More and More, Wii and Dance Go Hand in Hand

Music and dance games are selling like hotcakes for game systems such as Nintendo's Wii and Microsoft's Xbox 360. The best-selling Just Dance, whose sequel is outselling the original, for the Wii requires you to move the wireless remote properly as you dance along; Dance Central tracks your body movements using the Kinect hands-free control.

So you think you can dance? There's a video game for you.Actually, millions of Americans already have converted their game systems into dancing machines. How else to explain the success of games such as Just Dance 2? A sequel to last year's Wii hit that has sold more than 2 million copies worldwide, Just Dance 2 -- with choreographed songs from artists such as Katy Perry and James Brown -- has been among the 10 top-selling games the past two months, according to market tracking firm The NPD Group. Just Dance 2 and Dance Central, a new Xbox 360 game from the creators of the Rock Band franchise, helped increase the number of music and dance games sold by 38% over last November, NPD says. The best dancing games do an entertainment two-step: in party mode, the games let light-footed folks strut their stuff; as solitary experiences, wallflowers can work on their moves in privacy. Just Dance games for the Wii require you to move the wirelessremote  properly as you dance along; Dance Central tracks your body movements using the Kinect hands-free control system. "When you make the moves and the exact motions, and the console repeats it back to you in real-time without skipping a beat, that is a powerful sensation," says Scott Steinberg of consulting firm TechSavvy Global. With sales of Just Dance 2 outpacing those of the original, Ubisoft hopes to capitalize even more on the dance trend with other releases Just Dance Kids ($30, all ages) and Michael Jackson: The Experience ($50, ages 10-up, for Wii; due in 2011 for PS3 and Xbox 360). "The dance category is exploding," says Ubisoft's Tony Key. Other games stepping out: *Zumba Fitness ($40 for PS3 and Wii, $50 for Xbox 360, all ages) transforms the Latin dance fitness program into a game experience for up to four players, and four more online. A fitness belt holds a Wii remote or Move controller or, on Xbox 360, the Kinect controller does the tracking. *Dance Dance Revolution for the Wii ($90, all ages) lets you dance several ways, including with the Wii remote and nunchuk, with or without the traditional dance mat. DDR for the PS3 ($70, ages 10-up) brings your upper body into the action and, with the Move camera, puts your face in the game. *Singstar Dance, Sony's latest dancing and karaoke game ($40, for PS3, for ages 13-up) lets four players compete to tunes by Lady Gaga and the Jackson 5. "There have been other dance games out, but more recently there have been so many dance TV shows, I think the time is just right," says Kasson Crooker of Harmonix, the game development studio that created Dance Central and the Rock Band games.