John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John are coming to the Nintendo consoles! Or at least their Grease characters Danny Zucko and Sandy Olsson are. 505 Games has announced that it is now the rightful owner of the publishing rights for a video game adaptation of the classic musical, "Grease".

A game that's been resurrected by Namco Bandai, Active Life: Athletic World promises to be bring forth something new for everyone. To show you guys what you're going to expect in the game, we got you guys the newest screenshots of the game. Check the screenshots and the release date after the jump!

During Konami's turn at the ongoing E3 event, the spotlight shone on yet another rhythm-based video game title named Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party. We've been talking about the game for some time now and we've already discussed before that the Wii's Wiimote and Nunchuk will be put to good use in this game.

Game details are still quite a few as of now but there was one confirmation that should make any Dance Dance fanatic, well, dance with joy. Among the many assets revealed is a high quality image of a Dance mat, finally putting an end to the question whether the title would require some footwork from gamers or not.

Now we know that for players to score high in this game, players will be needing to step into the mat in accordance to the tune and on-screen cues, all the while making the right combos on their hands. There will also be a four player co-op and versus mode. Konami mentioned that the playlist for DDR: Hottest Party will include songs from the 80s as well as the 90s.

See the dance mat and other screenshots after the jump!

Health buffs, listen up! While the Wiimote is already advancing diet regiments far and wide, you still can't count out how the Dance Pad for DDR titles brought exercise routines for the console gamers. As of now, it's still being talked about whether or not DDR Hottest Party on the Wii would have a Dance Pad peripheral for its own.

But what's this? Is this confirmation or just a prototype of a possible Dance Pad?

From Japanese magazine Famitsu, a new scan has waltzed into the dancefloor: a two-page spread showing not just screens, but also a pic of the Dance Pad. Now if you can read hiragana - yes, kkid (Unregistered) and nohbody (Unregistered), as well as katakana or kanji - maybe you can answer our previous question: is this the real thing or just a prototype? But despite this, you'll still be able to play the game by using the Wiimote alone, as French site source Nintendo Master states.

Regardless, other tidbits included in the scan are the multiplayer features (no, not online multiplayer, sorry). The game will allow four players to step up on the Wii stage at the same time, and have both versus and co-op modes available.

Boogie might be "Grease"-ing up for a release soon, but when you're talking about rhythm-based games, you can't count out Dance Dance Revolution. The franchise (on arcade and console platforms) has set a very high bar on the genre, after all. Latest in the franchise and (as of writing) exclusive to the Nintendo Wii is DDR: Hottest Party.

Konami's official website for the game just went live. It's in Japanese, so unless you can read hiragana, then the site won't offer much as of now. There are no clickable buttons or links just yet, and the only contents up there are what look like blurbs and quotes from other people, publications, and critics about the upcoming game and its franchise as a whole.

We'll give you guys updates once the website drops it like it's hot, but if you're interested, you can tap dance over the Read link below to boogie into the official DDR site.

 

We know how the Wii has made such a revolution in gaming. The innovative factor that the Wii remote has put into the arena has certainly stirred things up. It has redefined interactive gaming, and right now, only Time will tell how far that will take us. Good thing is, Father Time is on our side, and we've been able to have quite a chit-chat about the future.

We've been speculating about how interesting things have been going for Nintendo, and while everyone is thinking of their motives and strategies as something that's avant garde in nature, let's push this even further.

Hypothesis: Would the Wii become the next quasi-spectator sport?

Observation: Well, if you take the cross-section of what a lot of people are saying about the Wii and its interactivity, it basically all boils down to how fun it is just to watch your friends and family doing their own thing. Really, the crazy things people end up doing with their Wii-motions (meaning the bodily movements they make when controlling the Wiimote).

Grandpa bowling his 91 pins in one go. Little Johnny doing a breakdancing "Finish Him" move in Wii boxing. Uncle Scott trying to buck a cow onto the finish line in Wii Play. Or your best buddy Tyler nuking it out with his girlfriend in DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi 2. It's fun watching other people play; some would even go so far as saying that it's more fun watching the players themselves rather than watching the screen.

Now while all this is done for leisure and recreation, all it takes is for just one guy (*ahem* like me) to put two and two together, and say, "Hey! Why not we bring this to the next level? I'm going to make Wii-motions... into an ART FORM!" Pretty ambitious for someone who still doesn't have a Wii console (harhar), but hey!, I've been practicing my backhand down at the local retailer's shop. *wink*

Anyhoo. It's not that hard to imagine how video gaming could be translated into a spectator sport. To name a few games which have already going down this definition of interactivity: Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero, and, to an extent, even Samba de Amigo. (interesting how these three games all involve music)

On with the discussion, and some more insight on how learning the best way to ride Epona can bag you a guesting on Oprah, right behind the Full Article link! We talk more of the three mentioned games, some Las Vegas shows, and cheerleaders!

With respect to all Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) haters out there, it looks like the game is still going strong. In the April 2007 issue of Nintendo Power, they confirmed the release of Konami's Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party for the Wii.

To those unfamiliar to the series, players play the game by stepping on a dance pad that is marked with four direction panels. You will have to step on these panels in conjunction with the beat and the on-screen cues.

The Wii version will have a dance pad included although additional hand movements will be added for the Remote and Nunchuk.

There will be 4 player co-op and versus modes along with various mini games that should break the monotony once you've memorized all the steps to all the songs in all the difficulty levels. So far the soundtrack has yet to be announced, although the people from Konami have promised to provide hits from the 80s to the 90s.

For now, you will have to excuse me, I need to practice my dance moves before it's released. I will not be pwned by some kid (again).

 

Most people tend to associate video gaming with inactivity. Not anymore. A new study by Liverpool John Moores University has shown that gaming can actually burn calories (no, it's not DDR). Their studies involved gaming consoles, like the Wii, that used body motion to control the video game.

The results of these studies were amazing (much like the results of a similar study). An average gamer in the UK spends 12.2 hours a week gaming; if that gamer had used a Wii, then the gamer could have burned up 1,813 calories.

In "body motion gaming," heart rates jump to about 130 beats per minute (compared to 85 in more traditional consoles). While this is no replacement for actually going out and getting engaged in real sports, it's better than nothing. As an added note, it's interesting to note that guys actually use up more energy than women do.

So if you've been looking for an excuse to get a Nintendo Wii, this is it, you could say you're getting it for "health reasons."

Over at Smarthouse, they've written an interesting article on sodas and how it affects gamers. It's funny how that works though, since the information they've put in is applicable to most soda-drinkers.

The strangest thing about this article is how soda is presented much like a drug. While specifically mentioning Coke and how there used to be cocaine in it a very long time ago, they may have taken the angle a bit too far, even while trying to explain the problems with having too much sugar in your system. That being said, the article is insightful for showing what happens in one hour after grabbing that soda, but also makes it somewhat alarmist.

For instance, they mention that you take in your daily recommended allowance of sugar within the first ten minutes of drinking that one soda. "You don't immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness," the article continues, "because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down."

Even more interesting here is their description at the forty-minute mark:

Caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dialate (sic), your blood pressure rises, as a response your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. The adenosine receptors in your brain are now blocked preventing drowsiness.

So, are gamers taking drugs? Maybe, but then so is everyone else as far as this article is concerned. The sugar and caffeine crash they talk about here should happen to almost anyone who drinks a soda, but is probably more noticeable in people whose butts are parked around a PC or console, such as ourselves.

Still, it kind of explains why some gamers fall asleep during those eight-hour raids through Molten Core and still don't mind having gaming marathons. Maybe we should get more exercise besides DDR. What do you think?

"The greatest threat to our national security is pediatric obesity," says US Surgeon General Richard Carmona (That's not him up there), last June in American College of Sports Medicine Annual Conference in Denver. Strong words, but given that health agencies predict that by 2010, one kid in every five here will be clinically obese, the predictions are truly shocking, and that's not even mentioning the onset of diseases like insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and hepatic disease - diseases that used to be isolated to adults.

While health groups tend to blame this growing problem on too much "recreational screen time" (video gaming and TV), the usual cure they've given is decidedly just as painful as the ailment: Lessen play time, and exercise.

According to Dr. Ernie Medina (top image) of XRtainment Zone though, the problem isn't so much about trying to wean people off gaming for health's sake, it's about the alternatives. Much like how food lovers dread replacing their yummy snacks with tasteless tofu substitutes, most people see exercise as a chore - something that just isn't any fun to do.

It was with this mindset that Dr. Medina made his program proposal at the Games for Health Conference last Thursday. The program discussed that instead of taking away recreations like gaming and TV for health's sake, why not marry the two? And no, Dr. Median wasn't talking about people just watching TV as they did their laps, or played consoles as they pedalled away.

The program called for a more widespread  introduction of exergaming, that is, where exercise itself is part of the gameplay - Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) is one clear example of this unusual gaming genre.

Dr. Medina was also quick to point out the program's benefits, like how age mattered little in exergaming - pictures of the elderly playing DDR alongside children in their XRtainment Zone health center were shown as an example of the lack of social boundaries that the program potentially had. And for parents, it was a very safe way of exercise even compared to more high-impact exercises and sports.

Dr. Medina mentioned the schools and the California-based HMO that adopted his office's exergaming equipment, and how it was affecting their PE session - students were actually looking forward to the exercise.

Given that the next gen consoles we've been looking at are going to focus on player interactivity - the Wiimote in particular - we thought this'd help us get a better view of how gaming can be translated into something healthy and constructive, and work hand-in-hand with its long-time nemesis, exercise.

Forecasted headline within the next few months: "I lost 60 pounds in 30 days. Thanks Zelda!"