DDR X2 (AC) (International)

That was not my intention. If it means keeping DDR here in the states, i'll deal with those cabinets

It is worth a try to start some kind of petition against Betson's shoddy quality, since it's easy to contact Konami these days. But a boycott would be pretty bad for everyone involved.

You're absolutely correct. I shouldn't rush things like that A petition sounds more logical, rational, and reasonable.

Sorry to say but i DO believe a petition was done back in the DDR X US AC days, and i DO believe it did have some impact to Betson where they apologized for the sheity cabs and said to have "improved" the pad quality much better than X did.

Turns out you can't even trust Betson to apologize and do the same treatment to the next version of cabs without them screwing up like they always do, granted some of the issues like lag and stuff aren't apparent in X2 (only a few select amount of songs), but pad quality is still EXTREMELY horrible. Go ahead and make another petition, i'll sure to sign it and all, but it's probably going to be the same process over and over again until Konami realizes Betson makes crap-tastic arcade cabinets for the general audience...

...oh wait, because apparently that is now the DDR arcade audience apparently, the general audience. It must be that the pads were only designed for minor abuse only, not for hardcore stepping on a weekly basis. Eeehhh, what can you do? The US has dealt with Betson's cabs for close to 5 years now and we still get the same crappy treatment from their pads, not like the olden days where the cabs were imported and could still TO THIS DAY work wonderfully...i can go on and on and on about this but i just ate and i am sleepy as fuuu

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We deserve better than this. We deserve to play on a good pad, just like the Japanese. We should settle for less.

However, this is the sad truth: Out of all the arcade games in the US, DDR and ITG is the minority. Fighting games beat them by the dozens. Redemption games will always come out on top. Those basketball and punching the bag game gets more attention. And even Technika is rising up.

But not the dancing games. There don't seem to be enough new players sprouting. Heck, people probably only play at home, but would never dare to play at the arcades and risk embarrassment. And speaking of embarrassment, do you know how many times people have told me, "I suck at this game" or "I'm not very good at it"? That didn't stop people from playing when DDR was hot in the states.

How does all that add up to us having crappy, cheap machines? There's NO profit for the arcade until after a year. After a year, assuming people still plays on it, which people don't. So the arcade never gets profit. And they can't sell the machine, right? They can only throw it away, which is a waste, so they just keep it there.

That's why Betson has to cut corners, otherwise, arcades can't afford a FANTASTIC, MARVELOUS JAPANESE-like ARCADE MACHINE. The Japanese probably use good quality cushioning for the sensors and everything DDR Extreme had to make it long lasting as f*ck.

Just to be clear, I educated guess how the arcade business go, as I talk leisurely with the arcade owner of his DDR X2. If he doesn't get enough profit, he'll sell it. Simple as that.

I honestly agree. I don't really care if people call me names or not, i'm playing on my local arcade's fu**ing machine. I've been trying to get all my friends to play and get involved. I've loved this game since i was little and i refuse to let it die. In fact, it's the only reason i go to the arcade at all. I spend a good chunk of my money on tokens and whatnot to play on them. I've had so many memories playing DDR. It's helped me through so much, almost like an escape from reality. I've never shyed away from playing DDR and i never will.

Put it this way. someone's been selling an arcade full of games in the south island for ages. It's gone from about 50k list price to about 30k.

There's a pump cabinet with NX2 and it looks pretty good, it's listed for 2.5k NZD with postage included to the north island.
I suggested it to the guy who owns the local cinema arcades, and even at that price he's said no.

TL DR noone goes to arcades anymore because everyone's a reclusive internet faggot.
And to a lesser degree certain places don't have the foot traffic, arcades get charged insane rents sometimes, games get broken, techs get retarded, etc etc.

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1. People need to quit playing WoW (STILL can't believe it's so popular after all this time) and get out of the house.
2.If i had the money, i would open up my own arcade chalk full of BEMANI games.
3. Yes, arcades do have lots of expenses, so i can see THAT one

Another problem is that music and rhythm is an extremely fickle genre. A game series can have huge sales one minute and terrible ones the next, with no baring on quality simply because it became a fad that people grew tired of.

In its heyday back in the late 90's and early 2000's, Dancing Stage was HUGELY popular here and the machines always seemed to be of great quality. I went on a ferry once with people from school on a history trip to Belgium and pretty much EVERYONE was crowding around the Dancing Stage machine. That's pretty scary, but proof of what kind of impact the series used to have.

I don't blame Konami for allowing Betson to get away with such shoddy machines because it makes sense when you consider just how much DDR's popularity has dropped. This is especially true here in Europe because of the name change which probably confused quite a few people. Barely anyone seemed to be interested in the DDR X machine I played on at Skegness and the older machines weren't seeing that much play either.

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So what you're trying to say is that it's not looking good for us?? Yeah, the future of DDR looks pretty bleak right now, but i'll fight (or dance) until the end.

I'm just saying that I can understand Konami's position and why they are probably doing what they are doing even if it doesn't bode so well for us.

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Okay, i think i got it: Because the popularity of DDR has dropped, Konami thinks that people are no longer interested, so they don't feel the need to spend more money for better quality cabinets.

Konami doesn't have an arcade division here; they have to contract this out. At that point it becomes Betson's goal to produce the cheapest machine possible to maximize their profits. Konami did try to make a cheaper pad with some quality for X2 (and failed), but they did at least try. They even had a blog post on their Japanese site detailing what they were doing.

think of it like this:

Konami's POV on the arcade version = It's a party game for all ages! We may have "occasional" veteran players, but the arcade should be used for fun and frolic!

Konami's POV on the console versions = LADY GAGA, JASON DERULO, WILLOW SMITH, We've got all these new artists aboard to make these games casual for all of our fans, plus we now are catering to the hardcore fans by inputting recent arcade songs into our newer console versions so everyone can enjoy DDR!

In other words, the arcade division in the US, heck anywhere BESIDES Japan is bleak, thanks to the consoles, arcades have literally been shut down one after another after another after another. You can blame the economy, but if you take a step back and see where gaming has evolved through the ages, the 1970's were the GOLDEN age of arcades, NO ONE ever heard the name "video gaming console machine" in the same sentence, it was all arcades. People would spend hours, even DAYS in arcades. The moment gaming went into the homes, arcades were eventually doomed to fall. It is a very very VERY sad truth, but with console games that offer online play, interactivity unlike anything the arcades have ever been able to do, and so much more incentives, what is the point of going to an arcade anymore? I'd hate for this to happen, but if we let console gaming over take the glory that is the arcades, i would predict that by 2020 arcades would either be dead altogether, or something INSANELY crazy happens that brings back the magic of the arcades back into a new era of gaming.

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So, in other words, they think everyone will just stay at home and play on the consoles, so there's no need to put the effort in??

well unless something major happens like a western arcade invests in those whack trading card game style games and/or VR sort of things (i saw one with a massive gundam robot simulator?) then yeah they're destined to fail.

Also as that japanese arcade documentary says, people don't go out to an arcade for the day. they stop by to play. but for most people in western worlds it's simply not on the way, whereas in japan everyone walks everywhere or takes the train.

That's probably why the arcades in the city are relatively successful. They're near the two biggest universities in new zealand. (well, auckland uni at least, not sure about AUT where I'm at) and the cinema arcade is just that - a cinema with an arcade.
During the school holidays it was unbelievable how many people were in there, I just HAD to play some games to show off.

Hah.

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What the arcades need is something breakthrough and unique, something that will draw the people and attrct attention.

To add, there's also the fact that back when DDR was popular it pretty much was the only way to play a dancing game. Since then technology has become more sophisticated and now people can have an "arcade game experience" and sometimes even things that wouldn't be possible in an arcade, at home.

Why do you think that Just Dance became so popular? It's effectively what DDR was ten years ago, only you just need a Wii and a £20 game and you're set. No need to travel to an arcade, no need to blow money to look like an idiot. Have the party at home, get as drunk as you like and have a good time with your mates. That and the fact that something like Just Dance would be hard to do properly in an arcade, not that Just Dance is hugely sophisticated and accurate, but it's definitely more attractive as a home console game than at an arcade.

I think that it's the simplicity of Just Dance that helps with it's popularity. Since an obnoxious number of people already own a Wii, they don't need to invest in some peripheral that'll only see use in one or two games or takes up unnecessary space in the home or could otherwise be damaged. DDR needs a mat, the Kinetic games require Kinetic (which may not seem like much, but it's an important deciding factor) and so on and so forth. If you own a Wii, you can play Just Dance.

I also think that DDR can be pretty intimidating to the casual player and there are so many different names and options that people can be easily turned off. Here in Europe we've gone through a name and visual change that people may not even properly recognise it anymore. The difference between SuperNOVA and X is pretty big when you compare them side to side. X could be a completely different game; the familiarity is gone.

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The thing that originally drew people to the arcade in their heyday was the idea of community gaming, which really exploded with the arcade scene. IMO, it helped solidify video games as a facet of pop culture because it broke the barriers of people sitting alone at home playing video games.

These days, it's much easier for consumers to get community gaming by means of online playing on consoles and the internet. The spread of social media simply makes it much easier to form communities around gaming by means of the internet rather than staking out your local arcade chatting up players.

It almost compares to "Video killed the radio star" (Yes, a buggles reference) The arcades play the role of the radio star, and modern technology plays the video.