E3 2004 has come and gone, but one of the surprise announcements during the show was that Konami was doing a sequel to Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix. Even though these dance games have been around for a while now, I owe the Xbox version of Dance Dance Revolution for getting me started on this popular craze. Simply put, it was the right game at the right time. One big reason these games have been so successful is because gamers feel that they are literally part of the action when they use their feet to win (if they have a dance pad of course). Dance Dance Revolution is here to stay and prove it; Konami is making sure their new latest Ultramix game is loaded with tons of new options.

Here are just some of the new features that we do know about so far. One improvement is that the game will finally have a much-needed Beginner’s mode. Most of the casual players who played the original complained that it was way too hard. Now, with the extra easy difficulty, any new gamer just starting out will be able to ease into these sometimes confusing games. There are also some new options for people who like some multi-player action. The new Attack mode lets two players compete against one another until one loses. If you want to work together, the new Synch mode lets you and a friend time one another’s moves so you work as a team.

Konami hasn’t forgotten about you online supporters either. If you have the Xbox Live service then you can compete against other dancers around North America, and it’s possible for up to 16 players to join in at a single game. You can also have some fun by joining various tournaments, uploading your edited content, downloading new tracks, and much more.

When the first Ultramix came to the Xbox it was a great way to finally play a DDR game online, but that’s not to say the title didn’t have some minor problems. One major issue I had with the game was that it had tons of songs from artists I’d never heard of before. Just compare the list of music found on the Playstation2 version of DDR Max2. It had several hit songs and remixes done by big names like Kylie Minouge, Dirty Vegas, Bryan Adams, and tons of other famous performers I recognized. Although the song list hasn’t been finalized for Ultramix 2 yet, hopefully we can get some bigger names on the Xbox this time around (maybe we can even get that sexy song, "Can’t Get You Out of My Head" by Kylie Minouge, I hope).

There is also another personal improvement I would like to see in the next DDR. Any diehard Xbox fan will tell you that one of the system’s coolest options is its ability to store some of your music right on the hard drive. Why not have Custom Soundtrack features so gamers can edit and create their own dance songs? It would be a great way to get even more people interested in the game if they can cut tracks from their favourite artists, eh? "Are you listening Konami?!"