Rating: T (for Teen)
Genre: Music, Rhythm
Publisher: Harmonix
Developer: Harmonix
Release date: October 25th

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Harmonix is back this holiday with Dance Central 2. Dance Central 2 is more than just a second edition, it’s an education on what a dance game should be. There are new tracks, new routines and new modes. This game has improvements in it that separates it from the pack of Kinect games, making it a must get for Kinect gamers.

The User Interface is similar to the first game. Cue cards are on the right side for what dance step is next. The dances on the screen are easy to follow if you have no idea what the cue card means. What I would do is sort of keep moving, but watch what the dancer did. This helped me make sure I did it correctly when the move came again (which in most dances it did at some point). The nice thing is that the dance moves are fun and I can’t even start to tell you how much of a work out it is! Before I knew it, I had danced for an hour and was sweating my booty off.

Let’s talk about sweating your booty off, which you can literally do in fitness mode. You’ll not only lose calories, but also gain a couple achievements for your fitness work. There are a few different named options for fitness, I choose by time. The 49 minute workout is a great variety of songs and builds up to the faster cardio songs. I think in the end it stated I burnt about 200 calories which isn’t much on it’s own for losing weight, but it definitely got my heart rate up and I will continue to use it to work on my overall cardio.

The largest update to Dance Central 2 is the easy of sharing the dancing fun with others. The game supports two player dancing simultaneously for the first time. It’s so easy and fluid, that it’s amazing. A second dancer can step in, raise their right hand and get started. For the brave, dance battles are fun and can provide some great laughs.

I believe this is new to Dance Central 2, but there are voice commands now. Not super useful, but if you know the specific song you want, you can give an Xbox command with the name of the song to pull it up. Maybe if you import your original Dance Central songs (which you can do easily), the voice control can help. I tried it once and it did work well, just not something I would use often. One thing that I found really useful is the “Xbox Pause” command. It works effortlessly and is good to have in your back pocket in case you need to take a breath. I needed a drink of my Gatorade or I was going to collapse, and with the ease of the pause I didn’t even lose much of the routine.

Instead of a story mode, gamers can prove themselves to the various crews in the game. Gamers challenge a crew and do a variety of dances with them. Score enough points and you earn the respect of the crew and the right to challenge other ones.

The tracklist in Dance Central 2 is very strong. With more varied songs and fun dance moves than the original. Although interesting enough, only a few dance moves from the first are carried through. The game includes 240 MS Points so that you can purchase some new dances right away. Last I looked there were already a few DLC packs available.

The only thing that is missing is online multiplayer. In the song choice mode, you’ll be able to see leaderboards and how you stack against your friends, but there is no straight way to challenge them. Gamers can upload their videos/pictures to Twitter and Facebook which could make for interesting conversation the day after a party.

Dance Central 2 is almost perfect. Dance Central 2 is a must have for any age gamer/family. The moves offer the right amount of challenge, while not being so difficult that it’s not fun. It also provides a fun way to work out without feeling like a workout. I also genuinely feel like I’m learning current dance moves. We’ll see if I’m shuffling at the next party. ^_^

Dance Central 2 adds your traditional single-player mode, but this time you get to play with a friend via simultaneous multiplayer. No more having everyone else look on. Now one more person can get in on the fun either by just performing together, or in a Dance Battle. Players can also seamlessly drop in and out.

The game adds new characters, venues and game modes. You’ll also meet new dance crews to battle. Just like what happens in real life!

You’ll be able to import songs from the original game (at the press conference, they said all of them, but there may be holdouts), and this game’s soundtrack will also include:

• Rihanna – “Rude Boy”
• Nicki Minaj – “Massive Attack”
• Montell Jordan – “This Is How We Do It”
• La Roux – “Bulletproof”
• Far East Movement – “Like a G6”
• B.o.B featuring Bruno Mars – “Nothin’ on You”
• Bananarama – “Venus”
• Usher – “DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love”

Here’s a behind-the-scenes video to whet your palette.

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Harmonix is one of the few companies that seem to have the Midas touch.  Starting with Guitar Hero, which made us guitar gods overnight, then giving us the ability to form our own band.  They might have not come up with these ideas, as Konami has been doing similar musical video games and arcades, but Harmonix has certainly made it seem new, addicting, and fun for the whole family.

I was a really big fan of DDR, making it the thing I did almost every night.  I would get off work and call my friends to take a 45 minute trip to my nearest GameWorks so we could play.  I quickly divided myself from the “score chasers” who looked like they were having a seizure when playing the game, to more of the “style” player that looked like they were dancing with the game.  Man!  Those were the days.  I would play pretty much anything from Konami.  I have had a fascination with musical games for as long as I can remember.

It clearly was a no brainer that when I got Kinect for me to also purchase Dance Central.  The game navigates with very simple wave of your hands.  The right hand selects and the left hand allows you to go back.  The menus are done in a page-like manner, allowing you to select many things, but if you mess up you can always back up with your left hand.

At first you have popular yet simple songs with which to start your dancing career.  The songs are divided into groups ranging from beginner to expert.  If you complete a group you can unlock a remix containing the songs from that group.  Each individual song, also has different levels of difficulty: beginner, medium, expert.  You can finish them and are able to get up to five stars in one song.  If you have mastered the song in any difficulty you can try to do it without showing the steps.  Trying to make this happen in any song will guarantee to make you replay the song until you get it.  You might be wondering what is the point of that?  Well, the better you do the more points you get.  The more points you get the better you look in the top dancers list, which is composed of people from your friends list that have also played the game.  Seems silly, but I did keep playing to try and out dance my friends.

Customization for your dancer is limited but if you play long enough you will be able to unlock a new set of clothing for each of them, and there are plenty dancers.  Each dancer has a very unique personality and dancing style.  After playing the game for a while, you will find yourself playing with one of the dancers more than you do the others.

The music chosen for this game (30+ songs) are addicting, catchy and hard to resist moving to.  Even if you’re not the person playing you will find yourself moving and shaking.  Of course in the same tradition of Harmonix games you can always purchase more songs from the Xbox Marketplace.  It also has a battle mode where two people dance to different sections of the song.  The winner is the one that has the most correct moves made in the challenge.  If that wasn’t enough you can always gain levels for every song you have played to unlock new things within the game.

If you own a Kinect and you still have not bought Dance Central…  What are you waiting for?  It is a must for any Kinect owner and a game you would not regret purchasing for your ever expanding Xbox collection.  It will make you shake your groove thang and perhaps you’ll learn a few new moves in the process.

These songs will include the Pro Keyboard parts, but as usual, Pro Guitar upgrades (in this case, for “We Belong”) will be available for 99 cents. Here’s the full tracklisting, all of original master recordings:

• “Fire and Ice”
• “Love is a Battlefield”
• “Shadows of the Night”
• “We Belong”
• “Invincible”
• “Promises in the Dark”

The tracks will make their European PS3 debut on Feb. 23.

So, to celebrate, Xbox is giving you a chance to win everything you need to play one of the peripheral’s most popular games – Harmonix’s Dance Central. You download a sample track here, then create a video of you (and maybe even a few of your friends) dancing. Upload it with a description about why you’d be excited if you won the contest (and, don’t be shy, you can also talk about why your video is the best). 50 finalists will make it to Round 2, where the final winners will be chosen.

So, what are you competing for? A pretty hefty prize, actually – One grand prize and one runner-up win a complete Kinect system, an HDTV, a home theater system (for awesome sound) and copy of Dance Central. (Eight winners of the “Sign-Up Sweepstakes” get copies of Dance Central.)

All current entries live on this page (and it’s where you’ll also be submitting your videos), so get dancing!

John Drake announced the sale on the Rock Band forums this morning, stating that, “We’re excited to be returning to our roots as an independent and privately owned studio. As for what it means for you, the DLC schedule marches on for Rock Band, we will continue our support of previously released titles and we’re hard at work on some unannounced projects that we think you’re going to be pumped about.”

So, if you were worried that the sale of the company would interrupt the excellent work that folks are doing over there – I think you can sleep well tonight knowing that the company is in good hands. (And if Harmonix’s fate was seriously interrupting your sleep patterns, see a doctor.)

The following songs will be available Dec. 7:

And if they’re marked with an X? Pay another buck and get access to the Pro guitar and bass part of the content (that you’ll really be able to shred when the real guitars come out). If you’re not interested in blowing everyone’s mind on those two instruments – that’s cool. Pro keyboard and drum parts are already included, so show off those piano lessons Mom made you take. They had to be good for something, right?

A Viacom Spokesperson has released the following statement:

As announced this morning, Viacom plans to sell Harmonix and have reclassified Harmonix to a discontinued operation. However, this announcement does not affect the ongoing work at the studio as they continue to support Rock Band and Dance Central. Viacom’s decision to exit this business reflects our strategy of focusing entirely on what they do best: make great branded entertainment content and deliver it through a variety of platforms. Harmonix has and will continue to create terrific video games. But for us, it is about focus. Viacom is in discussions with several potential buyers and will continue to fully support the business until a sale is completed.

A forum thread was also started for players to ask questions and Harmonix to respond to concerns that loyal fans may have.

If you’re skeptical, that’s fine. If you’re still on the fence, that’s fine, too. Soon enough, you’ll probably get a chance to make up your mind, since Microsoft’s spent a ton of money on advertising for the not-so-tiny motion-sensing camera.

Right now, there are only 12 games available for the device, including what many consider to be a runaway hit from Harmonix – Dance Central. That one-player game features a ton of popular songs and might even give you some rhythm (rhythm not guaranteed). Here’s its debut trailer:

Other Kinect games let you play with imaginary animals or imaginary balls (hey, that’s what motion gaming is about at its core), but dancing is more fun, right?

But back to Kinect: Do you love it? Do you hate it? Can’t even find one? Tell us about it.

Our staff members that actually managed to snag one will have reviews up as soon as possible, too – just in case you wanted some GA perspective.

“The songs on John Lennon’s Imagine run the gamut from beautiful piano-driven ballads like ‘Jealous Guy’ to all-out guitar rockers like ‘Gimme Some Truth’,” said Paul DeGooyer, senior vice president of electronic games, music and programming for MTV Networks. “It’s an incredible musical statement, and a real workout on keyboard, guitar and vocals in Rock Band 3. We’re very excited to confirm it as one of the first downloads for our new game, and to help our fans celebrate John’s 70th birthday with its release.”

Lennon, Bon Jovi and Billy Joel are to be among the first artists available for the new game when it officially launches tomorrow in the United States. Three tracks by The Doors featuring Pro Guitar and Bass upgrades will also be made available for free to anyone that plays RB3 online during its first week of release. An additional nine-pack of songs will also be available (for purchase) that week.