Harmonix?s dance game Dance Central 2 on Kinect for Xbox 360 has rolled out a mobile application to showcase new songs, moves and features of the game while letting users create their own music videos.

Apple is featuring the app in the ?New and Noteworthy? section of the App Store. AKQA is the agency of record for this initiative. 

?There?s no doubt that gaming is the dominant player in the app landscape. In 2011, Nielsen reported games as the most popular category overall,? said Pierre Lipton, Group Creative Director at AKQA, New York.  

?So marketing a game through an inherently game-centric platform is a natural fit,? he said. ?It reaches users who are already in that mindset, and allows them to get a taste of the fun and flavor of the console game in ways that most other platforms simply can?t.

?When it comes to social, it?s the No. 1 mobile activity amongst users, beyond email, SMS and calls. So giving people a taste of the game?s feel and message while letting them spread that through their social network in a fun, disruptive way?well, seemed like the Holy Grail to us.?

AKQA has created many apps that have exceeded 1 million downloads, so it will be interesting to see the adoption of this app. The company has gotten over 1 million downloads for the Nigella cooking app, Nike Training Club, Delta, Gap?s Stylemaker and the Volkswagen GTI app.

The Dance*Cam app lets users record themselves showing off their dance moves to select previews of some of the world?s biggest dance hits from the Dance Central 2 soundtrack. 

Users can then ?dancify? their moves with Dance*Cam, creating  a unique video remix with custom visual effects.  

Videos can be shared with friends on Facebook, where users can challenge them to a dance off, combining their two performances for all their friends to see.

When the friend accepts the battle, the two videos will be joined together into one. Other friends will then be invited to vote on the best dancer from each opponent?s Facebook wall. 

The Dance*Cam app is available for Windows Phone 7, Android and Apple iOS devices.

Consumers just pick which song to dance to, from select previews of today's biggest dance tracks found in Dance Central 2. 

Each song features its own visual effects style, showcased in final video edit. 

The creation of Dance*Cam required AKQA to develop several technological innovations to bring the creative vision to life. 

In an industry first, the AKQA team created a new way to render effects on a video. 

Using the Windows Azure platform, AKQA built a server-side version of After Effects to automate and speed the process of rendering video effects. This new process has allowed AKQA to deliver studio-quality videos cut and arranged to the beat of the song.

Dance*Cam is being promoted through the social media channels of both Xbox and Harmonix, the game developer, and via mobile-specific advertising.

The target is primarily social females ages14-44. 

?That?s a pretty large swath, but it?s full of casual gamers who love to have shared experiences,? Mr. Lipton said. ?And that?s a big part of what Dance Central 2 is all about. 

?While Dance Central 1 was a big Kinect hit, users were looking for even more ways to play together,? he said. ?In the sequel, Dance Central 2, you can dance side-by-side, drop in and out at any time and get instant feedback on your moves while you dance with a friend. 

?We wanted our app to mirror this social experience in a way that got people excited. And so with Dance*Cam you can challenge a friend to a dance-battle and that battle gets posted as a music video in which you see yourselves side-by-side.?