Have questions...need to get started

[tamstaff]

Hi. I had "bookmarked" this website months ago -- with hopes of getting myself and my 9 yr. old daughter in better physical condition. I have already began losing weight with WW and absoluetly love it. I do not believe in children dieting, just more exercise and watching the "junk" intake. She is probably 20 lbs. over where she shoud be for her height and age.
Is this a very expensive program? Do we need the metal pads? How much to get started? It doesn't really matter. I just want to take an informed approach towards this.
Anyone willing to offer advice or just put your 2 cents worth into it? Thanks in advance!!

[abrannan]

Welcome! I applaud your efforts to improve both your and your daughter's health.

It doesn't take much money to get involved in dance games, provided, of course, that you have a Playstation 2, Xbox, or Gamecube. All you need is one of the many quality Dance game releases and a soft mat. Usually this can be found as a bundle that runs roughly $60. Metal mats are a luxury item, and hardly necessary for effective play, especially for beginners. You may want to back your pad with some form of firmer material, like hardboard or a thick dense foam mat. This is a cheaper way of bringing the mat up to the second "tier" of mats, which have dense foam inserts (see the RedOctane Ignition for the archetypical mat of this type).

I recommend picking up a second mat ($20) so that the two of you can play at the same time, or play the single-player, two mat mode called doubles.

As far as which game to buy for which console, I'd start with the following:

Playstation 2: DDRMAX2 or DDR Extreme 2, both have some familiar songs, and have good learning curves

Xbox: Ultramix 2, haven't heard how the difficulty of Ultramix 3 is yet, but I know Ultramix 1 can be a bit daunting for beginners

Gamecube: DDR - Mario Mix, this is the only quality release for the Gamecube at the present time.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

[sakura]

same thing

id like to say welcome!!!

okay so you are now an officail member of getupmove!
also if you have any questions fell free to ask away. and say if you need help or wanna try out new diets visit dropping those pounds forum. if you want to introduce yourself morer than you already have go to the getting personal forum and make your own little "journal" thing

welcome

[DDRMom]

Welcome, tamstaff, and congrats for starting this with your daughter! I started with my teenage son a few years ago, got addicted to it, and continue to play long after he finally left for college! You will both have a lot of fun. For yourself I would recommend using a good soft pad with dense foam insert for yourself and using a plastic pad cover so you can play with your shoes on. Gives us "older" players better support for knees and feet! Also the cover helps your soft pad last a lot longer. My RedOctane Ignition pads have lasted about 9 months playing about 10 hours a week. For your daughter you could probably go with a cheaper mat until you see if she will stick with it.