One of the things that I’ve noticed recently is a dramatic increase in the number of dancing games out there. In the last few years, they seem to have become the new rhythm games.
I took a crack at playing Dance Dance Revolution at PAX last year, and I discovered something about myself: I am HORRIBLE at dance games. Perhaps I just haven’t taken the time to develop the muscle memory for each of the dances, but I just have a hard time “seeing” how the flying arrows have to translate to movements.
One thing that does excite me is the possibility of user generated content with the Kinect. For example, it would be wonderful for a belly dancer to record and teach dance lessons using the Kinect. When I was in jazz choir in my high school days, I would have loved to have Kinect recordings of my choreography. It may even be possible for home-schooled students to join in on group gym classes using the Kinect.
In any case, I think the dance games are just the tip of the iceberg, and it will simply take an innovator with the right ideas – and the ability to communicate them – to take us to the next level.