All in the timing

There are a plethora of games— video and otherwise —that challenge players to work against time to achieve a goal. In our present society, people crave quickness, acceleration, and fast thrills. Not having to succumb to the burden of time is now second-nature to us. Gaming simply ups the ante a notch. In today's gaming world, hand-eye coordination is a thing of the past. Now we have to deal with a more BODY-eye coordination, and this all-too-commonly coupled with time-based challenges.

The quintessential time challenge is Tetris. Tetris gives one a limited amount of time to rotate and successfully placed a shape onto a pile of other shapes such that each horizontally completed square area disappears, allowing for more room to place more blocks. The amount of time allotted to place blocks decreases as the game progesses. Similarly, the Wii game WarioWare gives players a continually decreasing amount of time to perform random tasks with the WiiMote, a revolutionary controller with 360 degress of sensory input that allows for a variety of potential uses. The game is similar to Four Second Frenzy in that each task is given a very, very short amount of time to complete with no preceding instructions on what the task will involve.

Dance Dance Revolution is a bit different, as it uses predetermined rhythms (defined by popular dance music) that a player must abide by while performing tasks limited to placing one's foot (or both feet) on one of four squares. Time does not decrease as the game progresses; rather, the foot placements become increasingly difficult.