Just Dance 3 Review

Just Dance is the game that made me want to get a Kinect in the first place, so its Xbox debut was something I was anticipating pretty hotly. So much so that I got it pre-ordered and shipped to arrive the same day.

Just Dance 3 is basically exactly like its predecessor. You follow the moves of a "coach" who can be anything from a generic b-girl to something as fanciful as a pumpkin-headed man. You can "shout out" lyrics to get extra points (joke's on me, I turned off chat so that I could stream Netflix without the Xbox taking its cues from the actors -- speaking of which, great news about Netflix, no? Except for the part where, if I want to rent games I'll have to turn to GameFly), and you catch special "yeah" moves. Dances are graded on a 1 to 3 scale on technical difficulty and exertion, so you have a bit of an idea what you're getting into.

The UI is much like Dance Central, with menus you scroll by raising and lowering your arm and selecting by swiping across your body. Way better than the Your Shape interface; speaking of which, the intro music for that game seems to have been remixed for JD3. Way to achieve brand consistency. I appreciate that.

The new stuff includes playlists, so you can play all the 80s songs in a row, or the "Fancy Dress Ball" playlist. Oddly, there's no way to make your own playlist, which would seem like a bit of code that would store on the Xbox. So while the playlists are nice features for a workout, it's still confusing that they wouldn't have figured out that this is what some folks would like.

Also new are some mini-games, which you unlock as you accumulate "mojo," or stars, on each dance. The better you dance, the more stars you get. You also unlock other songs. Obviously, if you're impatient, you need to look up some cheat codes. There is also a "Sweat" mode, which accumulates "sweat points," not calories, and I think you're supposed to battle your friends to see who can get the most, but I'd like a calorie counter instead, thanks. That way you get an idea -- even if it's a bad one -- of the kind of effort you're putting in at each session, and what you want to work up to.

As a bonus for Kinect players, you can choose a "level of difficulty." The dances are the same at all levels, but if you go the easy route, only your chest and arms are counted, and you don't have to spin around. The possible advantage is that if you have a disability, this might be a way to be able to play Kinect. I'd probably have to sit on a chair and test this theory out (I'm sure I'll have a free day soon).

Another thing I appreciate is that the women's bodies look fit, healthy, and not extravagantly ectomorphic in the flashy, pop-arty graphics. The graphics are pretty fun -- not really much improved from JD2 or anything -- but there isn't much overt sexualization, even in a belly dance song like "Beautiful Liar." This is important to an old fart like me, and for moms, I'm sure.

JD3 will obviously draw comparisons to Dance Central, but the two games seem like they have completely separate purposes. The Just Dance series is probably the best one (at this point) for multi-player hands-in-the-air-like-you-just-don't-care fun, or a fast-moving playlist workout with repetitive dances. You don't have the whole "break it down" drag, but you're not going to learn a whole lot of new dance moves.

Heck, you probably won't have to even do the ones it asks you to do well -- no matter whether I was in easy or normal mode, there were moves I got "perfects" on when I was clearly going the wrong way, lifting the wrong leg, raising the wrong arm -- it's a very forgiving game in many instances (not, however, in others where I thought I was spot-on but only got partial or no credit).

It is what it is -- a fun, fast-moving game for people who want to move and like the silly, flashy graphics.

One complaint, though. I jumped the gun and bought some DLC -- "Heart of Glass." It was a HUGE file, over 100 megs (as opposed to Dance Central's 25 or so megs per song, which includes three difficulty levels). And then, when I tried to find it, I couldn't. I blew 240 points on the sucker, it'd be nice to use it. And forget about customer service. There is no email address, phone number, website "contact us" button, nothing. I posted on their FB wall, but no response (although the post after mine, about being in the commercial, got a response. Sheesh).

So, any ideas what happened? How I can have this made right?

(Update: I had to re-download it. Duh. I am an old lady.)

Should exist

Is it me or does The Katamari Damacy seem like a perfect match for Kinect's gameplay environment?

The rolling, running, flinging and all such motions seem like there would be natural equivalents in the Kinect environment. And now that Namco has expanded the whole Katamari thing into the Xbox and iOS environments, there's a natural next step to take.

Also, it's a pretty family-friendly concept, and the Kinect seems to be working that angle with its games, for the most part.

Your emotions, kinected

There's an old article on Gizmodo on how making certain physical motions can drive your emotions, and how the Kinect and Wii can "hack" that effect.

Numerous studies have shown that movements or postures generate cues the mind can use to figure out how it feels, a phenomenon dubbed the physical-feedback effect. Wii games might also create emotions between people through "emotional contagion," where the brain can make us feel what we see, hear, read or think others experience.

I think this goes without saying -- haven't these people ever danced before? Climbed a tree? Been on a swing? Done a really great exercise class at the Y? And I'm not even talking runner's-high endorphins, I'm just thinking about that moment when you let something loose and boom, you feel fine about everything.

It's like that funny trick with Yoga -- you connect the name of the pose with the action you're doing (get into being a snake while doing Cobra, really push down like a petulant child in Child's Pose, make like a Warrior, etc.), you definitely get that mind-body connection.

However, I think one thing that the Kinect brings to the sheer joy of moving, something that hasn't been explored, is how pairing the Skinner box-like rewards systems of flashy lights and "gamer point" rewards with the fact that moving is fun.

Below are Wii players rating their emotions as they are having them. Maybe we should be doing this during daily activities -- and novel, exercise-based ones, as well?

Review: "Your Shape: Fitness Evolved"

One of the things I think the Kinect has the most potential to do is take the place of fitness DVDs. Instead of following along with an instructor who can only pre-record feedback, you'll get real feedback based on how well you are based on your actual body movements, since the Kinect analyzes your motion. It seems like an obvious fit, as well as an obvious way to make the technology attractive to people who don't play a lot of videogames.

However, The kind of people who like technology and the kind of people who are hard core into exercising are two -- I'm only guessing here -- relatively different groups. I can only speculate that those who purchase exercise DVDs are either doing it because a) they are hardcore so they need to keep up a routine when traveling or holidays or a Y class is cancelled or the weather's too bad for a run or b) they will get in shape like that Billy Blanks. Someday. In the privacy of their own home.

So you have two types of motivations, very different, and with very different exercise needs. "Your Shape: Fitness Evolved" had to pick one. So they went with the couch potato who probably is more likely to spring for the technology for technology's sake. (The fitness buff might spring for a Kinect to, say, try to get her kids to do something more active than a regular video game.)

In that sense, even for someone in middling shape like myself (but who has a pretty hardcore workout past), the workouts are too gentle to start and too long to rev up, too broken up to keep your heart rate up for a significant time and your calorie progress is ... slow. The pace is very leisurely, and it's disappointing to bust open the box and have to work your way through three very gently-paced sections of one "cardio-kickboxing" class, each lasting about five minutes, to be able to do them in one go. Six minutes, back to the menu, four minutes, back to the menu, five minutes, back to the menu, then all 15 minutes. And this is the "Silver" class, which you only unlock after you work through the even easier-paced and shorter "Bronze" class.

Can't we just say we want to do a cardio/strength/toning/Zen workout lasting a certain number of minutes at an easy/intermediate/advanced level and have the disc pick out moves for us that will be a surprise?

I get that there is a Skinnerian reward system at play, but this is too much and not good for a real workout. I'm not sure how well it rewards a couch potato, because if you do five minutes and it burns, are you going to hit the next five minutes?

There are also gym games, which are too short for a real workout, but some of them are pretty good -- or better -- on their own than the "fitness classes" (which aren't the same as the "personal training"). Play the stacking game for balance challenge, play the block smashing one for a good cardio workout (if brief). The games allow you to work out at your higher level instantly -- the "fitness classes" and "personal training" don't.

Other reviewers have noted that you have to be in sync with your "trainer" for your moves to register correctly with the game, and that the text is small (especially on my cathode ray. CRT 4 LYFE!) and the user interface isn't as simple as it could be.

What other reviewers don't note is that to get the full YSFE experience, you are urged to log in and create an account with their website and track your progress, challenge other people and even post stuff to Facebook. No thank you. Isn't it bad enough that FB knows I like Lady Gaga?What is data-mining (FB or Ubisoft) my workouts and food choices going to do for me? Nothing positive, as far as I can tell. Either it's an attempt to build brand loyalty or find out our habits to fine-tune the next edition of the game. Just do a survey.

Other reviewers don't go over the add-ons for YSFE. They all suffer the same lethargy in gearing up, and for the money, you may get 15 minutes of a Bollywood routine that is not necessarily strong enough on fun to come back to again. It's not like Dance Central -- you have to do the moves slow, then at speed, every time you play. And the music is nowhere near as much fun as a real dance game. And the price -- 400 MSP/$5 unbundled from the Toned Body package -- isn't as good as the price for a single Dance Central song. There are some free, sponsored classes, as well, so you may be able to extend your disc's life, but if you don't like working out in tiny chunks before heading to the menu, it's going to be frustrating.

In the Zen class (the prone positions for stretching out Yoga-style are hard for the Kinect to draw a bead on, so the cool-downs are tai chi and standing Yoga), however, you get the promise of great feedback delivered on -- very much so. Your body, transposed on the screen as a wavy color, gets lines along its limbs and back that turn green when you lock into the pose the right way. If your arms are off, only your arms remain red, for example. It's very accurate, able to tell if the pelvis is correctly tucked and all. I took Kung Fu for a while, and so I'm used to knowing the feeling of doing it right. And the Kinect could tell every time I hit a pose right and when I didn't. It was really impressive.

Another thing that was impressive: You stand in front of it and it measures you. The measurements it gave for me seemed on target. You can't fool the thing.

It's great seeing the game deliver on the promise of Kinect, and I'm hopeful that the next version will incorporate that with the promise of a good workout. I can easily plow through 700 calories on an elliptical in an hour. But I was in front of "Your Shape" today for 45 minutes and barely topped 100. As Skinner realized, the rewards have to be big enough for the rat to keep pushing the lever, or she'll just be demoralized and stop pushing it at all.

The trailer for the 2012 version doesn't look too shabby. Hopefully it will be as active as the people in it:

New titles expanding on Kinect's abilities

Here is a reason to be glad you invested in a Kinect.

When Microsoft launched Kinect last year, the accompanying software lineup included plenty of dance games, exercise games and other titles aimed squarely at attracting the casual crowd. Yet while many of those first-generation games were fun, they did little to sell Kinect to Microsoft's core gaming audience.

That fact hasn't been lost on Microsoft, which used its E3 press briefing earlier this year to spotlight Kinect and showcase its potential to the hardcore crowd. The first wave of those titles geared toward core gamers has finally arrived. And while the overall results are mixed, the unique ways in which they utilize Kinect's motion-tracking capabilities reveal just how much potential the system truly has.

Not that I'm a serious gamer by any means. But without gamer-style games, you end up with a product that won't have the people who are spending the most money and passion on games paying attention to the Kinect. Chumps like me need these folks to drive investment and innovation in a product we like.

At the same time, I get sad when I read about the possible death of dance titles. I also get confused when I hear that a title like this is going to change the face of dance titles.

Boom Boom Dance will not ask players to mirror complicated dance routines performed by pre-animated on-screen dancers.

Instead, as shown in the debut trailer, players will directly control an on-screen avatar, performing freestyle dance moves in an attempt to hit on-screen balls in time with the music.

I'm not sure how "freestyle dance moves while hitting marks" does not equal a marks-hitting game that can be done sans-dancing. But I love surprises.

It looks like a decent way to get a workout, assuming you like the music, though.

Netflix/Qwikster

It goes without saying that this is a bad idea, right? I mean, I didn't think the price hike was as big a deal as people were making it out to be (it's still cheaper than cable, with a better catalog than anywhere else), and I kind of wonder if the anonymous nature of the internet and its tendency to be overheated affected Netflix as an internet company more than it would had it been, say, Wal-Mart's streaming video plan.

A positive note: Video games are going to be in Qwikster (Qwickster?) 's mix. That's great for a casual gamer like me, who doesn't want to try out enough to make the $22/mo cost of Game Fly pencil out.

So, okay, splintering the two complementary parts of the company into two companies is kind of like following through on Solomon's edict to split the baby in half (which, if you are not familiar with the Old Testament, was strictly a ploy, not serious). It's just not a good idea at all.

In spite of this apparent blunder, I have to have great sympathy for Netflix and the way it has to deal with being the scapegoat while being bullied by content providers (who, because they cannot get their acts together and create the distribution model that will allow us to seamlessly get what we want when we want it, are squashing the one company that has a shot at doing just that). A few articles with some context are here, here, here, here, here, and there's one article out there I can't find with a real takedown in 11 points ... but my Google skills are weak tonight.

Ubisoft

Apparently Ubisoft is an early winner with its prescience that Kinect would be a killer app for video games and is poised to release a bunch of new titles to capitalize on its formidable precog skillz.

Well, best of luck to Ubisoft, but I'm going to hang back and actually try a video game subscription service before buying their games this time around (except for "Just Dance 3", which I've already pre-ordered and, reading some of the updates, feel fine with my decision).

My first Ubisoft motion gaming experience was "Just Dance 2" on the Wii -- and it was great. The dancing was pretty awesome, but the graphics and the music were standouts. I mean, it does not get much better than "Rasputin," am I right?

I figured if Ubisoft has the "Just Dance" series this tightly buttoned down, then the rest of its titles will follow suit. But ... not so much.

Ubisoft prefers a complicated interface for the titles I do have -- "Your Shape: Fitness Evolved" and "The Michael Jackson Experience." You have to use your hand, stuck out to the side, moving incrementally, to navigate menus. Maybe because I have a cathode ray TV and not a fancy pants, electricity-slurping HDTV, this equates to somewhat more incrementally than on a bigger picture. But I'm kind of doubting that since your skeleton's movements are what is being tracked.

So if the interface isn't totally friendly, you've got the games themselves. How is it that the colorful, quirky characters of "JD2" end up looking so small and not-cool in these other titles? The phantom MJ that you become in "MJ:E," for example. You are tiny, and you are surrounded by tiny backup dancers. The flashcards that show you how to dance are way off to the side, and aren't too intuitive, so that's not easy.

There's no reason your avatar can't be bigger in "MJ:E," as far as I can tell. Looking in on such a small playspace makes your efforts feel small, too. It's weird.

As for "YS:FE," the playscapes are pretty basic and your avatar (based on your own body -- you have to make peace with it!) is also small. You have to work within a certain amount of space, and you have to hit your marks exactly with the virtual trainer -- it counts against your score if you aren't perfectly on-beat, and you can be pretty much perfectly on-beat and still fall short (says this longtime aerobics class vet) of the video game's expectations. Plus, the gamerpoints system (intermittent rewards, the hallmark of the Skinner Box, do have a way with me).

In sum, they knew the tech would be big, but they didn't quite hit their marks with some of the basics that would make their games friendly and fun.

Reading (in the first linked article) that Ubisoft realizes that the first "YS:FE" was judged and found wanting makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. They listened. Just how closely will is TBD, as I'll need to check out the game to be sure it's not just moving for the sake of moving. (Hard to get a feel for something they haven't updated their own Your Shape page for -- there's a trailer on YouTube, but:

as you can tell it's more fantasy than exposition. Though the African dance part looks cool.)