I’ve been a little frightened at the rate at which DDR has gained mainstream acceptance over the last few years. What used to be this weird quasi-underground game is now readily available in practically every video game store in the country, never mind the knock offs and the clones and everything else.
Despite the increase in popularity, Konami has been keeping the rate of development relatively slow. There hasn’t been a new arcade version since the end of 2002; home version keep coming out but only at a rate of about one per year. (In its heyday, there were two arcade and two home releases per year in Japan.)
Luckily, there are some people that are still finding ways to keep the game interesting.
Most everyone with a passing interest has heard about Dance Dance Immolation, the upcoming flamethrower-based version that’ll be at Burning Man. To steal the summary from the DDI page:
> Dance Dance Immolation is an adaptation of the popular arcade video game Dance Dance Revolution, but with fire! Basically, you play DDR; when you do well, the computer shoots big propane blasts up into the air. When you do poorly, it shoots you in the face with flamethrowers. Yes, you, as in your actual corporeal body. And yes, flamethrowers, like the kind that are on fire.
> Before you play, you’ll put on a full aluminized proximity suit, with a forced-air respirator, gloves, fireproof hood, the whole bit. These are the suits that are used for fighting fires at airports. So, as you can see, it’s completely safe!
My very good friend [Nicole Aptekar](http://www.livejournal.com/users/nicoletbn/) is in fact on the DDI team, working on a number of parts of the project. She’s put up a [fantastic bunch of pictures](http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicoletbn/tags/ddi/) (including the above one) from their first test at The Crucible’s Fine Arts Festival this weekend, as well as lots from the construction efforts. Be sure to check them out.