actually japanese girls are really crazy about that sort of crap games, seen those dance sims in the arcades, woohhaaa
Hey don't diss Dance Sims, most of them like DDR (Dance Dance Revolution), PIU (Pump It Up) and so on are pretty good. The games are extremely addictive, get you a whole load of exercise and are one of the best social games out there. They improve your balance, coordination, stamina and helps the pounds fly off. Socially it's great also, you can compete against complete strangers and have a great time, often you'll find tournaments and competitions going on, people crowd around the machines whatching you bust your moves and it's a real babe magnet. The arcade machines offer suberb value for money and from the arcades I've been to with them in, they're the only arcade machine which has queues of people standing in line waiting to play (the last time that happened was with Street Fighter 2).
If you doubt it's popularity I suggest you check out
www.ddrfreak.com and look at their forums....
. Not bad for one of the zillion Bemani sites out there, especially considering they don't have that many members outside the US.
I suspose you really have to be a fan of Japanese culture to enjoy the franchise, but that doesn't mean you have to diss it.
On the other hand some third party tripe like Britney's Dance Beat and even Nintendo's attempt on DK suck major ass, when will they realise.....beat games just don't work on handheld or cartridge based consoles. For anyone wanting to get into the scene in a good way go to
www.stepmania.com and download their simulator and the some songs, a dance pad of some description might be worth investing in to.