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10
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
NATH
THE BATTALIi
Game addicts hit the dance pat
By Jenee Osterheldt
KRT CAMPUS
ATTENTION FACULTY, STAFF
and STUDENT LEADERS!
F.A.C.T. (First-time Aggie Contact Team) is a program where faculty,
staff and student leaders contact new Aggies to welcome them to the
University and ask about their experiences at A&M. F.A.C.T. will be
conducted Mondays through Thursdays, September 29-October 16
from6:00 - 9:00 PM.
Please volunteer your time to help our new Aggies feel at home. You
may sign up on-line at http://studentlife.tamu.edu/nsp/FACT or contact
Vanessa Roberts at 845-5826 in the Office of New Student Programs.
Thank you in advance for your time and commitment.
UDEirr
!FE
Office of New Student Prograiral 1257 TAMU |
PHONE (979) 845-5826; FAX [979] 862-1309
WWW hup://»tudentlife tamu edu
...A Department in the Division tf Student Affair*
Angle Orientation
lawder Program
$ 1 Bar Drinks and Pints
8-11 p.m.
"Sometimes clean,
sometimes dirty, always fun'
A&M vs. Virginia Tech
6:30 p.m. at The Tap!
696-5570
for details
Party Safe and Designate a Driver.
Forget the fascination with the eye-daz
zling graphics of the Xbox and
PlayStation 2.
Many sit-and-play video game addicts
are getting up and out, heading for the near
est arcade to jump on the interactive rhythm
game “Dance Dance Revolution.” They’ve
traded their tired fingers for crazy legs in an
eye-ear-foot coordination challenge.
The video game-dance union started in
Japan a few years ago and is turning
America’s video gamers into a rhythm
nation of sorts. The “DDR” craze has ignit
ed the creation of clubs everywhere, from
California to a club in Kansas City known as
DDRKC.
DDRKC isn’t a traditional club with
meetings and officers and minutes and dues.
This organization is strictly for the sport of
rhythm games. At the meetings, gamers
swap techniques while playing the games.
Ryan Edwards, a 27-year-old software
engineer, founded DDRKC in April because
he wanted to generate some interest in the
area. Edwards even owns his own “DDR”
arcade machines in Play Central Station, an
arcade in the suburb of Overland Park, Kan.
DDRKC helps encourage new players and
provides a forum to address local game
issues, Edwards said.
“It generally adds to the following of
such games in the U.S. and worldwide,” he
said. “Besides, it’s more fun to play with
friends than alone.”
“DDR” friends gather in groups as large
as 20 every Thursday at Play Central Station
to take turns playing and watching. “DDR”
is fun for the players, but to the spectator it
looks as serious as a boxing match. There
are three levels based on speed, beat and
precision: Basic, Trick and Maniac. Players
keep a straight face, they barely move their
arms, and it’s all about precision. Feet on ,
arrows on beat for four songs straight.
It’s hyper-aerobic. By the fourth and final
song in a game, the dance maniac is wearing
a sweat-soaked shirt. The first move they
make as they step off the machine is toward
the concession stand where they guzzle
water so fast it gushes out of their mouths
and down their chins.
“It’s incredibly fun and a great workout,”
says T.J. Vehlewald, 17. “I am in better
shape than I used to be and before I started
playing this. I sat around doing nothing.”
Bud Crittenden, a “DDR” maniac, and
some of his co-workers at Sprint in Kansas
City, Kan., enjoy a game of “DDR” during
lunch breaks. In addition to his lunch-hour
fun, Crittenden says he comes out on
Thursday nights for a little fun exercise
that’s cheaper than a membership at Bally’s.
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Matthew Davis, 16, and his brother, Josh, 23, dance on a Dance Dance Revolution machine dJ
arcade in Concord, North Carolina.
"Since I’ve been doing it, I’ve been slow
ly losing weight, and I’m toning up,” says
Crittenden, 33, who’s been playing for more
than a year.
For others, the beat’s the thing.
“These games are fun because everybody
likes music. It’s not like using a controller;
it’s about using your body,” said Duncan
Oliver, a senior at Blue Valley Northwest in
Overland Park, Kan. “It’s pretty addictive.
People who like it should probably get the
home version because once you start you'll
end up using lots of tokens,” said Oliver, 17.
Each player gets four songs for $1, but
eventually this adds up. Which is why many
“DDR” fanatics have the home version of
the game on PlayStation ($30). Some play
with their fingers by controller, others buy
the pad set ($50). A PC version is available
as well, and some dance fiends even have
the actual arcade version at home.
Like Jon Effertz, 15, who got the actual
arcade machine for his birthday earlier this
summer.
“My mom sees it as really good exercise.
and it’s so much fun.” Jon said. "My nws
actually getting good at it. The whole fair
ly plays, and it’s good entertainmeniu
company.”
The next step for DDRKC freaiii
competition.
“It’s seemed like you had to travrioal
farther west to get some solid compdto,
so we decided to hold our own ton®
merits here,” said Vehlewald, a highschw
senior.
Tournaments are divided into technia]
and performance. Performance compel;
tion is about freestyle dancing; technic;
competition is based on precision. Ani
there are competitions for basics, tricks
and maniacs.
“Competing in a tournament would be
about seeing how I rank,” said Drew
Miller, a 21-year-old “DDR’’ freak
“There’s a challenge about it.”
“There really is no preparation for tour
naments other than practice,” Effertz said
“The hardest part of the game is gettini
exactly on beat.”
Tex&s A&M Uwiz/ersTt$
Engineering Career Fair
Student Engineers' Council
Today (10 am - 4 pm)
REED Arena
Bus rides to REED Arena from Zachry and MSC!!
*TAMU Student ID Required*
List of today’s companies hiring for jobs, internships, and co-ops:
http://sec.tamu.edu/careerfair
3M
Accenture
Adams Consulting Engineers, Inc.
AEP
Airdyne International Inc.
Alcatel USA
ALLTEL Corporation
AMD
Amerada Hess Corporation
Anheuser-Busch, Inc.
Applied Materials
Applied Research Laboratories/The
University of Texas at Austin
Archer Daniels Midland Company
BAE SYSTEMS
Baker Hughes
Bank of America
Bechtel Bettis
Bechtel Corporation
Bechtel Nevada
Berwanger, Inc.
BHPBilliton
Boeing
Booz Allen Hamilton
BP America, Inc.
Brown & Gay Engineers, Inc.
Bums & McDonnell
Bury+Partners
Cameron
Capro, Inc
CATERPILLAR INC.
CDM
Celanese
CenterPoint Energy
Central Intelligence Agency
Chesapeake Energy Corporation
Chevron Phillips Chemical Company
ChevronTexaco
CITGO
Clark Realty Builders
CNA Insurance
Colgate-Palmolive and Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc.
ConocoPhillips
Dashiell Corporation
Data Systems & Solutions
Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board
Dell
Deloitte Consulting
Duke Energy
DuPont
Ecolab, Inc.
Ernst & Young
Ethicon (A Johnson & Johnson Company)
ExxonMobil
Federal Communications Commission
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Flint Hills Resources
Florida Power & Light Company
Fluor Corporation
FM Global
FMC Technologies, Inc.
Framatome ANP, Inc.
Freese and Nichols, Inc.
Frito Lay Technology
General Electric
Granite Construction Company
Halff Associates, Inc.
Halliburton
Hewlett - Packard Company
HNTB
Honda R&D Americas, Inc.
Informatica
International Paper
Invocon
Jacobs
JobGusher
Johnson Controls Inc
KBR
Kennedy Consulting Inc.
KIEWIT c/o Peter Kiewit Sons', Inc.
Kimley-Hom and Associates, INc.
L-3 Communications Integrated Systems
LCRA
Lockheed Martin
Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam, Inc.
Lone Star Steel Company
LSI Logic Storage Systems, Inc.
Lynntechjnc
Lyondell/Equistar
Malcolm Pimie, Inc.
Matkin-Hodver Engineering
McKesson Corporation
Micron Technology, Inc.
Microsoft
Minerals Management Service
Motorola
Mustang Engineering
National Instruments
National Security Agency
NAVAIR
North Star Steel
Pape-Dawson Engineers, Inc.
Parsons Corporation
PBS&J
Pioneer Natural Resources USA, Inc.
PPG Industries, Inc.
Raytheon
Rinker Materials
Rockwell Automation
Rohm and Haas Co.
Rolls-Royce
SCHLUMBERGER
Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)
Shell Oil Company
Siemens USA
SMI-Texas
Southwest Research Institute
Stemco
STP Nuclear Operating Company
TCB
Temple-Inland Forest Products Corporation
Texas Department of Transportation
Texas Instruments
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
The Pepsi Bottling Group
THOMPSON
Titan Systems Corporation - Astronautics Engineering Unit
TOTAL E&P USA, INC.
TRC Environmental
Trinity Consultants
Tyco Fire and Building Products
Tyson Fresh Meats, Inc.
U.S. Department of State/ Diplomatic Security Recruitme'
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
United Parcel Service
United Space Alliance
URS Corporation
US Air Force
US Navy Officer Programs
USG Corporation
Veritas DGC, Inc
Vought Aircraft Industries, Inc.
Wal-Mart Logistics Engineering
Wier & Associates, Inc.
York International Corporaton
Zachry Constmction Corporation
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