DDR heading to the Wii

Las Vegas (NV) - After an unsuccessful release for the Gamecube, Konami’s popular Dance Dance Revolution is coming back to Nintendo in a newly announced Wii title, making use of the system’s motion sensitive technology with the requisite dance pad to offer a full body experience.

Dance Dance Revolution : Hottest Party is the latest game in the 13-year DDR franchise, as a Wii exclusive. The basic mechanics will be the same, putting players on the dance floor and stepping to on-screen patterns. However, it adds functionality for the Wii remote, which means that players will also have to watch the screen for hand triggers that work in concert with the foot movements. It’s similar to what was seen in previous PS2 installments that made use of the EyeToy peripheral.

Just a couple years ago, Konami brought the DDR name to Nintendo for the first time in the US, with Dance Dance Revolution : Mario Mix. Very poor sales caused the game to be pulled after just a couple months. Hottest Party will take away the Mario theme and offer a more conventional DDR atmosphere. The new Wii announcement marks one of the quickest periods for Konami to unveil a DDR game for a new system.

The Wii seems to be a natural home for the DDR franchise, with the system’s nearly exclusive target of casual gamers. The Wii has also recently been billed as an innovative way to work out and lose weight, a gaming claim that has also long belonged to the dance game genre.