24-hour Fitness centres gain Konami's Dance Dance Revolution units

In a unique co-sponsoring deal, Konami Digital Entertainment America has partnered with 24-Hour Fitness, installing Dance Dance Revolution units in gyms across the United States and bundling a one month free membership with the latest software titles.

24-Hour fitness, which owns over 330 clubs across 16 different states, will include session on the Dance Dance Revolution arcade units in its Kids Club fitness activities. In return, Konami will package a free 30 day membership pass for 24-Hour Fitness within its DDR Extreme 2 and DDR Ultramix 3 console titles, due for release on PS2 and Xbox respectively before the end of the year.

Clara Gilbert, director of business partnerships at Konami Digital Entertainment America stated: "Bringing the health and fitness benefits of DDR to 24-Hour Fitness is an unbeatable combination in helping kids and adults stay in shape while having fun."

"By placing DDR in 24 Hour Fitness locations we strive to help kids and adults achieve their fitness goals in an unintimidating and fun way," she added.

Originally released in 2001, Dance Dance Revolution has sold over 3 million copies worldwide. Each version of the game includes a Workout Mode, which enables users to track the number of calories burned and establish their own fitness regime. The units have been used in studies into the combat of child obesity, and have recently been introduced into the physical fitness curriculum in numerous school districts throughout the US.

24-Hour Fitness will be encouraging customers to use the machines, promoting the benefits to members and staff and demonstrating the DDR workout at club openings and special events.

It's not the first time that Konami has become involved in the gym industry - in Japan, the firm is actually the largest operator of gyms in the country, having acquired the gym chain People Co. some years ago following a similar partnership over the DDR software.