Re: demanding, ambitious, informed and inspired

Andy Clarke (andy@kinonet.com)
Sun, 3 Oct 1999 18:36:28 +0100

>In tokyo I watched kids in a gamehall on a machine called "Dance Dance
>Revolution 2"

>Is this similar to the set up which was mentioned at the Virtual Physical
>Bodies Symposium - and didn't someone say there was one in Soho?
>

I said, in a previous message to the list, that there was one at the Namco
Wonderpark in Great Windmill Street, but I think that this has closed down
now (I am not sure if they have just relocated elsewhere). You could maybe
try Segaworld, but it is unlikely that they would have one.

Just a couple of observations:

Do you remember a handheld electronic game from the eighties which was
round and had four buttons which lit up and played out a tune, which you
had to play back (I think that it was called "Simon" in the UK)? When you
strip away the touchpads and the "dancing", this game is identical to that
one - you are given a sequence to repeat parrot-fashion. This is what I
mean about being objective and not being fooled by "glitter".

This is not to say that the game isn't original or good, which brings me to
my second observation:

Why does this game attract a crowd of onlookers, when most interactive
dance performance leave their audience underwhelmed? what makes this game
"work" as a spectacle, and most interactive dance to "fail" as a spectacle?
This is, after all, a non-dance audience watching a non-professional dancer
in an environment full of other distractions.

Andy Clarke

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Andy Clarke
78 West Kensington Court
Edith Villas
London W14 9AB

Phone: 44 (0) 171 602 3382
Email: andy@kinonet.com
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