What Is DDR?
Many of you have heard about the Konami Corp video game called “Dance Dance Revolution” (or DDR as it’s called).
Dance Dance Revolution is making news again as the State of West Virginia has been running trials with the game in public schools to see if children who used it would maintain or lose weight.
Dance Dance Revolution entered the market several years ago. It was not designed as a weight loss tool, however as time went on, people started to notice that kids were losing weight while playing this video game.
Dance Dance Revolution is played on a game console like Sony’s Play Station. The game is played with an interactive pad that is laid in front of the TV. You can select from a list of songs. As the song plays, arrows appear on the screen. These arrows correspond with arrows on the interactive pad lying on the floor. The Player then moves their feet in the direction of the arrow on the screen. When the Players feet hits an arrow on the pad that matches the one on the screen, points are awarded.
Soon after its release, clubs and tournaments started forming. Some of these tournaments have major cash and prizes for the winners. Judges who score the contestants on points, originality, style and so on choose winners. There is now an arcade version of this popular console game. The arcade version can be found at many places that have arcade games. It’s not uncommon to find a line waiting to play this arcade game.
DDR Is Not Just For Kids
DDR is catching on with many people who are overweight. DDR is fun to play and that means that people play it longer. The game is also popular with Families, many playing it for hours each evening, seeing who can out do the other one.
There have been stories in the media about older individuals playing the game.
DDR is credited with helping blood flow, muscle toning and overall health increase in older people.
How You Can Benefit From DDR
Studies suggest that playing Dance Dance Revolution for as little as 30 minutes a day and have huge health benefits, especially for overweight kids and adults. Those 30 minutes can even be broken down into smaller increments, however most people find that once they start, they easily go beyond the 30 minutes, sometimes up to several hours!
A game console, the game cartridge and pad can be found for a song on eBay. However, if you must have it new, then you can find it in all the stores that carry games and videos such as Toys R Us and Game Stop.
To prevent from getting bored (which is difficult to do) I suggest you buy several different games. Buy different game cartridges with soundtrack of the music you like. Many of the games offered by third party vendors are genre specific such as Country & Western, Jazz, Hip Hop and Rock N Roll. If you can’t find a game version you like, you’re not looking!
Your Tax Dollars At Work – For A Good Cause This Time
As I stated earlier in this article, the State of West Virginia ran a trial in several public schools. West Virginia is the state with the highest number of obese children. The state did a 24 week trial study with 50 kids ages 7 through 12.
The study showed that the kids who played the game for at least 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week maintained their weight or even loss some weight reducing their risk factor of contracting childhood diabetes or heart disease.
The study also included 12 kids who did not play the game for the first twelve weeks, then picked it up for the remainder of the 24 weeks. The study showed that these kids gained on average of 6 pounds in the first part of the study and then stabilized once they started playing the game.
Kids who reported feeling sluggish and awkward playing the game before the study began, reported that they looked forward to playing the game after the study ended and stated that their energy levels had risen.
Now You Can Feel Good About Playing A Video Game
No longer must you fret over your kids playing slasher video games or shoot ‘em ups. Get them DDR and get the whole family involved. Dance Dance Revolution is doing more than just helping people lose weight, it’s also credited with bringing Families back together so they can spend quality time together again. I’m sure Konami Corp. had no idea what a hit they had on their hands when they introduced
Dance Dance Revolution!
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