We hope to start bringing you more information shortly on our up and coming events, and also start looking at some changes that could be happening around here.

I know we have not been the most communicative bunch of people as of late, however we hope to move on from this and to spice things up a tiny bit more.

Thank you all for being so patient with us, and catch you on the flip side!

DDR:UK are back again at the London MCM Expo, held in the ExCeL Centre – London. This time the event is back, bigger than ever before, and linked up to Memorabilia which is happening next door. We are currently underway with setting up, so items in list are subject to change, however we can confirm the following items did make it through the City of London in an old rickty van!

• DDR:UK’s DanceDX (Arcade)
• Dance Dance Revolution Supernova 2 (Arcade)
• Melty Blood (Arcade)
• Rock Band 3 (XBOX360)
• Battle Stadium D.O.N (GameCube)
• Super Street Fighter IV (XBOX360)
• Singstar/Singstar Sing-along Disney (PS3)
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)
• Nintendo 3DS AR Card (Gotta be seen to understand!)

Also, see if you can spot Sonic on our stand, he can’t be missed (literally!)

As always we will have our webcam online, which can be seen here at our Event’s Webcam Page, additionally you can follow us on Twitter by following the link at the side, or clicking here @DDRUK, additionally you can follow us on Facebook.

We hope to see you there!

At the October expo this year we will once again be running an open tournament like last year, only this time we are giving you all enough notice about it to turn up rather than rushing it together on the last day!
It will be on the Saturday at around midday, you can register at any time Friday or Saturday just come looking for me (Kris) or ask any of the friendly members of staff and one of them will definitely be able to point you in the right direction!

The rule set will be similar to the one we used last year in that its on an equal ground for all beginner and expert players (In case you weren’t there, last year the top 3 were someone who played on difficult, someone who had never played on a machine before and one of the members of staff who were filling in to give us an even number. In that order) so everyone has a chance to win, and for the added incentive this year we have the championship trophy to play for as well as a number of minor prizes for entrants who make it past certain rounds!

More in-depth rules and details are available here:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=123806304383385

Register your interest there and feel free to ask ANY questions about the tournament. Looking forward to hearing from you all and seeing you there!

Dancefreak/Kris!

I am sorry that this has gone up so late, however I am posting this in my last 15 minutes that I have within the hall before I kicked out! DDR:UK are proud to be a part of the Manchester MCM Expo which is currently being held in Manchester Centre.

We will be here on Saturday with all our usual DDR Machines, Arcade Equipment and Consoles.

Why not pop along and see what we are up to! If you are unable to make it, then you can always look at our webcam and see what we are doing!

For more information about the event, go to the main Manchester MCM Expo website.

Is it that time already? Cricky! It is, Time for another Rock Band Tournament! Our first Rock Band Tournament on Rock Band 3.
Just have a look out on the Saturday for the 4 strapping lads in blue shirts bearing the DDRUK Logo, hanging around a Rock Band setup if you want to enter.
Here is a quick shoot of the rules:
Traditional 4 person band’s only (Guitarist, Bassist, Vocalist and Drummer)
Play the seeding song which is decided on the day from this list:
Just like Heaven – The Cure
I wanna Be Sedated – The Ramones
Stop Me if you think you’ve heard this one before – The Smiths
Get Free – The Vines
Killing Loneliness – H.I.M
Heart of Glass – Blondie

Get into the Top 4 and stay there
Come back at 2 O’Clock to see if your band is through to the next round
Pick a song for your band, as the other 3 bands do the same, then play all 4 with the lowest scoring band being eliminated.
Pick another song, as the other 2 bands again do the same, lowest score gets elminated.
Final’s will be each band picking a song and playing the final setlist of 2, Highest score wins.

Need more details? Grab them after the break.

Taken from the post over at MCM London Expo Forums

Rules
Abbreviations: RB = Rock Band, RB2 = Rock Band 2, RB3 = Rock Band 3, LRB = Lego Rock Band, RBN = Rock Band Network (A constantly expanding network of songs from “Indie” bands,) DLC = Downloadable Content (Songs that have been officially done and released.)
Seeding
Entry will begin when the doors open for seeding, all bands must play the Seeding song in-order to qualify, and scores will be recorded. The highest 4 bands will be allowed to enter the next round, which will begin at 2 O’Clock the same day.
The seeding song will be decided on the day from a list of 6 songs which are below. The seeding song will be an ON THE DISK song, not from DLC, RB1, RB2, RBN or LRB.
The Six possible songs for Seeding
>Just like Heaven – The Cure
>I wanna Be Sedated – The Ramones
>Stop Me if you think you’ve heard this one before – The Smiths
>Get Free – The Vines
>Killing Loneliness – H.I.M
>Heart of Glass – Blondie

Round 1
The four bands will select ONE song, with no limitations (Except for the ones listed below) from the entire setlist. The lowest seed will then play all 4 songs in what ever order they so choose, with the cumulative score being gathered. The third, second and first seeds will then play after.
If a band fails to pass a song within the list, the score until that point will be recorded, and added in.
The lowest scoring band from this round will be eliminated.
Round 2
The three bands will select one song, with the restriction being that it can not be any from round 1, The band with the lowest score (minus obviously the band knocked out) will play all three songs, with second and first following after, with cumulative scores being tallied up after.
The lowest scoring band will again be eliminated.
Final
The top two bands from round 2 will go head to head, picking 1 song each, with a final set list of 2 songs, the same restriction of no previous song being selectable is still in action.
The final score will be the net collection from all the songs.
Extra rules
If a band fails to show at the times listed then they will be disqualified, and there place void.
No band can attempt to reseed, unless the band is composed of at least 3 different members and no member of this new formed band are in the top 4. (Ie. Barry Mannings is part of Barry’s Magic Kit-Kat, They are in fourth place, No member of Barry’s Magic Kit-Kat can attempt to be in another band, until it’s pushed down to 5th or lower.)
Requests for left handed mode must be made before song selection.
You must sing, if it is suspected that your just humming, vocal’s volume will be switched on to verify.
If a band feels that the equipment has caused a fault, it must be made known immediately and at the first possible opportunity via pause, the other bands (at least 1 from each other band) must then vote on if it is actually a fault or if it is the band just attempting a replay on account of messing up. If it is indeed a fault then the song can be replayed after an attempted fix or if it is deemed not a fault of equipment but a fault of player, then the song will go on after a 3 second count down. This can be preformed 3 times at maximum throughout the whole tournament.
Respect the equipment, This is my own equipment that I paid for, slamming guitars into the floor is not cool and will NOT be tolerated.
The following song limitations have been added, The same songs as before are banned due to length, The Camera Eye, Jailbreak (Live) and Green Grass and High Tides, Do you feel like we do (Live), The reason for this is the possibility of having to sit through 40 minutes of the Camera Eye, seriously, could you take that? No? didn’t think so.

Matt – Shadowman – King Hot Chip (Pink Fondant Fancies Bassist and DDR:UK Rock Band Tournament Roadie)

The second of DDR:UK’s tournaments for the weekend, returns us back to our roots! The DDR:UK Dancing Stage Tournament! Kris has kindly offered to run and organise this, and this year we are running a few tests. The details are below:

We are running a free tournament for expert players at the MCM Expo on Saturday in an attempt to try out a new tournament layout. Registration starts at 11am and due to the new layout you can play the first set of songs straight away! So if you’re able to play on expert difficulty on Dance Dance Revolution why not step by and have a go just to see how far you can get? Come find Kris at the DDR:UK Stand for more details!

Finally, if you are interested in an open tournament using the ruleset from last October that works for people of every skill level, let Kris know on the stand and if there’s enough interest it will take place on sunday at the same time!

Enjoy

Here are the details for the first of many tournaments running on the DDR:UK stand at the London MCM Expo this weekend!

Single elimination structure.
24 player cap.
£3 entry
1st place paid
No character lock
All characters open to use
XBox 360 Setup
Tournament start time 1pm-1.30pm – 4pm finals.
Bring your own controllers welcome!
All skill levels welcome
Finals to appear in staging area!

Keep an eye out for Gino on the stand, he will be the guy running the whole show! Please ensure you leave enough time to get to the event to enter into the tournament as late entries may not be accepted. Also when using your own controllers, please be kind to the staff members assisting DDR:UK. They are human just like you, and if they say something can’t be used, then please respect that. Note the BYOC part of this only applies to the SSFIV tournament at present.

It’s that time of year again and DDR:UK are once more attending MCM Expo, this time for three full days! This time around Expo will be open all of Friday as well as the usual weekend days and, of course, DDR:UK will be there all three days with our usual selection of games.

As always we’re coming jam packed with all your favourite games including,

Þ     Rockband

Þ     D.O.N

Þ     Singstar

Þ     Street fighter

Þ     Melty Blood and many more.

And as always we’ll be running the tombola all weekend where you can win some awesome prizes and have a chance to win the grand prize!

Throughout Saturday and Sunday a variety of tournaments will be running all over the stand (more details later) so don’t forget to come over and sign up for your chance to win!

We are fast approaching the London MCM Expo in May 2011, and we are looking for Volunteers to help out during the event. We are not looking for any one, we are looking for people who will be willing to put up with the extra workload that this will put on you, and understand that you may not have as much fun as you think you will. – It probably does not sell the part, but I have to be honest up front.

I will update this list as time goes along, as we may need more people than this initial list, but I will ensure to update the usual areas to ensure people know I have made an update.

So here is what we are currently looking for!

Area 1: Someone to record and film what happens on the stand. We have a number of tournaments and side events going along at the May Expo, and it would be great if we can get someone in to film what is going on. We already have a small video camera, however any additional help here would be great. We would try and get these on the website during the show, and/or get them up after she show as full pieces. One thing we do lack is video proof of what is going on during the day!

Area 2: People to cosplay characters from the games that we have on, to get more people to play, and to pose for photographs and such. It sounds very cheesy, but it would make the stand more interesting, and get people taking photos of the stand! – I am being selfish, but I would like to see more photographs of our stand actually in use. If allowed, I may try and get some flyers printed as well.

Area 3: After event reports, we are looking for help with some write ups on how you feel the event went for yourself, this doesn’t just have to apply to Expo, but for other events as well. Trying to see if we can get some more details on the website.

Area 4: Assistance with obtaining games and arcade parts for the stand, looking for new things for us to try. Additionally help with repair and maintenance of some of the machines, to try and get more up and running.

I will probably post more areas as the time goes along, so watch this space!

Colin

Well, It’s a start isn’t it? Gotta be thinking that Konami is already turning the cogs about something relating to Kinect (That isn’t Dance Evolution.)

Source: Kinect Hacks

For anyone around the Birmingham area this weekend, DDR:UK will be attending Memorabilia for Saturday and Sunday this weekend at the Birmingham NEC, hosted by the crew that bought you the MCM Expo!

As always DDR:UK will put our best effort into bringing you a fun and exciting area to relax and play on one of our many games machines, including DDR:UK’s famous DanceDX machine and of course our wonderful Disney Mix will be making an appearance. Additionally to this we shall be bringing along a load of fighting games so hopefully you will not be bored.

Why not see if you can pop along and say hi!

More details about the event can be found on the Memorabilia Birmingham Website

As DDR:UK rocks into the year 2011, we have hit our first event of the year, Midlands MCM Expo bought to you by the group that also brings us the MCM Expo events.

Hopefully we will be able to please everyone as we strive to do at every event, however there have been some major changes within the DDR:UK locations and storage facilities in the last few months, so everything is in a bit of a shambles! Unfortunatly we will not be able to bring you a complete list of items that we will be bringing along due to this fact, however I will try and make an update while I am at Telford, with any major changes or issues.

We shall be bringing, however, our usual mash of DDR arcade machines, fighting games, rhythm action games, and if we can fit it in the hire van, Initial D too!

We would hope to see as many of you at the event as possible, and give us a poke if you are about.

For more information about the Midlands MCM Expo, please follow this link to the main page, and there is a short description of what we do here.

Given the tragic end of Activisions support of music titles, I thought it would be a good time to have a look at if Rhythm and Music games are indeed on the final legs of what is arguably a fantastic pedigree of gaming.

Music games have been going for over a decade now, with early titles such as Beatmania, Guitar Freaks, Drum Mania and Dance Dance Revolution being the trailblazers for an entirely new way to interact with Music, they allowed us to hone our fingers to lightning fast levels, our legs into what can only be described as muscled tree trunks and our air guitar skills into something a little less socially awkward. Home versions of those games did come with a impracticality, we don’t have the controllers that they required, step up the ASC (Arcade Style Controller,) finally the arcade experience of these games came to our TV’s at home, but with a hefty price tag which tended to divide the market, which in doing so created a problem that was unforeseen.

You’ve suddenly turned into that Guy, that guy who is so much better than everyone else at the game, because he plays it on his own the loser, suddenly your not in it for the fun any more, and the gurnish grins of your friends fills you with contempt, soon you seek out other that guys for a real challenge – Ben Croshaw (Smash Brothers Brawl Review)

Yes, you become so good at the game because you have an advantage over others in the arcade, the ability to play at home, it’s not so much an issue but it does create a gulf in which the exclusivity of playing in the arcade is reduced somewhat, because you’ve already dropped enough money into the title at home that you might as well just stay there, burrowing out only to show off at the Arcade or play the next release. Which as Konami did rather well infact, releasing iteration upon iteration of each title to keep the market saturated, keeping those which have shelled out for that ASC involved and happy.

Fast forward a couple of years to the release of Guitar Hero in 2005, and things began to change drastically, RedOctane had previously made hardware for Guitar Freaks and sought to create a Guitar based game for a western audience (Something that Konami hadn’t taken advantage of properly,) It was at it’s core a rather simple game which allowed players to play along to some classic rock tracks with a big plastic guitar, Players were thrilled and it sold rather well indeed, so much so players begged for 2 things, a sequel, and a second guitar, and here is the key thing here, A SECOND GUITAR.

Players wolfed down Guitar Hero 2 quite happily, either buying just the software or getting the hardware bundled in with it as well. Of course not everything can have a happy ending, and RedOctane were bought by Activision, with the developer Harmonix being picked up by MTV Games, Activision took the helm of Guitar Hero and passed it along to Neversoft, it began developing Guitar Hero 2 for the 360 and thus we begin the decent into plastic instrument hell.

Activision took a rather gun ho approach to Guitar Hero, releasing a myriad of titles into the market, Guitar Hero 2 was followed up by countless sequels and spin offs (Guitar Hero: Aerosmith? Really?) Until the market began to tire of it, the mainstream were happy with there disk and guitar, the hardcore of course wanted more songs but didn’t want to shell out for another guitar, and another drum kit, and another this and another that. It didn’t really seem to be taking advantage of the modern benefits of home consoles, chiefly downloadable content, something that Harmonix did a fantastic job with on Rock Band, keeping the hardcore and casual audience alike happy with having a huge library of tracks you can browse through and select to build your own library of songs. Guitar Hero was losing ground badly to Rock Band, so it did the one thing it could do, Kill it off.

Now here is the sad thing, they didn’t just kill of Guitar Hero, they also killed off DJ Hero, a title that also took cue’s from Konami’s IIDX (Beatmania’s evolution,) Which seemed to have a bright future, it did something new and also seemed to cater to a different audience, I can only hope that we do see another DJ Hero game in the future.

Now after that lengthy opening, we can get to the meat of the matter, is this the end of the Music genre? No of course not, or else I wouldn’t be writing this. Music games are about to change, as they have before and will do again, largely in thanks to Konami’s old days, Para Para Paradise has been westernised into Harmonix’s Dance Central, which as we have seen from reviews and sales figures is a hit, Ubisoft’s Just Dance is selling like hot cakes on the Wii and Rock Band 3 has still got a audience and a bright future.

Konami did the right thing in their day, by making their releases yearly they didn’t over saturate the market, they kept people wanting more, however things have changed, Making a software base and then expanding upon it through updates and DLC is the best way forward, also targeting your title to the right market is a huge step in the right direction (Here’s lookin’ at you Dance Evolution.)

Dance games are changing from what we knew, into another new form, as they have done before and will do again, It’s all about ideas, blending music into something that makes sense in a game play perspective, making a on rails shooter generate music – Rez, Making a platformer where the beats and tempo effect the level – Bit.Trip Runner, flying a ship dodging blocks to the beat of your own songs – Audiosurf, The games are just as popular now as they always have been, it’s just things are beginning to shift away from the selling of plastic goods, to using the hardware you already have, Tailoring each experience to the stuff you already have is the best way things are going to move forward, especially given the rise in smart phones and portable handhelds with unique features.

Guitar Hero might be gone for a while, but hey music games are very much, in the words of the Beegee’s, stayin’ alive.

Rock Band 2′s dominance as the platform of choice for playing music with tiny plastic instruments had to come to an end one day, eh folks? What better way to see it out than with our usual Rock Band Tournaments at the Expo, So it came to pass that the day after Rock Band 3′s arrival, we would have our last Rock Band 2 tournament at the October MCM London Expo.

What follows is a full write up of all the scores, With a little happy thrown in here and there.

Date: 30th of October 2010

Seeding Song: Cool for Cats by Squeeze

Seeding Scores:

1. OMGB& – 833,847
2. Pink Fondant Fancies – 624,258
3. Team Fumoffu – 446,415
4. Team 4 Shannon – 378,435
5. Exit – 335,147
6. Team Awesome – 329,875
7. Choking on Orange – 120,198
8. The Teddy Busters – 93,531

So with the 4 spots decided, It was time for some song choices to be made, with a whole host of songs to pick from (minus songs which seem to carry on for 5 months, sorry Rush’s excellent “The Camera Eye”,) what would bands pick, in the end Round one had these rather terrifying songs selected.

Round 1

• I.V – X-Japan (Team 4 Shannon)
• Bodies – Drowning Pool (Team Fumoffu)
• The Ultimate Show Down of Ultimate Destiny – Lemon Demon (Pink Fondant Fancies)
• Jeremy – Pearl Jam (OMGB&)

Team 4 Shannon – 4,369,862

1. 1,002,693
2. 1,119,073
3. 1,205,150
4. 1,042,946

Team Fumoffu – 3,790,085

1. 403,428
2. 1,498,508
3. 878,299
4. 1,009,850

Pink Fondant Fancies -4,981,450

1. 849,761
2. 1,703,561
3. 1,239,740
4. 1,188,388

OMGB& – 5,302,262

1. 682,395
2. 1,692,912
3. 1,440,430
4. 1,486,525

So Team Fumoffu were sadly taken out, time heals all wounds and after a couple of seconds everyone was ready to move to round 2.

Round 2

• Ace of Spades – Motorhead (Team 4 Shannon)
• Wytches 2010 – Inkubus Sukkubus (Pink Fondant Fancies)
• Less talk more Rokk – Freezepop (OMGB&)

Team 4 Shannon – 2,158,162

1. 742,337
2. 506,192
3. 909,633

Pink Fondant Fancies – 2,734,044

1. 528,366
2. 1,142,852
3. 1,062,826

OMGB& – 3,688,177

1. 860,781
2. 1,214,581
3. 1,612,815

And so we sadly lost Team 4 Shannon, many technical picks were selected which targeted almost everyone in each group, with the insanity of Wytches 2010′s drum chart, to the technical runs of Less Talk More Rokk on guitar, a good round was had by all, With all of that out of the way it was time to bring on the Final.

Round 3, Final.

• Wheels – Foo Fighters (Pink Fondant Fancies)
• Dr. Feelgood – Motley Crew (OMGB&)
• Once in a lifetime – Talking Heads (Pink Fondant Fancies)
• Flirtin’ with disaster – Molly Hatchet (OMGB&)

Pink Fondant Fancies -6,001,335

1. 1,544,209
2. 1,467,037
3. 1,368,530
4. 1,621,559

OMGB& -6,531,553

1. 1,411,952
2. 1,674,737
3. 1,264,877
4. 2,179,987

And so that settled it, OMGB& skipped away gleefully with the final Rock Band 2 honours and joy in their hearts, leaving others crushed in their wake.

I’ve been running the DDR:UK MCM London Expo tournaments for a good couple of years now, and this has been the best yet, Huge thanks to Team4Star (Former winners), OMGB& (Current Winners) and all the bands that have come and gone in the years (I can’t remember every name, but I do remember the strange personalities, rivalries and comedy gold every person brings,) Thanks to everyone, and if I can leave it on just one note let it be this.

See you in May for the first Rock Band 3 MCM London Expo Tournament!

I know its a short message, but I am also posting this while switching the on call from one person to another!

Colin

While DDR:UK was at R3PLAY in Blackpool a few weeks back, The Gadget Show came along and filmed the event, and took a few interviews. DDR:UK gets a feature about 7:22 into the video! Hope you enjoy!

DDR:UK is going to be attending Auchinawa in Scotland next weekend! As a group DDR:UK started out within anime conventions helping with their games rooms, which have become a major part of what we are. Over the course of many years we have built on this, and we are glad to be assisting Auchinawa with their games room once again.

Auchinawa was first thought up in 2003, where a group of die hard anime fans thought, Scotland needed an anime convention of their own. Running in 2006 and 2008, both conventions were an absolute blast and fans came from all over the UK, and in some cases abroad, to attend.

DDR:UK plan to bring along this year a different set of games that we bought before, more arcade units to really spice the room up, and hopefully some other surprises too!

If you would like more information, please check out their website: http://www.auchinawa.org.uk

Hot off the tail of the London MCM Expo, DDR:UK are heading up to Blackpool to attend R3PLAY! R3PLAY is an Arcade, Retro and Video Gaming Event, bought to you by the Computing & Gaming Events Union (CGEU)

R3PLAY (pronounced “Replay”) is a brand new show celebrating four decades of gaming history. Presented in association with Retro Gamer and gamesTM magazines, this unique event will offer gamers of all ages the chance to experience gaming systems from the 1970s to present day.

The R3PLAY Expo is to be opened by TV and Radio personality Iain Lee and will take place at The Norbreck Castle Exhibition Centrein Blackpool on 6/7 November 2010 – the final weekend of this year’s famous Illuminations.

DDR:UK will be attending with a small collection of arcade machines to complement the already great event. To find out more, visit the R3PLAY website, http://r3play.info.

The day has finally come to announce a new DDR:UK! Out from the ashes of our old site, we return with a slightly modified version of the site! Basically as you are aware (or not) DDR:UK concentrates mainly on the events we attend, and we feel that we need a place to put information about these events and what we attend. So we decided to bring back the site, in a slightly cut down version than it was before.

The main difference is that there is not going to be a forum for the forseeable future, and we will be mainly pushing ourselves out via the Social Networking sites, like Twitter and Facebook, as well as this site. We will be slowly adding pages back to this site, but it will be a completely different look and feel to what you have seen before.

As our first port of call, DDR:UK is currently at the London MCM Expo, in the ExCeL Centre, Docklands this weekend, and we are due to open at 2pm today. So as a little taster of what we have, we have set up the webcam, which can be viewed here. If you are planning on attending the event, the camera is situated to the top and to the right of the stand, just above the admin area. Make sure you wave!

As the weekend goes along, we will be updating, so keep your eyes out!

Myst and the staff of DDR:UK