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After a highly successful first foray into the world of Kinect, Harmonix - creators behind Guitar Hero and Rock Band - are back again to bring us more chart-topping dance moves with Dance Central 2. So to find out what they have in-store for gamers later this month, XCN caught up with John Drake, Director of Communications and Brand Management at Harmonix, to bring us the low down on what's new in Dance Central 2, what the future holds for the franchise, and more.

XCN: How many difficulty levels are available in Dance Central 2? Did you change anything in terms of how difficult each level actually is?

John Drake: Similar to the original Dance Central, players can still choose to play any song in Dance Central 2 on Easy, Medium, or Hard difficulties. Each difficulty level presents a unique routine offering great replayability for players looking to improve over time across all three difficulties in a specific song. We've made Easy a bit more accessible this time around, but Hard takes things to a new level of complexity for dancers looking for an authentic challenge. For an even greater challenge, players can also turn off the move Flashcards that scroll along the side of the screen.

In regard to simultaneous 2-player multiplayer - which is new to the franchise - each player can choose their own difficulty level in a shared routine. The variety of difficulty levels and the always-on “no fail” functionality in Dance Central 2 ensures that players of all skill levels will have a great time cutting a rug in their living rooms!

Will it be possible to train a single move without starting the entire move set?

Yes! We have completely revamped our Break It Down mode from the original Dance Central so that players can get the most out of their rehearsal sessions. While players will still have the option to rehearse a routine all the way through from beginning to end, Dance Central 2 will also allow you to select specific moves from a list to create custom practice sessions. This gives you the opportunity to maximize your rehearsal time so you can jump right back into routines. In addition, if you have trouble with a routine in Perform It, you can jump into Break It Down right after your performance to find the moves you had trouble with automatically selected for you.

Will you be able to import the skins you archived in Dance Central, or just the tracks?

Importing your track list from the original Dance Central will bring along Mo's original outfit as well! Beyond the unlocks offered in the game’s new Crew Challenge mode, fans may be able to find some cheats that unlock additional character outfits from the original Dance Central. Stay tuned!

What about social functions – will it be possible to upload footage directly to YouTube? Is there any chance we could record our own dance moves on video and share them on networks such as Facebook?

Our social plans for Dance Central 2 include a Facebook application that will allow you to compare your high scores to other players in your social network to complement in-game leaderboards. In addition, with Kinect Share, users will have the chance to export their favorite Dance Central 2 photos with simple one-button uploading to Twitter and Facebook. These photos will feature a shot of the player surrounded by in-game aesthetic elements, plus the name of the song played, score, and difficulty (for bragging rights, of course).

Where do you see the music games market in five years?

The space has evolved so quickly from its emergence in 2005-2006 to now, it's really hard to say where five more years will take us. Certainly, at Harmonix, we're focused on innovating and developing any experience that allows people to connect deeply to the music that they love, be it rocking out, dancing, or playing with songs interactively. We think that interacting with music is a timeless and universal experience, and we're confident it will be a lasting category for years to come.

What’s next for the franchise? What can Harmonix do to keep its games fresh and entertaining?

For now, Harmonix is focused on Dance Central 2 and continuing to support the franchise as a whole. Between the original Dance Central and Dance Central 2, it's clear that innovation is what keeps our games fresh and entertaining. This time around we’ve included meaningful additions such as 2-player simultaneous multiplayer that offers precise full body tracking for both players, a Crew Challenge campaign mode, a brand new soundtrack, and Voice Commands. Plus, we’ve taken fan suggestions to improve previously existing modes such as Break It Down and Dance Battle. The Dance Central music library will add up to more than 100 songs and routines with the launch of Dance Central 2 and we plan on continued support with new downloadable tracks in the coming months.

If you were in charge of Kinect hardware and had an unlimited budget, what would you change about it to make it better for Dance Central?

We've been able to work closely with Microsoft since the early days of Kinect. Even with 2-plus years under our belts, we're still finding new ways to work with the device's amazing capabilities (like the great Voice Command integrations in Dance Central 2 and adding 2-player capabilities to our industry leading tracking technology).
 
If we could add anything to the Kinect to make Dance Central better? I think we'd add a crazy light show to every device so you could really turn your living room into a club experience for your next Dance Central 2 party!

Are you happy with the strength of the Kinect brand in general? Do you expect to be making Kinect games in five years’ time?

Absolutely. With Kinect’s incredible full body tracking capabilities, we finally had the opportunity to develop the dance game we’ve always wanted to make. It's an amazing platform, and I fully expect that Harmonix will continue to develop for Kinect for years to come.

What was behind the decision to release a whole new game, instead of just a DLC package? Are there things you simply couldn’t add to Dance Central?

Dance Central 2 offers far more than a new song list. In addition to our on-going DLC, the huge innovative features we’ve added to this iteration certainly merit a full title. Not only are there 44 new songs and routines on the disc, we also have the Crew Challenge campaign mode, overhauled Break It Down and Dance Battle modes, Voice Commands, Fitness Playlist and calorie counting integrations, new characters, venues, and more. This isn’t Dance Central 1.5. - Dance Central 2 is a meaningful step forward for the genre and another defining title for Kinect.

What’s your personal favourite new feature in Dance Central 2?

If I had to choose one feature that is my personal favorite I’d have to say drop-in/drop-out 2-player simultaneous multiplayer. I’ve had a chance to play Dance Central 2 multiplayer quite a bit with fans at conventions and nothing’s more exciting than when the competition heats up during a solid round of Free-4-All during Dance Battle.

Given your experience with Kinect, do you think it could be implemented into Rock Band? Do you have any hints for us about what’s next for that series?

We're primarily focused on fun and authentic experiences with all of our franchises. Motion tracking is great for dance and Kinect is amazing technology, but it's a little less integral to playing band simulation games. I wouldn't expect us to add Kinect functionality to the existing Rock Band games.

As for the future of Rock Band, we're continually expanding our industry leading DLC catalog with huge artists like Stevie Wonder, Coldplay, and the Foo Fighters, and support our Rock Band Pro initiative, which lets folks learn real instrument skills for Guitar, Bass, Drums, and keyboards. We haven't announced what's next for the game, but stay tuned.

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Dance Central 2 will be out in stores this Friday, 28 October.