Last modified: Sunday, August 29, 2004 12:12 AM EDT Revolution breaks out BY JULIET PENNINGTON / SUN CHRONICLE STAFF With lights flashing, techno-pop music pulsating and bodies moving in a frenzied rhythmic beat, it would seem that a dark, steamy dance club on a Friday or Saturday night would be the backdrop. Instead, it is the middle of the day, in the middle of the week, in the middle of a game arcade, located just about in the middle of the Walpole Mall. Inside the arcade, Dream Machine, a group of seven or eight teenagers and pre-teens are gathered around a game called Dance Dance Revolution ---- or DDR to those in the know. They are watching 14-year-old Jose Navedo, a freshman at Foxboro High School, dancing with intensity as he tries to beat his highest score to date. `` He's good,'' said Chris Waggett, 13, also of Foxboro. `` It'll probably take me six years to get as good as him.'' DDR, a Japanese game distributed by Konami Digital Entertainment, combines video technology with fitness. Players stand on a three-foot square platform and follow with their feet a pattern of arrows that appear on a screen in front of them. They're supposed to step on corresponding arrows on the floor pad beneath them. As they're dancing, the video machine is keeping track of how many correct steps they've logged. They score points based on the accuracy of their dance moves. Different levels There are different levels of play and different songs, from beginner to advanced, which makes the game that much more appealing to those who may be intimidated by the `` pros'' they see in the arcades. `` I started with really easy songs when I began doing it a year ago,'' said Alyssa Libon, 13, an eighth-grader at the Ahern Middle School in Foxboro. `` Now I can do harder songs, but I still have a long way to go to get as good as I want to.'' Her brother, Dan, 18, a senior at Foxboro High School, said he likes the physical activity involved with DDR. `` It's not a typical video game,'' he said. `` You're not sitting on a couch playing it.'' DDR isn't the only video game that is incorporating fitness into technology. Other games, including ScoobieBall and SmartBall are also gaining popularity and have led to the trend called `` exergaming.'' The wave of video technology is receiving raves from fitness experts and parents. `` Since Jose began doing this, he's lost weight, gained stamina and gained confidence,'' said Navedo's father, Andres, a doctor. `` With Nintendo and games like that, it encourages a very sedentary lifestyle, but this game is different.'' Even Jose's sister, Maria, 12, an eighth-grader at the Ahern Middle School, has caught the DDR bug. `` You get a lot of exercise without having to go to the gym and hang out with old people,'' Maria Navedo said. `` You can hang out with your friends and have fun while at the same time getting a workout.'' Her friend, Solveig Olsen, 13, also an eighth-grader at the Ahern Middle School, said that while she enjoys the challenge, she likes `` getting to meet a ton of awesome people'' playing it at arcades. Chris Ferrari, 22, of Stoughton, who works at the Radio Shack store in the Walpole Mall, said he met his girlfriend, Amber Riendeau, 19, of Mansfield, doing DDR at Funway Caf'e9 in Foxboro. `` It's definitely a great way to meet people,'' he said. `` And my girlfriend lost 15 pounds doing it.'' Olsen's father, Doug, who brought his daughter to Dream Machine one recent afternoon, said he was happy his daughter is into DDR. `` To have video games and exercise rolled up in one is fantastic,'' he said. Like many DDR enthusiasts, Olsen's daughter has the home version game as well. `` I like to practice at home,'' she said. ``I do better here when I've been practicing.'' The home game is available for Play Station 1, Play Station II and X-Box. It costs $29.99 for the Play Station 1 version, and $39.99 for the Play Station II and X-Box versions. The floor pads cost between $20 and $300, depending on the type of pad - there's plastic and metal - that is purchased. Jason Enos, a project manager for the Redwood City, California-based Konami Digital Entertainment-America, said that a new version of DDR for Play Station II called DDR Extreme will be released at the end of September and for X-Box, the DDR Ultra Mix II will be released in November. The new Play Station II game will come with EyeToy, a Sony-made camera device that will allow players to see themselves dancing on the screen and will track their movements. The X-Box version will have an online capacity so players can compete against others over the Internet. The DDR machines debuted at arcades in the US in 1999 and the first home version was released in 2001. It costs $1 to play one round, which includes three songs. About 6.5 million copies of the home version have been sold worldwide and more than 1 million have been sold in the US, Enos said. ``The success of the game took everybody by surprise,'' he said. ``I think that one of the main attractions, one of the most unique things, about this game is that it is physically interactive, which breaks the mold.'' Rick Mariscal, manager of Seekonk Grand Prix, where a DDR machine is located, said that since the machine arrived, it is the ``first game played everyday and the last game played every night.'' ``I think the kids are attracted to the challenge of it,'' Mariscal said. ``You can see how they really concentrate. They play the same songs over and over again trying to perfect it.'' `` It's a challenge that doesn't get old,'' added Mike Donnelly, 18, an employee at Seekonk Grand Prix. At Dream Machine in Walpole, assistant manager Rob Ivaldi said the DDR machine ``makes more money than any other game by far.'' ``We got it last summer and it really took off,'' Ivaldi said. ``Friday through Sunday, it's pretty much non-stop. Groups of kids come together a lot to play and compete.'' Enos said that a he finds many of those who play DDR in arcades enjoy competing and showing off. `` It's definitely an ego thing where they say `hey, I can look pretty cool doing this','' he said. ``Some people really get into it.'' Josh Cournoyer, 17, who lives in Pomfred, Conn, but made a trip to Seekonk Grand Prix while visiting family in the area recently, has been doing DDR for two years, which was evidenced by his moves one recent afternoon. In addition to keeping up with the fast-paced, non-stop stream of arrows going every which way, he used a bar behind the floor pad to hoist his body in the air and begin getting his feet in the proper formation even before he landed. When asked how he got that good, Cournoyer said he plays DDR just about every day. `` If I stop, even for a week, I get sloppy,'' he said. ``I can't get sloppy if I want to keep competing.'' DDR enthusiasts refer to a www.ddrfreak.com to find out about area tournaments, where DDR machines are located, about about other DDR news. ``It's definitely the most popular website out there and has loads of information,'' Enos said. He said that DDR attracts both males and females. ``It's a fun, non-violent game that's also physically demanding so there's the potential to lose weight,'' Enos said. ``That doesn't hurt, especially when you have kids coming home, eating Cheetos and playing video games for three hours. This is a much better alternative.''