Dance Dance Revolution reignites on 360 early 2011

After 2008's Dance Dance Revolution Universe 3, Konami's original arcade rhythm game series took a breather from the Xbox 360. After a couple of years on the sidelines, the franchise is ready to return to Microsoft's dance floor once again, as Konami this week announced Dance Dance Revolution for the Xbox 360.

Set for release in the first quarter of 2011, the Xbox 360 version of Dance Dance Revolution will return to the series' familiar dance mat gameplay, bringing some new modes with it. The Dance Off mode will let up to four players take turns playing on a single dance mat, while Club mode allows marathon dance cards of up to 20 songs with difficulty levels that adapt to the player's performance.

The game also features a Challenge Level mode that incorporates diagonal arrows on the dance mat, and Xbox Live Vision camera support so players can see themselves onscreen. Dance Dance Revolution will come with more than 50 songs on the disc: 20 licensed tracks and 30 original Konami tunes. However, players eager for more will be able to purchase additional tracks as downloadable content from the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Dance Dance Revolution launched on the PlayStation 3 and Wii last month, alongside an Xbox 360 spin-off of sorts. Although Konami's Kinect launch title Dance Masters didn't bear the signature series' branding, it was introduced at the publisher's Electronic Entertainment Expo conference as "a revolution" for the Dance Dance series. Konami's announcement for the Xbox 360 edition of Dance Dance Revolution made no mention of support for Microsoft's Kinect motion-sensing camera.