DDR X2 (AC) (International)

It means exactly what it says. They removed the numpad and internal card reader from the sides, and they added a sticker across the bottom front of the screen.

yeah, no e-Amusement for America.

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And to me as an arcade operator it makes logical sense to not include e-Amusement. For starters, DDR is the only Konami arcade video game series that has proven successful long time in America in today's arcades, and we can pretty well expect that no other BEMANI title will ever be seen in North American arcades (except for that Hello PopNMusic of course), beatmania didn't make it, and jubeat didn't make it sadly so we are stuck with DDR. Now what does this have to do with e-Amusement? Well since DDR is the only one, it is impractical for an american operator to support it because of the necessary cost involved in keeping it up. From what I am told a necessary secondary expense is required to invest in a proprietary router hooked up to one's own high speed internet, in addition to a monthly service fee of about $100 a month to stay subscribed to e-Amuse. Realistically the sales of e-Amuse cards and income from the machine just would not cover the cost to use the service. It is the exact reason why there is from what I am told only two locations to ever use e-Amuse, Konami's home office and DDR X's beta location. By not including e-Amuse, there is a slightly lesser cost which may even make the machines even more affordable stateside (that or Konami and Betson will just charge the same price for extra profit).

Would e-Amusement fully launched be successful in the USA? No. For starters the cards, they are an optional purchase. I have a racing game in my arcade called Maximum Tune (by Namco Limited), I am sure you all know it. They feature a magnetic card reader which can be used to purchase cards and use them to progress through a full fledged story mode and name ranking in the game. Realistically, I have over 300 different customers a week, and about 5 of them regularly use their card, anyone else purchasing a card usually does so by accident. Now for a game like Maxi Tune, this is just bonus income because there is no online play, events, or ranking, just player perks and local ranking as applied. The same also applied to In The Groove 2 and Pump It Up PRO with their USB drives. DDR and all other e-Amuse games requires online access which leds to me my second point, the need to access online. Many arcades to this day do not have high-speed internet setup in a way to benefit arcade games for online capability. In fact I have yet to be in one that does, and I have been to a boat load of arcades in the past few years. Realistically the time of the online enabled arcade just is not here yet, and even then we will want it at no cost outside of the bill for the ISP.

So I am very indifferent about there being no e-Amusement for the USA, sure it would have been a fun gimmick to keep me entertained with DDR X2 arcade, but e-Amusement is a gimmick nevertheless and I rather see more affordable machines which will led to more locations having them.

Why the heck did I just rant all of this?

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Well it made total sense to me, haha.

Honestly, I understand why e-Amuse (as of now) will not make it in North America, which is why Konami MUST go the USB/personal datasave route over here....

1. Saving personal scores
2. Earning unlocks
3. Replicant D-action progress
4. Edit support
5. Workout mode support.

There are 3 key things here. Firstly, it will not compromise e-Amuse offerings in Japan/Asia, since we'll be getting these unlocks long after the online machines get them, i.e. there would be little to no incentive for Japanese arcades to import NA/EU machines for this purpose.

Secondly, workout mode. It can seriously bring some more casual play into the mix, especially with KDEA preaching the whole "OMG DDR IS AN AMAZING WORKOUT AND A LEGIT WAY TO GET FIT LOOK AT WHO IS USING THIS ETC ETC" deal. Personally, I think it would be kinda cool to keep track of that progress as an aside to playing.

Third, the competition is already using it, and it works for them.

They're already giving us #4. but I highly doubt we'll get any of the others, considering we're talking about Konami of not Japan here.

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Yeah they should be adding these similar features as in ITG which saves your profile in the USB....

Since there's no eAmusement.. So in the US version there won't be any RDA songs and other things unless Konami release the Unlock code?

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I'm glad you did, because the usual discussion just goes :

: "Konami have offered E-Amuse, but no arcade owner would ever want it. That's why we don't have E-amuse"
: "No lol, E-Amuse is great. It will save DDR and make tons of money. Konami just hate anerica, so that's why we don't have it."

So yeah....I just got a reply on Facebook from Naoki stating there are no plans to release a console port of X2 but if there's enough support for it, they'll consider it.


:/

Exact Quote: "Thank you very much,we will keep your opinion in mind for our future titles. I apologize but currently, we do not plan release the console version for the DDR X2 arcade. If we gain enough support for it, we will consider producing it. Thank you again!!"


At least his English is getting better ^^?

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So Naoki STILL part of Konami DDR??... weird, he say their team was not related to Bemani, and now he can decide the future of the DDR CS version?...

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Hmmm i heard that he's not on DDR X2 Team (it's TAG and dj Taka masterpiece) but he's still part of Konami with Dance Evolution and Dance Dance Revolution (ps3)

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I smell a petition, a la Sirius CS.

Oh .. well thank you, I don't have nothing against Naoki he make great songs, but now he's to gimmick for being part of any DDR game.

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Regardless of whether Naoki can decide this or not, I think a petition is in order. Konami has put out a fantastic mix this time around and I think everyone should be able to experience it in some way

Though the million dollar question here is will this this get enough support to convince Konami.

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I think that Naoki said that the team behind Dance Masters/Evolution isn't part of Bemani, but Naoki himself is still part of the Bemani team. He's just allowed to try different projects while the rest of the bemani crew deals with the usual franchises.

Then don't ask NAOKI, ask the team. Konami Japan has Twitter right? @Konami_573ch.

We need someone who writes Japan :/

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this talk about e-Amusement has already been discussed many times before.

- e-Amusement will not fly in America because of the high costs to run the service in relation to the low income it would bring in
- e-Amusement features would better be implemented in the US if they were available offline like leveling up to unlock certain things, but this would require Konami of Japan to rewrite a lot of the code for these features which costs money and with the way things have been going in the US I doubt they would invest in something like this anytime soon.

calling e-Amusement a gimmick is complete bullshit. there is so much more e-Amuse adds to the game play that is stripped away in US/EU builds. half of the content in the game is based around e-Amusement features. I'm sure someone who follows the service more closely or plays in an area with service can comment about all the features, I don't follow it that closely.

Konami would rather push for normal e-Amusement rather than redesigning it because it would cost them money. they are looking for a partner to provide support and distribution because Konami does not the faculties in the US to provide this their self. currently no distributor has faith in the system and is willing to support it. the only chance it had so far was Brunswick, but that would have only included their chain.

I'm quite surprised that there's no one mentioned the unlocks for today (or recently? I didn't visit the arcade for a few days already)

Today's unlock: (I assume today)
BALLAD THE FEATHERS [1, 4, 7, 10, 8]
going up [3, 7, 10, 13, 11]
Leaving... [2, 5, 8, 11, 13]
Melody Life [2, 5, 7, 10, 11]
MAX LOVE [3, 6, 8, 11, 13]
(All difficulty ratings are on Single)

And those 2 Chinese missing songs they're selectable on Challenge Difficulty.
Nijiiro with a new challenge chart, while iFuturlist with old challenge chart.

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Max Love! Ballad the Feathers! Another surprising round of unlocks! Also, challenge charts for all the songs? I need videos!

and DDR X2 continues to kick all other mixes in the arse.

And the MAX LOVE and Leaving... Challenge charts are also Chinese versions.

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You can't be serious!?