Pump It Up Pro Multiplayer?

[Kuhazan]

We would like to know more! It appears to be like other dance game gym setups. Is this a hint to a console release in the works?

I thought there should be a topic about it so here it is

[bacon]

UKStep.com had some swank coverage of the Fitness trade show with Pro Multi Player. It sounds like it has some crazy features..

Ok guys,

1st screenshots of the new system (more to follow asap).

The mats are less than half the thickness of existing mats (although the colours are still being discussed). The batteries on the radio system should last around 2 years and the mats have auto-sleep to help save power.

The screenshots show that the system can also operate on multiple levels (3 different levels of difficulty at one time). These can be from Easy to Hard or Hard to "Help, I'm losing control of my legs". The software automatically tracks which version you are using. If you decide to switch levels during a track, the software will track the changes (there will be some loss of steps but I'm waiting to find out more details on that).

There are around 80 songs at present with more being added. There is some discussion about the ability to import songs (as with Playstation), however I can see some licence issues with that one. There are definately plans to include chart music of soem sorts. About 20% of the existing tracks are ITG.

The software designer was there and is keen to include as many options as possible such as usb ports on the mats to let you export scores.

I'm waiting for some "official" screenshots to come through and will link them as soon as I get them.

Alan

Here are those screenshots;

http://www.box.net/shared/xj4emq9zos
http://www.box.net/shared/xkhu2e1xqv
http://www.box.net/shared/yxux68f7vq
http://www.box.net/shared/demfkthi97
http://www.box.net/shared/xq6xe6m6p9
http://www.box.net/shared/k2mlctjr6l
http://www.box.net/shared/6dkl4ix43t
http://www.box.net/shared/gpcx71dp25
http://www.box.net/shared/mjiufzxbht

also the switch levels during a track blows my mind and is an amazing feature.

[Kuhazan]

Division mode without actually having to hit letters to switch modes...

[dt]

whoa, what are Walking on Fire and Land of the Rising Sun doing there?

this looks simply amazing i really hope this starts making its way to places!!

[bacon]

I was told that the images are actually mock ups so songs that appear in the song wheel most likely arnt in the final.

this is actually the official list confirmed by danford; http://pastebin.com/f5a3c4a0d

[Cata-Kai]

Any new info on this? I really hope this is actually coming out and isn't just forgotten. All of those features bacon listed sound really cool and I think Pro has been out long enough for a home version to atleast be announced.

[bacon]

I've been talking to SportWall and Danford. I'll soon have some information gathered to post. For now all I know is that the final pads are ready for shipping, but thats all I know about them for now.

[bacon]

This game was at the IHRSA 2008 health and fitness trade show in San Diego this week. I got a chance to try it out for the first time, but only for one day.

The logo shown on the dance pads shows the name "Pump PRO X". The X is probably referring to XerGames.

One thing that has changed from the previous show in LIW is that now the game shows judgments, (suprb, perfect, miss, etc). I had not noticed that this was not in the previous verison.

Here is a video showing off the interface and game play: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpwzB8Je24U

There is a detailed software walk-through in the description of the youtube video.

The pads are of an extremely simplistic design. The pad is very thin, about 1.5-2inches thick. The two materials used are rubbery plastic and sheet metal. The sensors work by two pieces of sheet metal contacting with each other. The top arrow is a rounded shape and then is flattened as you step to contact with the bottom piece of sheet of metal. This makes for a very poor, cheap and flimsy feeling. Each pad has a built in display which shows an icon for when the pad is connected and the battery life. There is a button below the display which shows the following screens: PAD ID, CALORIES, SCORE, TIME, and STEPS hit. The worst part about this pad is the dimensions of the arrows, particularly the center arrow, which is extremely large. The dimensions are in no way arcade accurate. With the huge center arrow, it is much harder to hit the diagonal arrows in certain step chart patterns. When hitting up-left and down-right your legs must spread apart much a large distance, which is uncomfortable at fast speeds.

The overall downfall of this game is scoring achievement. It is impossible to time your steps visually. With the type of monitor display and the wireless pad, an incredible amount of lag/latency is introduced. At the show, the speakers were not connected correctly so I was only hearing mono or one mid range of sound. Occasionally with some songs sound went out of range and you would hear no audio at all. This game basically feels like you are just shadowing each step (hitting arrows without being scored).

Something that the creators (mostly the hardware designers) of this game are not aware of is the previous or long time players of the dancing game series. People will continuously play to achieve a higher score. When you take this element out, you no longer have a game. Creating a game which makes it impossible to score accurately gives players no rewarding goals to achieve. The reason why no one has mentioned this before is because this game has only been tested with completely new players. New players are, at first, challenged by learning how to play, not scoring. This differs from other games Sportwall creates because those games are much easier for a beginner to understand how to play. The next challenge with any game is to strive for a higher score. Since this game does not provide accurate scoring, players will lose interest as there will be no challenge for them to continue playing.

[Tsuteto]

Correct me if I'm wrong but... isn't the aim of such a project for, example, fitness centers, in which much less room is consumed by having things like one screen and wireless playing?

Yeah, if you're going for timing, then find an arcade machine. That's how it has always been, that's how it will always be.

[bacon]

Correct me if I'm wrong but... isn't the aim of such a project for, example, fitness centers, in which much less room is consumed by having things like one screen and wireless playing?

So you are saying that the game should be unsatisfying for players once they reach higher levels of play just because of inadequate hardware? This game definitely needs 1 screen and wireless pads, but they also need to be functional, which they currently are not. This is the main underlying point I am trying to get across.

Yeah, if you're going for timing, then find an arcade machine. That's how it has always been, that's how it will always be.

The producers of this game want a GAME. In general, dancing games are about timing and scoring. Why else do you play? For a game to be a game it needs some sort of achievement and reward, right? Once a player gets passed the learning curve of understanding how to play, they will want a game to play. If there is no real game play, then no one will continue playing. The producers want to keep people playing which is why there is the game element. The problem is that the developers have done a poor job of creating that element.

This is not about arcade machines, this is about a gaming fitness machine. A company is trying to produce a physically challenging setup for getting kids into shape and to also have a fun gaming experience.

[Criz]

Bacon is right, the multiplayer should be a great introducer to machinedance and when you reach higher levels it should not be so difficult to move over to playing on a arcade.

[Kuhazan]

Andamiro just needs someone involved with the game over seeing the project to make sure everything works. Like mentioned in other posts... take the game element out and you just have stomping around on a pad... and you can do that without the game if the game isn't even registering accurate.

So basically you ask yourself : would you continue playing a arcade dance game if the pad was the worst thing you ever played on? No. And people who play video games are very aware of when something is not working...

[Tsuteto]

Oh hell, now you're just throwing out your opinion of what you feel gaming should be. To me the timing is not necessary to actually have a game. It caters to a different set of audience, which people didn't use at first, but more of a last resort when DDR wasn't doing anything new and it was basically the only thing left to do.

While getting player involvement with the means of production would be great, it is ideally not going to happen unless someone shows that they also have the proper credentials. Though a good number of people have the thought power, it is no good without evidence.

I'll be one of the first to admit, I'm a minority in these circumstances. I don't have to have the aspect of a win to actually have fun. There's plenty of other things that I can do to have fun, along the same lines of the game. However, that also helps me in the sense of that a good number of these people that play this on a whim are NOT gamers. Half of the time it's just a couple that's out in an FFC and decide, "Hey, it's DDR, let's play!" because it seems like FUN. They have no idea about the aspects of timing until it happens, and even then they're simply having fun because they're with a person that they enjoy being with.

This is essentially a same concept. The people producing the fitness multiplayer version thingy are not worried about timing. Everyone's feet are going to practically go to the center of every single panel. If they wanted better timing, then it would be detrimental to the aspect of fitness, seeing as they are using less energy.

If someone truly wants a place to get better with the aspects of timing, they're going to realize that having a massive multiplayer version of the game is NOT going to be the right way, do a quick piece of research, find a machine near them for two people, and go THERE to play for the aspect of competition. Those who only care about getting in shape / staying fit are the ones who are going to stay with the massive multiplayer version of the game.

[Gem]

Actually with the fitness and gym aspect of multiplayer it's not too relevant to have very accurate timing and the best possible timing reliability. However a crappy timing isn't a good thing either. One should aim for the best timing possible, and with Positive Gaming Europes multiplayer system they showed how good a wireless system can be if you put effort into it, so there's no excuse for a bad timing even in a wireless multiplayer system.

[Tsuteto]

Another thing to account for also is the fact that is this simply a "beta" design or is it the final product? We've got no word about that whatsoever, and from the looks of the pads, I would pretty well guess that this is more "beta" than anything else.

Wait until the next time it's shown. We'll see how much further it has been improved... if at all, of course.