (2-3 stars, 1873 cardio points, lead & backing)
• We No Speak Americano – Yolanda B Cool Vs D Cup (3 stars, 1818 cardio points, lead & backing)
• Nobody’s Perfect – Jessie J (2 stars, 631 cardio points)
• If We Ever Meet Again – Timbaland Feat Katy Perry (2-3 stars, 2031 cardio points, lead & backing)
• What You Waiting For – Gwen Stefani (3 stars, 1512 cardio points, lead & backing)

At first I thought there were a lot more songs, but that’s because in the cover flow interface they repeat several titles in a fairly confusing way. Each song lets you choose a short version (about 1-3 minutes long) or a long version (about 3-5 minutes long).

Up to four players can dance at a time. All will dance to the same choreography unless there are lead & backing tracks, in which case all players will dance to one of two routines. Each dancer can also select or create a profile to keep track of their scores (there are four default profile names called “Boogie”, “Bouncy”, “Jitterbug”, and “Vogue”–the user interface is so confusing that it took me a while to figure out what these were…at first I thought they were difficulty levels or dance styles. Instead of being cute I wish they could have stuck with the more intuitive “Player 1″, “Player 2″).

Each player presses the Move button and the glowing orb will glow in a different color.

When you get to the dance screen the interface again is eerily reminiscent of Just Dance. You have to mirror the dance moves of a dancer on the page, which happens to be a glowing white silhouetted figure dressed in bright colorful clothes. There were only things I noticed that prevented this from looking like a complete ripoff of Just Dance.

First, the icons representing your moves are displayed scrolling down vertically on the left of the screen for lead tracks (on the right of the screen for backing tracks). I found this a lot less easy to follow than the cues on Just Dance, but after a while I got used to it.

Secondly, the actual full-screen music video of the song by the original artist is playing in the background of the screen. This I found terribly distracting. While you’re trying to focus on your own dancer’s movements, the video in the back is constantly in motion. As a result, you don’t really enjoy the video, and it becomes a chore to try to focus on your dancer’s moves. I much prefer the approach taken by the PS3 Everybody Dance, where the video is playing in a self-contained box on the page which you can turn on and off.

Finally, the choreography. To be honest, I found it a bit lackluster. It didn’t have the technical complexity of a Dance Central 2 nor even the fun and quirky personality of Just Dance 3. In both those games, it was clear that a professional choreographer had designed the dance moves in the spirit and style of the original artist. In this case, you go through to motions of jumping and moving your hands up and down and in circles, but in many cases the moves seems generic and uninspired.

As derivative and lackluster as the gameplay is, there are a handful of improvements over Just Dance. I do like that they show the “time elapsed and time remaining” on the top of the screen, something useful for workouts that I wish Just Dance would have as an option you could turn on and off. I also like that they give you the option of using two controllers–one in each hand–which can help get your scoring and get you more immersed in the dancing, although it’s certainly not mandatory. I also like how you can break down your accuracy in different parts of the song and go to “Rehearse” mode to practice any given section.

The game does have a lot of interesting options for multi-player play under the “Get Up and Party” mode. There’s “Team Classic”, where two teams of up to four can compete head-to-head to see who can get the best score. “Last Man Standing” is an interesting game where two teams of up to two players each can do a “dance off” to see who dances the best. “Tug of War” is a fun variation of this, where the stronger team will win a virtual tug-of-rope game the more accurately they dance.

There’s also a “Shape Up” mode. After you set your profile, you can select one of five levels ranging from Beginner to Intense, which basically dictate how many songs you’ll dance to each workout session. There are some specially choreographed songs that play more like aerobic routines than dance routines, which can help maximize your workout. When you play the songs, you’re not graded based on how accurately you move; instead, you’ll see a counter of “cardio points” which just go up every time you move your controller. Of course, you’re on the “honor system” to do it right–you can rack up thousands of cardio points by just sitting on the couch and spinning your hands, of course there’s no point in doing that. A graph will show you your progress from week to week.

There’s also a mode called “Get Up and Dance Group” which is basically like a “career mode” where you and some friends can go through a series of “talent competitions”. It may be fun for kids to play this mode so they can pretend they’re competing on reality shows, but other than that it’s nothing special.

At the end of the day, I’m guessing the primary purchasers of this game will be people who want to save a little money (the retail price of the game is $10 less than Just Dance, although street prices make them about equal right now), and grandmas who see the title “Get Up and Dance” on the shelf and assume it’s Just Dance. Having said that, I would put the production quality of the game a hair above shovelware. I would say it’s a worthwhile purchase if you happen to like any of the songs in the playlist, or if you play in groups and have played Just Dance so much you need a little change of pace. But other than that, in a world with fifty gazillion and one dance titles out there, there’s really nothing too special about this one. 3.5 of 5 stars.

Sometimes the best things come to those who wait. Just a few weeks ago I ran to my local GameStop to get the Playstation 3D Bundle for $499.99.

Today it’s on sale at Best Buy for a ridiculous $299.99.

PlayStation 3D Display Package at an unbelievable price

I thought it was worth it at $500, but for $300 it’s a steal. Jump on it while you can!

Looking for Christmas Deals on the PS3? Here are a couple good ones:

- Save $50 on Select Sony PS3 Packages – Best Buy

- 160 GB Playstation with Harry Potter 3D Blu-Ray – $250 with $50 Amazon Credit at Amazon

- Playstation 3D Display – $399 ($100 savings) at Amazon

- Just Dance 3 – $29.96 at Amazon

- Playstation Move Bundle (includes Motion Controller, Eye Camera, & Sports Champions game) – $74.99 at Buy.com

Retailers are slashing prices this week knowing that next week the last minute shoppers are going to start paying huge prices out of desperation. Knowing when to jump is key

Ubisoft released Just Dance 3 for the Wii and the Xbox back in October 2011, but noticeably absent was a version for the Playstation 3, which didn’t get released until two months later. Those of you who’ve read my rather detailed reviews for the Wii and Xbox versions know that I’m a big fan of this series and have been since the first version came out for the Wii two years ago. The pop music soundtrack has a little of something for everyone, the motion detection is decent, and the choreography is easy-to-follow and a lot of fun. It’s one of the best party games out there.

The best way I can describe Just Dance 3 for the Playstation is that it’s a direct port of the Wii version, nothing more, nothing less. As a result it’s not a bad game, but you can’t help but feel that it could have and should have been so much more.

As with the Wii version, when you start the game you get a pleasantly simple home screen which consists of three menu options: Just Dance, Just Sweat, and Options. Menu navigation is seamless using the Playstation Move controller.

Choosing “Just Dance” lets you select individual songs to dance to or lets you select different playlists that group songs together by style or genre. As with the other versions, as you play you can collect “Mojo Points” to unlock new playing modes, new songs, etc.

Turning on “Just Sweat” mode lets you choose a free session where you can start working out to any song or playlist, or a 7-Day Challenge section with three options of increasing intensity which are roughly the equivalent of walking, running, or swimming 30 minutes a day. As with the other versions, you collect “sweat points” as you dance to different songs. Like the Wii version, you’re basically on the “honor system”. If you just move your hands, you can get a high score. But to get real exercise (and have real fun) you should be putting your whole body into the dancing.

The choreography, graphics, and animations are literally identical to what you’ll see on the Wii and the Xbox. The only noticeable difference I saw was that some details are a little sharper in the PS3 version.

As with the Wii version, you hold a single Move controller in your right hand and mirror the on-screen character’s moves. The motion detection is decent, although not quite to the precision and detail of a game like Dance Central 2 on the Xbox or even Everybody Dance on the PS3. This is by design; while those games stress more complex dance instruction and technical accuracy, Just Dance was clearly designed to be a fun party game first and foremost.

As on the other platforms, all songs are marked with icons that designate their technical complexity and their workout intensity. All the songs can be played by 1 to 4 people, each with their own Move controller. In most of the songs all players dance the same steps, but there are a handful of songs that are cleverly choreographed for two players and four players to dance a full routine with each dancer having his or her own independent steps; these are a ton of fun to play in groups where up to four players can dance and the rest of the group can enjoy an entertaining performance. On the Xbox version multiplayer mode can get awkward, as all four players have to squeeze within the Kinect’s camera view. The PS3 developers wisely designed the game so that if the Move controllers happen to go outside the range of the Playstation Eye camera, the internal accelerometers of the Move controllers will still detect motion (much like a Wii Remote). While this may detract slightly from scoring accuracy, ultimately it makes multiplayer play a lot more fun as players don’t necessarily need to worry about squeezing into a tiny space.

While the port of the Wii functionality was near flawless, I have to admit I was disappointed that they decided to leave it at that. Given the capabilities of the PS3, it could have been so much more. For example, the choreography mode that was developed for the Xbox version is noticeably missing from the PS3 version (a shame given that Sony already demonstrated with Everybody Dance that it could be done and done extremely well on the PS3). Something else in the Xbox version that’s missing from the PS3 version is the ability to see your own video image and compare it to the on-screen character’s movements. Surprisingly, there isn’t even an option for downloadable content, something even the Wii version has.

In addition to the aforementioned omissions, I would have loved to see them push the envelope forward with a “record your performance” feature and the ability to share on social networks, both things which the PS3 is fully capable of. But there’s nothing like that here.

I’d say that Just Dance 3 is ideal for PS3 owners who happen to have friends or relatives who already have Just Dance 3 on the Xbox or Wii. You’ll be able to practice on your PS3 and not miss a beat (literally) when you play the same songs on their systems. Furthermore, if you have a child whose school uses Just Dance 3 in gym classes, this would be a great way for him or her to get a little practice at home. And of course, the fact that it’s casual makes it a lot of fun for families and friends to play together at parties.

On the other hand, if you’re looking for the best dance game on the PS3 and don’t have any ties to Just Dance on other platforms, I’d have to give the edge to Everybody Dance, which does a much better job of maximizing the use of the PS3 Move and the Playstation Eye camera, as well as overall better graphics.

Amazing deal going on at NewEgg right now–the Playstation 3D Display is only $399.99, a $100 savings. Stinks for those of us who bought it at full price just a few weeks ago

Hurry, this one won’t last!

SOny Playstation 3D Display link at NewEgg

Looks like Amazon is having a great sale on Sony Move today. Here’s the link:

Sony Move Day

They have complete starter sets at $50 and games at heavy discounts. It’s part of their countdown to Xmas sale. But hurry, it’s for today only.