Konami thinking of a Dance Masters Arcade machine

From the rumor mill, via BemaniStyle.com comes word that the mind behind Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution series, Naoki Maeda, is considering taking Dance Masters for the Xbox 360 Kinect and giving it the arcade treatment. In case you missed out on what that game is, you can go to the link here @ GameTrailers. It’s a new dancing title that makes use of the Kinect’s ability to “see” a person The message on Mr. Maeda’s Facebook page was reprinted on BemaniStyle and goes as follows”

Hello! Question to everyone!
Do you want to play arcade machines of DanceMasters?
now….I’m thinking about the development of new DanceMasters.

NM

While that isn’t a lock, with them thinking about it and the subsequent news sprawling across the internet, it means that with enough positive fan reaction it could be a reality soon enough. If it’s done I imagine that they would simply modify the 360 hardware for arcade use, which except for the Game Gate VU hasn’t been done yet that I know of, while both the Wii and PS3 have arcade counterparts. I think that is in part due to the incredibly lousy track record the 360 has for reliability (mine broke for the second time a week ago and with it out of warranty I’m not sure if I will bother with a new one anytime soon) but perhaps the newest newest edition of the console, the Slim, along with some Konami improvements can handle the arcade environment. Until then, we’ll just have to sit and wait to hear more.

Speaking of these movement-based games, this reminds me of the Titan4Games company. They were promising to have games using this kind of technology in arcades last year but so far they’ve been a no show. It also reminds me of Combatica, which tried out similar ideas way back in the 90’s. If Konami does go ahead with Dance Master Arcade and it’s a success, is it worth giving these gesture technologies a second look in arcades?