DDR for my physical education class

[Synaesthesia]

Your quality contribution to this thread is deeply appreciated.
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[antimony]

I'd suggest sticking with softpads, and duct taping them down directly to some inexpensive gym mats. (I don't know a price on those, sorry.) If you can get mats of a convenient size, tape all four down together, and make sure none of them cross any folds that there might be in the mat. Then that all you have to do to set up the equipment is pull out the mats and unfold, and wheel out the TV/Xbox carts.

I've had my modded softpads last for quite a long time, and they're cheap enough that you can just replace them. The other pads *will* break, and then replacing them is expensive. I wouldn't worry about wireless so much. Tape the cables down until where they go off the mat and then bundle them together up to the Xbox.

Also, don't forget AV carts (i.e. those TV stands with build-in surge protectors so that you just run one extension cord to each setup) in your pricing -- you'll likely need them. You'll also need to buy a lot of extension cords.

Two concerns: setting volume so that each "station" can hear clearly but not drown out neighbors. Also, playing DDR like this is inherently very competitive -- whoever is leading it will need to monitor things carefully. Maybe divide the class into two teams and each A gets the number of feet it is in points or something. Some people will be a lot better than others, very quickly, and you don't want it getting ugly.

[waldo05]

this is all great information!!!!!! Keep it comming.....

[Reenee]

Can't this teacher arrange a sort of business proposition with Konami? Like, we all know the Konami pads are perfectly capable of anything up to Standard, and for all we know that'll probably be as high as anybody could go (and the elite few can just whore out the hard pads), so maybe he could call up Konami and ask for a shipment of 30-32 Konami soft mats?

[gasm]

Just remember to be careful for people who might steal the stuff
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[Griesus]

[Reenee]

HOLY SHIT GUYS, WE'RE TRYING TO HELP SOMEONE.

These are AVERAGE, MAINSTREAM PLAYERS. They don't give a damn!

Jeez. Focus! God, it's stupidasses like you that make me lose respect for these forums. You totally just go off on the tangent without being provoked. What kind of people are you?

[Ikari Warrior]

Hey, my name's also Jason and I have a DDR setup where I teach K-12 too !
I just wish we had an $8000 budget, we're lucky to get $40 every 3 months.
We only have one station, with a 13" TV and PS2 (which I had to bring in myself). I've been using Mad Catz Beat Pads ($20 at Best Buy), that lasted throughout the summer under almost all day use, but they're starting to die now. I need to replace them, but our budget isn't nearly as high as yours.

[|'.'|]

1)having 15-16 of them playing at a time so then half of them can rest because 40 min-1 hr of ddr straight might be alittle hard on some of the kids.

2)yes, but only on xbox

3)both xboxs and ps2's should be pretty portable.
for pads(3 types of pads)
a)soft pads are the most portable and cheapest of the 3 types but also the least durable and lowest quality of the 3.(ideal for beginners)

b)igntion pads are still pretty portable and aren't very expensive compared to metal pads ($60 for BNS DX-Xtreme ingitions. these, imo, are as good as the $100 redoctane pads but for 3/5 of the price). They are also durable and good quality(i have one, its been about a year and there have been no problems with it. its responsive and durable)

c)metal pads are not really portable and are very expensive, $200+ for one. But, on the other hand they are very durable and are usually very good quality. I wouldnt reccomend these for a gym/PE program because they are very expensive and even advanced players would do fine on ignitions(imo)

4) pricing
3 xboxes*$150= $450
2 slim ps2s*$150= $300
3 Ultramix 3(or um 2)*$40=$120
2 Extreme 2's*$40=$80
2 memory cards for ps2(sony)*$20=$40
8 soft pads for beginners*about $20= about $160
8 BNS DX Xtreme ignitions*$60+shipping=$480+shipping

total without TV's=$1630

so, you get $6370 leftover for tv's, other games(like ITG or other DDRs), and replacement pads/accesories.

[High Skool Artist]

one thing for sure
itl cost over 3000 bux
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[Akira_247]

You have a very nice budget for this!

1. Xboxes are your best route and you would need probably 5 Xboxes unless you want all of the kids to play at the same time then you should get 8(2 kids should have to sit out but factioring when there gone and or too tired to play its o.k.)

2. On T.V.s 4 people can play but I would say that you should get get as large t.v.'s as you can and remeber Get T.V.'s with a wide display since the arrows are put right to left on the screen.

3. Portability... thats really not gonna happen. Hopefully you have a van so you have the Xboxes, the T.V's(wow), Not to mention pads

[jamygabb]

Note: You should probably let kids/teens 5th grade and over play because the little kids would probably ruin the pads. (You ruin the pads if you stomp on them).

[agent709 (orange)]

For 30-34 people, assuming 32 students is an average, I would suggest:

2 X-boxes - around $300
Has a harddrive, and only 1 less mix than PS2- but I doubt the kids will care about the mixes as much as hardcore players like most of us do.

8 Red Octane Afterburner pads - $1600
While soft mats maybe be portable and cheap, they ARE pretty indurable, especially with the use it sounds like they may be getting. They could work, but with 8000 to spend, you might just want to go for high quality.

At least 2 of the Ultramixes - $40-80
Mix and match. You could get Ultramix 1 or 2 for 20 bucks, and you may as well pick up 3 to prevent them from becoming bored as quickly.

TVs if you don't have them - maybe around $200-300 for decent working ones.

$2140-2280 for this particular setup.

This way, with about 4 rotations, everyone would have played. That is, of course, assuming classes of 32 or less.
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[thewitchdoctor]

i know konami is working with 24 hour fitness to promote the game as a workout tool. i believe that 24 hour fitness is integrating the games into their childrens area (but it is not limited just to use by children) and konami is or will be giving out coupons for a 30 day free trial. it might be worth your while to find out how 24 hour fitness is handling it. there is a link to some information from the DDR Extreme 2 and Ultramix 3 pages on the konami website.
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[thewitchdoctor]

heres the link for info about the program click here

and here's the press release about it
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[Same]

Wow.

The whole Xbox sux stuff is so pre-Ultramix 1. I honestly thought it didn't exist anymore.
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Why do you need Konami original steps?

[waldo05]

I am 2 weeks into the unit and it is going great! I have 24 kids active at once (6 tv's 6 xboxes and 24 pads) I wanted to know if there are other "fitness" games besides DDR that uses the dance pads (olympics?) so that I can offer a choice to those few that are not that interested in DDR. Thanks again for all of you help it cost about 280.00 per station and is working great!

[wschmrdr]

Great to hear things are going well!

I remember once I saw some Athens or Sydney Olympics video game, where some of the things could be done with the DDR pads. Other than that, I'm not sure. You maybe could figure out a way to implement Tony Hawk Pro Skater or one of those style games with a pad.

Has most of your class been just simply individual play, or have you built in some team-builidng exercises?

[waldo05]

for the most part, individual play....I did have a "blind" DDR where we were on a 64 BPM song and their partner was behind them telling them where to step....they thought that was pretty cool, but they wanted to get back to the regular ddr after about 4-5 tries for each partner. I would be open to any team building activities I could use with my class....thanks for the reply...

[momomixer]

o by the way for a 1,120 bucks more you could go the ps2 route and get cobalt fluxes and almost never have to replace them
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