I was actually a little dubious about whenever they'd actually send one to me because I live in the UK. Thought it might be an America-only thing or something.

A freebie is a freebie so i have no gripes with waiting, however I thought it'd be just my luck if I was the only one who hadn't recieved mine. I never often win anything and I thought I'd signed up outside the criteria for winning so I didn't really expect to win one. It was all quite a surprise, although a nice one. ^^

 Maybe we should rename the game 'Bar-**** Revolution'? lol.

 Joking aside I don't use the bar because I like to set myself a challenge and focus my own balance and ability into getting better at the game. I enjoy being free to move my body and feel more like I'm actually dancing a bit and getting a good cardio workout. Plus only owning foam padded mats at home I can only practice no-bar and have become used to doing it that way. I can only play in the arcade the same as I do at home and I feel happier that way. I feel like I actually accomplish something everytime I pass a challenging song and get a new record.

I agree that although I'm quite patient they do seem to take an exceptionally long time to arrive. I do hope it has actually been sent and will get to me.

 I just miss the old feeling of the original DDR/Dancing Stage games where you really felt like you were picking a song from a jukebox rather than from a simple list. Even EuroMIX2 managed to transfer this well for me by simply feeling like a 'digital jukebox' with that awesome spinning cube for BPM. God I loved that thing!

 Even the 4thMIX/Party Edition banner wheel was quirky and interesting, although very unconnected to the previous interface.

 Seems like since 5thMIX each mix has been too comfortable with variations on the current song wheel, even though in many ways there is nothing wrong with that, it does get a bit tiresome and monotonous after a while. Recent screenshots of a DDR X machine make me fearful that the song wheel is going to remain just like SuperNOVA2's but perhaps with a colour change. I REALLY hope that this is just a temporary thing till the final version is complete.

 Personally I hate just displaying one difficulty at once. I think for an arcade machine that is meant to be accessible from the pro to intermediate all the way down to the casual player and those that have never tried DDR before, I believe a clear indication of the difficulty via a simple list is very important. True most will pick Beginner and just have done with it but I think it's a good idea to give them scope on what is hard and what isn't compared to something else.

 My ideal interface should hark back to early DDR games a little. Let it feel more like a music game again, lets have some references to music, CD's, and dancing. We don't necessarily need the disc images to return from 3rdMIX, however it would be nice to see something which feels more like what DDR did back then. A virtual jukebox of great licences and hot tracks for us to play and not a dominating machine that looks darn pretty and happens to play music.

Couldn't agree with the general consensus of the members commenting in this thread more.

 "Was KOA (or whoever made it) thinking that EX2 would be the last game so they went all out? They should feel this way about every game they make"

Interestingly EX2's European equivalent Dancing Stage Max feels this way too. Either every song has a it's original music video (mostly in the case of the licences), or has a relevant video to go with it. The whole mix just feels that much more solid because of this.

I would say I do like the new character models which actually look and move more realistically, Jenny and Rage look so shapely and sexy that they are almost instant favourites, however then watching them dance in those horrid 3D environments just spoils the idea and just clashes with the arrows.

I mean if you had them dancing in a more neutral environment like a back alley club, a boardwalk or on an actual stage the effect would look a lot better. If the character and 3D environments really are here to stay then at least work on improving them. Give us realistic models dancing in places and ways people would, maybe with clever features like them actually interacting with the environment, spinning round poles leaping up and down levels and maybe having other characters join in the dance the better you do.

Of course honestly I'd much rather have the dedicated music videos overall. 

Dancing Stage Euromix 1 & 2. 1 is easier and has more simple charts which I actually enjoy. Euromix 2 has more songs but also more that I wouldn't play.

I'm also quite fond of DDR 5thMix from what little I played of it. Extreme never really grabbed me even though I've seen it in a few places over the UK and tried it one or two times.  

I found the female announcer a little bit forced and lacking if I'm honest...

I like the idea of trying dual male and female announcers with each one taking a turn at saying something like:

Male: Select your style! 

Female: Select a song!

Male: That's a fantastic tune!

Female: Get ready!

Male: Let's dance!

Or something like that. 

Thing is UTOPIA I laugh at your statement that the US gets screwed over. I'd honestly say us Europeans have it worse with the Dancing Stage releases. We're not even getting Supernova 2 AC due to European restrictions on the hardware, and also aren't getting the CS release for a fair while. Also if Supernova 1 CS is anything to go by we will have only a measly ten licences again.

So if you think the US is screwed over think of us poor Europeans.