Crispy Gamer News

Konami Digital Entertainment wants you to dance your pants off with two new music rhythm games in the Dance Dance Revolution series. DDR X for the PlayStation 2 and DanceDanceRevolution Hottest Party 2 are available in North America today. The “X” in the latest PS2 DDR game marks the 10th anniversary of rhythm based game series. The latest release for the PS2 offers new characters, an original soundtrack, enhanced graphics, interactive gameplay, and new game modes. DanceDanceRevolution X retails for $49.99 and comes bundled with the Dance Mat or $29.99 for the stand-alone game.

For Wii owners, Konami has released DanceDanceRevolution Hottest Party 2. The sequel to last year’s game offers new gameplay that combines the physical nature of the Wii with easy-to-pick-up-and-play mechanics. New this year is support for four-player multiplayer, Wii Remote and Nunchuck support, hit music from the last four decades, and entirely new modes. DanceDanceRevolution Hottest Party 2 is available for $69.99.

Sega has released the complete list of songs for its upcoming rhythm game Samba De Amigo for the Wii. Sega’s game, which we previewed a while ago, is apparently going to give gamers many tunes to shake their maracas along to.

This Wii remake of the popular Dreamcast maracas sim  will offer lots of different types of music - more than you can shake a Wii Remote at, in fact. The complete list after the jump.

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This week Xbox Live users will be able to download Go! Go! Break Steady from Xbox Live Marketplace. Go! Go! Break Steady is a button mashing rhythm game where you press keys to make a virtual character prance all over the screen. Apparently, once you have mastered the button break dancing part of the game, you are taken to a mini game where you shoot balls to make sets of three or more. The game offers 20 songs, as well as local and online co-op and versus modes. The game is rated “E” and carries a price tag of 800 MS points.

THQ is hoping that its newest game, Band Mashups, will blaze a new trail in the rhythm / action genre by adding band battle-style combat into the mix. Coming to the Wii in April, Band Mashups features 150 tracks and five musical styles including rock, funk/hip-hop, country, marching band and Latin. The music will serve as the catalyst for a musical fight involving a nefarious boss named Mr. Hong, who controls the faraway city of New Cadenza — and when they say musical combat, they mean it; the player will use the Wii remote to master the sniper violin, flamethrower guitar and over 68 other instruments of destruction to battle baddies.

Band Mashups also features two-player versus mode, a single-player campaign, eleven bands (each with their own musical style), and a new game mechanic called music switching. When an opponent turns the tide of battle, the music changes as well, switching between different music styles. Band Mashups features 30 classic and modern hits from over the last four decades, all presented in five different styles, resulting in a total of 150 unique, playable recordings.

I think I saw all this in one of those KISS movies from the ’70s… Look for the game only on the Wii in April.

The creative forces behind the popular PaRappa the Rapper series are back together to work on a new action rhythm game called Major Minor’s Majestic March for the Wii, Majesco announced this week. Designer Masaya Matsuura and artist Rodney Alan Greenblat get together one more time to create a game that combines music, rhythm and the capabilities of the Wii remote.

As a bandleader, players use the Wii remote as a baton to keep a marching band in tempo to the music, pick up valuable objects along the way, and find new musicians to join your ranks. As you follow eight different parade routes you”ll find new friends to join you who will in turn add more instruments to your group like brass, woodwinds and percussion. These additional instruments (15 in all) alter the composition of the music, which you”ll have to keep in time as you march forward. Of course, no marching band game could be complete without some obstacles to make you stumble along the way, and Majestic March is no exception, throwing things in your path to challenge your pacing and tempo. Finally, players will be challenged by more than 25 popular marching band songs from around the world, composed into original medleys for each stage.

While I probably wouldn”t associate marching band with awesome, this game does sound like it could be fun — mostly because of who is behind it: Major Minor’s Majestic March will be released on Dec. 15, 2008.