Konami's post-E3 poll

[BrandonMills]

The arcade experience sells the game.

You'd think someone at Konami would have figured it out by now. Without the arcade experience, DDR wouldn't be popular in the US.

Arcade made DDR. Without the arcade versions making it popular, I seriously doubt DDR would have taken off in popularity.

[nayten]

[Catastrophe]

Argh! Why is there no option for: IMAFREAK IMAFREAK IMAFREAK IMAFREAK IMAFREAK! EVERYTHING! EVERYTHING! EVERYTHING! EVERYTHING! (Beatmania by itself was my second choice.)

Pfft, you think DDR needs an arcade machine. Besides, you're not even on topic. This is a poll, not a new product announcement.

[BrandonMills]

"...how does this justify the success of other music games, such as Karaoke Revolution and FreQ?"

I really wish Frequency and its sequel, Amplitude, had been more popular. Unfortunately, sales wise, they bombed. You can find both in the bottom of bargain bins these days.

I wonder, if there was a Frequency or Amplitude arcade game, would it have done better? Especially with the multiplayer element in Amplitude. I can really see that taking off in arcades with a big screen and nice speakers.

I think vendors are missing the point here. The idea isn't to make mega big bucks off the arcade game. The idea is to make your game a phenomenon with the arcade game, and rack up the cash with console sales.

If the future of DDR truly doesn't involve a new arcade mix, other dance games with arcade mixes will overtake it. I'm not saying if its PIU or ITG, but if they keep pumping out new cabinets and all Konami does is pump out new console games, Konami will lose. One of the other dancing games will be the game the arcade crowd prefers, and slowly the gamers of the nation will convert.

Now, I -> like <- DDR, but I feel this will hold true. Without a new arcade mix, DDRs lifespan is limited.

[Reenee]

I hope there's some bullshit voting because in the last two hours, EXTREME 2 got about doubled itself to the 440's.

[Reenee]

So some guy from Greece admitted to "help" EXTREME 2 at Bemanistyle...

[JustJeff]

The problems with the DDR arcade games have been the ease at which they are bootlegged. Konami could easily port the code to the Bemani PC hardware that the more recent IIDX releases use, which, I'll assume is harder to crack than the PSX based hardware DDR runs on, but would it really be worth it? It would require arcade owners to buy this other hardware and of course, they would have to try to recoup the money from the upgrade AND get profits from it after upgrading.

Now, this wouldn't be so bad if arcade games were not so expensive. It's hard to get back $8,000 at $.50 a game. If the coin-op was cheaper and they subsidized it's devlopment, costs and liscensing on the hope of the potential profits from the home release, things could be different, but that's never been done before and companies feel that that would too much of a risk. The arcade industry has changed and maybe something completely odd like that would spur interest in arcade games again. Like how videos serve as advertisments for top 40 music, an aracde game would be the video for the home release of a game. I don't see that ever happening, but its something people could think about.

There are experiences that one just can't replicate at home, as far as equipment is concerned. DDR used to be like that but you can now buy a semi-affordable metal pad that will give you an as close to the arcade machine experience as you can get. That Afterburner pad that RO has REALLY is great, I tried it at E3.

But one thing that you can't really do at home is socialize like you can at an arcade. Sure, you can have your friends over and whoop on them or have them whoop on you on some fighting game, but how much better is it when some fresh meat comes in or when you have your rival show up while you're playing and you two go at it? You can't do that at home. Online, as neat as it is, still doesn't give you the satisfaction of seeing someone leave the game and run to the token machine and then run back to try to beat you. That example is for a fighting game, but you get my drift. DDR really is more socially friendly than a fighting game is, so, that intangle aspect of the game is something you can't get at home. But the game itself can live beyond that. It has too because arcades are dying, slowly, but they are dying. We can could only hope that Namco would look at how the sales of beatmania are to see if they would even attempt to pick up IIDX in their stores because it could potentially be the next big thing here.

Frequency and Amplitude are pretty good games, but can you honestly say that if they were coin ops first, that they would have sold as well as DDR had? I doubt it. As far as bargin bins are concerned, I've gotten DDRMax 2, Ultramix, and Ultramix for $30 each. The bundle packs at that. This is because WalMart put them on clearence because the boxes are so big, they eat up too much shelf space. Being in the bargin bin isn't a bad thing at all. That's what Platinum Hits, Player's Choice and Greatest Hits titles are for anyway. When a game has been out for as long as Amp and Freq have been, you don't expect to sell them at full price anyway.

[Light_373]

[Tsuri]

Ok in all seriousness... lets look at the price of these arcade dance games... (keep in mind without shipping)

$16,911.45 - DS Fusion
$5,500 - Pump it Up Exceed 2
$9,999.99 - In the Groove 2

In the event Konami made a new mix I doubt it would be made for old hardware... so that would put an upgrade kit at what? $3,000 considering the price of DS Fusion which without a doubt came from the fact that they licensced actual music videos for it. So lets say for instance they dropped it at a price like DS Fusion... What would make an arcade operator go for the most expensive one? (not to mention DS Fusion has less songs than both In the Groove 2 and Pump it Up Exceed 2.)

I just don't see it happening with Konami's high price.... and hell a place without a DDR machine... just to get a used one you'll go through a lot of hassle and end up paying more for it than what it is worth.

And more arcades in LA than Japan? Doubtful... Only count the ones that update more than game regularly then see what is left over... probably not much

[peepsluvr]

Someone's messing with the poll, look how many votes ultramix 3 has.

[Reenee]

It's not stopping. This script is going as we speak. Ultramix 3 is going to reach 13,000 in a minute or so from this point that I post.

[Ebisumaru]

Whoever is doing that is really dumb for caring enough to do that.

[Tsuri]

I don't see a point to them having a process vote over and over.

[Philipio]

Oh noes we broke the poll.
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DDRecall

[snickers1127▶◀]

[Juli no Fooly]

wtf is this 85% for UM3? I mena, I liek the game and all, but whaaaaat?

[Mr. A]

Yeah, they're gonna pitch out those results re: UM3. Konami's not that stupid (I hope.)

I mean hell, I want Beatmania but I'm not going to try and get an organized bombardment of the server.

[JustJeff]

You all know how people are. Someone wants to have a bigger Internet penis than everybody else so that they can say "Oooohh look! I made UM3 numbah won! I am seeeewwwwww keewwwlll!"

Then, they go around to all the Bemani sites and look at all the forums so that they can brag to their friends with smaller Internet penis sizes. And that's rule #273 on How the Internet Works.

[Reenee]

When I see Karaoke Revolution get out of last place, I get scared. o_o;;

[Light_373]

I voted for ex2. Beatmania came in #2 in my book.
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