''Dance Evolution'' (known as ''DanceMasters'' in North America) is a Japanese

dancing Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire ...

video game developed by the makers of the ''

Dance Dance Revolution (''DDR'') is a music video game series produced by Konami. Introduced in Japan in 1998 as part of the Bemani series, and released in North America and Europe in 1999, ''Dance Dance Revolution'' is the pioneering series of the rhythm and dance V ...

'' series. The game was unveiled at

Konami , is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company, video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machin ...

E3 2010 The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2010 (E3 2010) was the 16th E3 held. The event took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California. It began on June 14, 2010, and ended on June 17, 2010, with 45,600 total attendees. Ther ...

press conference, for Xbox 360

Kinect Kinect is a line of motion sensing input devices produced by Microsoft and first released in 2010. The devices generally contain RGB cameras, and infrared projectors and detectors that map depth through either structured light or time of flig ...

. The game was released in November 2010. ''Dance Evolution'' has 30 tracks, including hip hop, R&B, pop and techno and will be supported with additional songs as

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. An arcade

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, titled ''Dance Evolution Arcade'', was released on March 27, 2012, in Japan. Although the gameplay remains the same, it has several features that differentiate it with the original version. A spin-off, ''Rhythm Party'' (or ''Boom Boom Dance'' in Japan), was released on February 1, 2012.

Reception and reviews

''Dance Evolution'' had mixed reviews, according to review aggregator

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. ''

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'' was disappointed in their review of the game saying, "DanceMasters is fun enough, especially if you enjoy Dance Dance Revolution and you want a similar Japanese take on the dance genre...but the niche soundtrack and the lack of a proper practice mode make this game difficult to get into...it's also a shame that the move recognition seems unusually lenient at times, but unnecessarily fickle at others...I would recommend Dance Central over DanceMasters any day of the week. ''

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

'' said in their review, "though the novel camera feature fuels some goofy fun, DanceMasters only holds lasting appeal for dedicated dance fiends...you'll probably tire of the game shortly after the novelty of the live action camera wears off...though there are better video game dance opportunities available, heading out onto the floor with DanceMasters is still good for a few kicks. ''Impulse Gamer'' rated the game an 8.0 stating, "Dance Evolution is one of the best games available for the Kinect...with shades of Space Channel 5, Dance Evolution requires the player to mimic the dance moves displayed on the screen and then use their body to replicate them...the game is a little daunting at first but once you get the hang of it, Dance Evolution becomes a thoroughly enjoying game.

References

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External links

Official ''DanceMasters'' (US /canada site)Official ''Dance Evolution'' (Europe site)Official ''Dance Evolution'' (Japanese site)
2010 video games Dance video games Kinect games Konami games Video game sequels Xbox 360 games Xbox 360-only games Multiplayer and single-player video games Video games developed in Japan