Second Xbox-exclusive Dancing Stage due in March

Konami Europe has revealed that it plans to release a second Xbox-exclusive dance mat game at the end of March. Dancing Stage Unleashed 2 features a number of new gameplay modes, extensive Xbox Live functionality and more than three dozen songs.

The integration of Xbox Live will allow players to download new tracks, characters and challenge modes and swap specially choreographed dance routines. There will also be a tournament function for 8 or 16 players to participate in online "dance-offs" with the best making it into a Hall of Fame.

Players will also be able to engage in pretty much all the new gameplay modes either offline or online, and in a nice twist Konami promises that European players will now be able to compete against their US counterparts - who will of course be playing with DDR Something Or Other.

The new game modes, then, consist of Versus Doubles (two players battle it out using double steps), Attack Mode (where players store down-arrow steps to boost a Step Zone bar or deplete their opponent's, reducing the time the player is given to see the next line of notes) and Bomb Mode (where players pass a fizzing bomb between each other ala Hot Potato by completing tricky combos).

Bomb Mode will also form part of the new Party Mode, which features sub-games like Quad (where one user has to work on four mats simultaneously) and Sync (where up to four players perform a set routine on a chosen track and all four have to keep it going without putting a foot wrong).

In terms of music, there will be more than three dozen songs, 14 of which are licensed with a relevant promo video attached. Artists on hand include Basement Jaxx (Where's Your Head At), Girls Aloud (Love Machine), Happy Mondays (Step On), Supergrass (Alright), Donna Summer (Hot Stuff) and The Jam (A Town Called Malice).

With the game due out next month, it shouldn't be long before we get to take a look first-hand. Stay tuned to hear how many bones we broke.