Just Dance boogies back to the top

Chart-topping games are either big-name franchises, hi-tech new adventures or megaselling sequels, right?

Not necessarily. Ubisoft’s ‘Just Dance’, which was released in November, has just bopped its way back to the number one spot in the games sales chart for the third time. Bearing in mind that this is a third-party title that costs just £24.99, and that it has seen off some of the industry’s finest – ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’, no less – it seems like the gaming world has been turned on its head. How can this be? Well, ‘Just Dance’ has much of the appeal of music games such as ‘Rock Band’ and ‘Guitar Hero’, plus the dance mat-based games of yore, but without the fiddly, expensive peripherals. It’s been cleverly marketed, it’s cheap as chips, it’s simple, it appeals to the relatively new casual market and, most importantly, it’s a total laugh to play. In fact, I spent most of last week doing just that. ‘Just Dance’ – long may it reign.