What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that this game is part of the highly-respected Dance Dance Revolution series. For many years, the series has been found to increase coordination, burn calories, and encourage kids to dance. This version is a little harder because it adds arm movements (using the Wii remote and nunchuk). While dancing, kids will hear some songs that have somewhat suggestive lyrics.

Families can talk about why playing a game makes a workout fun instead of work. Is it the variety of music and musical styles that makes you want to play? Or is it simply your competitive spirit that keeps you going? Is this game more fun in multiplayer mode or alone? Why?

( DDR) is a wonderful game series that's finally appearing on every platform. HOTTEST PARTY marks the game's debut for Nintendo's family-friendly Wii console. By adding a gimmicky arm-movement system, this version manages to take some advantage of the Wii's power of movement.

If you're new to the concept of DDR, it works like this: Players attach to the Wii system a special dance pad that has four arrows (up, down, right, left) on its surface. During the game, players watch as arrows on the TV screen slide upward toward a bar. When an arrow crosses the bar on the screen, players have to step on the corresponding arrow on the pad. Hottest Party adds arm movements by incorporating the Wii remote and nunchuk.

This isn't the first time DDR has tried to get arms involved; previous PS2 versions incorporated the Eye Toy peripheral to similar effect. It adds to the challenge, and it adds to the work out -- but it also makes an already hard game that much harder. (That's why the add-on is optional.)

Hottest Party lets up to four dancers compete ... provided you buy more dance pads. Which might be worth it, since it's so much fun to play with others.

If you don't own a Wii and are interested in DDR, there are versions for all the other gaming systems. Xbox360 has Ultramixes 1-3, PS2 has Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA and many more, and the GameCube even had a Mario version for younger children. The same rhythm concept found here -- but applied in a different way -- is what makes Guitar Hero III and Rock Band so popular.

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