DanceDanceRevolution (AC) (Japan)

Pretty awesome that DDR 2014 is gonna be an actual thing at Dave and Buster's (too bad the nearest one to me, which is in Ontario, is way too far from where I live. ^^; ), though I'm kinda surprised we haven't heard anything about the machines coming to Round1, considering they've been very open with Bemani games (they just recently installed those card generators for Sound Voltex for every location).

Still, happy to see the location test was successful enough to warrant getting some machines out here!

but beware of the mantainance time (5:00-7:00 JST (UTC+9) )

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None of this has been confirmed yet.

Not "confirmed" as in press release - but my hopes are up, the OP is a trusted D&B employee. I understand and appreciate your skepticism. And it doesn't mean it's a widespread release, the only thing that's "pre-confirmed" is that the Austin location is getting a cab.

*prays to lord konmaidnb that one ends up at the one near me*
...Anyways it's really cool to hear that the location tests maybe went actually good enough for the US to be getting more DDR. It's been almost 10 years since I've had an actually new DDR experience personally, since I didn't even know about X and X2 when I was a kid!

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X / X2 US barely counted as a DDR experience considering how the cab and pad quality were seriously reduced, so I don't think you missed much!

It's okay, little kid me only saw one arcade machine once ever!
...I'm really glad that I got back into DDR through AC EXTREME

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I'm not skeptical as much as this needs to be kept on the down low.

Ideally, when it is 100% confirmed... wouldn't it be wise to make a big scene about it? I feel like the only people that ever know about new DDR releases are people here and in little rhythm game communities. I'm not sure how people expect to recruit a new generation of fans when everything is kept private or "on the down low."

They can't confirm any official release now, of course, but can someone remind me the business logic behind keeping the location tests some kind of secret? Round 1 made a some social media announcements, if I recall, but I heard they weren't supposed to do that, at least not as hastily. Already have a fuzzy memory, but I don't think D&B's test was publicized even that much. Not sure if any location had promotions/ads for locals.

Maybe the tests really were a big scene and I just blurred it out since they were so far away, I'm not sure.

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Advertising Location Tests attracts hardcore players, who cannot provide any useful data to either the developer (Konami), or the proespective licensee (D&B). Konami use the Location Test to look at things like how easy the menus are to nagivate for the first time, which songs new players tend to gravitate towards, or which part of the attract mode tends to draw the most players to the machine.

D&B will be looking for which of their key demographics are drawn into playing the machine, and how many of them go back for a second game. They have payment cards to track a players' gaming habbits, so they can figure out which of their customers play DDR, which ones go back to DDR, and which other games crossover into that players' gaming habits.

If a location test is publicized, then 'hardcore players' tend to show up, play multiple credits of the game in a row and completely skew the results. Any time the machine is being played by someone who is accomplished at playing DDR, and knows how to quickly navigate the menu system is essentially wasted time that neither Konami nor D&B can use to gather information about the game. In a worst case scenario, D&B could make $200 from the game in one day, but if all 200 of those credits came from 10 guys who travelled from out of state to play the machine, then they've wasted an entire days' worth of testing, and are less likely to buy the machine, because they can't ascertain how the game would perform in a real arcade setting.

In Japan, Location Tests are usually public events, because the arcade business is obviously a lot more successful, and very different. In the US and Europe, most location tests are held without advertisement, or behind closed doors. The last few European arcade releases had Location Tests held behind closed doors, at arcades inside holiday camps, so that the only people who could access the machine were the several thousand random members of the public who happened to have book holidays during the time of the location test. This is the ideal scenario for both Konami and the holiday camp, since it gives almost completely unbias results.

this....is HinaBita? It's actually pleasant to the ears.

I think PARANOIA EVOLUTION S- is more difficult than this. What surprises me though is the lack of flow on this chart. I would have started a lot of these streams with the wrong foot trying to sightread it.

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No? I mentally started 2 of the streams wrong, the chart isn't written in such a way that it's hard to fix. I would even think it's rated a bit high at 13.

I actually implied what you wrote. And you're right about the chart not being hard to fix, it's just stepped in a way that would get you at first if you're playing by sight. I started about 4 of these with the opposite foot that I wanted to mentally.

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yay more hanibati

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Quoting this.

Definitely the best HinaBita song.

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I don't know about being the best Hinabita song (so far) - to me it's probably the most forgettable

Nice number of posts, yindesu.

I meant it's not easy to fix your foot positioning; also I thought Evo was a 13 for some reason