December 7^th, 2005 (5:26pm) - Set to revolutionize the dance mat gaming phenomenon, Codemasters today confirms that Dance Factory will launch in North America and Europe in April 2006.

Coming exclusively to PlayStation 2, Dance Factory will be the world’s first dance mat game that enables players to personally choose the music tracks they want to groove to – from their own music CD collection. This incredible innovation means that dance gaming is no longer limited to titles with pre-set track lists or music genres.

Dancers load up Dance Factory, choose any music CD and watch as the game choreographs dance moves specifically for the track that the player has chosen – live. Then, the player can take to the dance mat stage and get their feet moving to the beats as the dance steps play out on screen. As well as making the moves, Dance Factory will also create animated background visuals to best match the style of any players chosen track and bring their routine alive.

Dance Factory’s innovative beat recognition technology, developed exclusively for the title, ensures that for the first time a dance mat game can span across all music tastes; it works with everything from a classic disco track, to guitar rock, R&B, to the most current dance anthem.

In addition to the unique ’any CD’ concept, Dance Factory will unleash a whole load of different dance mat gaming modes – including Fitness, Endurance and Recorder. Plus, Dance Factory will also unlock digital music creatures that hide on each and every music CD and get them dancing too.

In the main game mode players dance to the music of their choice and rack up points as they pull off the moves that Dance Factory has choreographed for them. The better they bust their moves, the more points that are awarded with which to unlock additional modes, features and content.

Players will even be able to make Dance Factory part of their workout program with the game’s Fitness mode. The more they move, the more calories they burn and in this mode the game displays a calorie counter so players can see how much they’re working off through the tracks.

When players want to try for an album-long dancing marathon, Dance Factory’s Endurance mode challenges them to dance their way through the entire playlist of a CD – if they can pull off the moves. In Endurance, players have to achieve a pre-set minimum level of footwork accuracy before moving onto the next track on the CD. If players can dance their way through an entire CD, the points awarded for each track are doubled.

Dance Factory will also give players the chance to be the choreographer as well as the DJ. In Recorder mode, they can set the dance moves for the track of their choice and Dance Factory will record it for them.

With many more innovations yet to be revealed, including how a unique Creature mode will unleash digital dancing companions, Dance Factory will provide the power for everyone to dance to the music they want when it launches April 2006.