Interview w/ Akira Yamaoka

Melvis at the Disco! · Posted: Fri May 23, 2003 12:40 am Post subject: Interview w/ Akira Yamaoka

http://ddrspot.com/viewArticle.asp?article=10

My colleagues @ DDRSpot were able to get an exclusive, intimate conversation with this well-known Konami/Bemani artist @ E3. Hirotaka Ishikawa, the producer of DDR in Japan joined in as well!

Enjoy!
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(Dance Dance Revolution)'s really not attractive, and most people that do it are pudgy, fat men that don't know they're gay yet. - Brad Sherwood

Elektro Tal · Posted: Fri May 23, 2003 1:04 am Post subject:

awesome. i just wish you guys asked more questions, or prepared better ones.

But damn, meeting them would have turned me into gibbering fanboy =)

I FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL

Melvis at the Disco! · Posted: Fri May 23, 2003 1:06 am Post subject:

Yeah, it was all sort of spur of the moment. He had a boatload of interviews/meetings that day, we were lucky enough to get him at the end of the day, just before the conference closed.

As far as Q's to ask the musicians in the future. Well, let's just say we got contacts to other Bemani artists, and we'd be more than happy to field all sorts of Q's from our readers! Stay tuned!

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(Dance Dance Revolution)'s really not attractive, and most people that do it are pudgy, fat men that don't know they're gay yet. - Brad Sherwood

Kerf · Trick Member Joined: 23 Jan 2002 Location: ISZK LAND

@_@, damn you ;_;

Trylan (Another) · Posted: Fri May 23, 2003 7:45 am Post subject:

{SFSA} ChuckerZ · Trick Member Joined: 06 Jul 2002 Location: Albany, Ny

Resident Lune · Posted: Fri May 23, 2003 9:05 am Post subject:

Melvis at the Disco! · Posted: Sat May 24, 2003 12:04 am Post subject:

-Mystik- · Trick Member Joined: 16 Jun 2002 Location: NorCal

9st mix shall prevail! ha ha!

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MeltyKiss · Posted: Sat May 24, 2003 2:06 am Post subject:

Resident Lune · Posted: Sat May 24, 2003 9:41 am Post subject:

jamus_se · Posted: Sat May 24, 2003 1:48 pm Post subject:

New cabinet! Beg them to make a new cabinet! For the love of GOD, make a new cabinet!
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dann with two n's · Posted: Sat May 24, 2003 1:55 pm Post subject:

Melvis at the Disco! · Posted: Sat May 24, 2003 2:07 pm Post subject:

-Mystik- · Trick Member Joined: 16 Jun 2002 Location: NorCal

Daniel · Trick Member Joined: 29 Aug 2002 Location: Sonoma, CA

New Beat Mania: Big heavy deal.

New DDR: YES! The greatest video game series ever concieved is not cancelled after all! Bemani Forever!

GD-Man · Trick Member Joined: 01 Jul 2002

{SFSA} ChuckerZ · Trick Member Joined: 06 Jul 2002 Location: Albany, Ny

Belfast · Trick Member Joined: 21 Jul 2002

Early 2k4 is about right. I don't think it'll take that much longer for it to come out. Chances are if they're changing the hardware/cabinet, they've been thinking about it for awhile. I doubt they just up and said after Extreme, "Hey, how about we start considering that new cabinet idea?" From what I've seen, Konami, or at least the Bemani people, tend to think ahead, but their ideas can't always be implemented on the mix they're currently producing (i.e. certain songs should've appeared in earlier mixes, freeze arrows should've been there from the beginning, etc.). Personally, I hope they make the interface busier and more active....the one they have now works well on a practical level, but I want some more synaesthetic like the recent IIDX interfaces, the Keyboardmania interface, or even Amplitude.

I think they need to start pushing harder for better music, as well. DDR has some good music as it is, but it needs to be more....."deep?" Like Yamaoka said in the interview about his music in Silent Hill. Its GREAT stuff and sounds a lot more like something you'd buy off on a CD in a store rather than just being completely computer driven. I want more music like that in DDR. You can only do so much with endless amounts of Eurobeat and J-pop. Some of the electronic stuff has been OK, but I like the direction that IIDX has been going in as of late with their more intensive techno efforts. DDR is, in some ways, limited by having its songs roughly a minute and a half in length, because the songs don't feel "finished" most of the time. I just think there's a lot more they can do with the music. Instead of making the next Max song just a bunch of hard, repeating beats, make it sound really grandiose and epic. Give it a little bit of class. In short, I like DDR music as it is. Its good, but it has the potential to be even better.

New cabinet design would be nice. Make it flat angular like IIDX and all the other ones, instead of just being big and boxy. The pads? The pads are fine. I kind of like the Cobalt-Flux flat design, but honestly, in the arcade, you might need those shock-absorbing pads. Just clean them up a little bit. Update the design, maybe the look of the arrows.

Overall, I think I just want to get the impression from 9th that DDR is moving in a new and more exciting direction. I want something much more grandiose than it is right now and something that's more than just a few tweaks here and there and a few new songs each mix. And Naoki needs to get rid of his Eurobeat fetish. I think that fad's over.

{SFSA} ChuckerZ · Trick Member Joined: 06 Jul 2002 Location: Albany, Ny

Konami tends to reinvent the game each time they make it. Here is a list of things that was put into DDR:

1st mix: The fact of DDR just beginning
2nd mix: Remixes of songs were introduced, more songs in songlist
3rd mix: Catastrophic songs were introduced and a nonstop mode also beat mania songs was introduced in this mix (hence the club mix)
4th mix: Tempo Changers were introduced in this mix, new grading system, changed from S's to A's, but A was full combo, AA was all perfects, Maniac-2 was introduced in this mix also.
5th mix: New change of graphics, 60 fps a sec in framerate i belive was introduce in this mix, and freeze screens, scoring sys
6th mix: Freeze arrows were introduced in this mix and MAX was put in the DDR title, also 10 footers (Max 300) and the Extra Stage
7th mix: Oni courses were introduced in this mix.
DDR Extreme: The mix with the most songs, 225 i belive, and it has songs from all the bemani, nonstop mode is brought back and the oni mode makes a return, a wider selection of 10 footers, etc...

Like how were wondering what can konami do next.. we were all wondering that in 2001 (for who ever played in 2001) b4 they came out with 5th mix, and they add the freeze screen. I actually like to see some radio played songs on DDR, I liked the fact on MAX2 when Look at Us, So Fabolous so Fierce, and There You'll Be was on max2, b/c i heard those songs on the radio alot.
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