Headlines

EMPRESS is finally upon us! I'm sure there are an equal amount of players anxious to see what this installment in Konami's long running series has in store as there are players who feel that the "girly" interface is going to make them look like sissies when they play it. Nevertheless the game doesn't fail to please right out of the box, featuring 40+ new tracks on day one, a bunch of new e-Amusement tracking features, and some amazing new GOLI Matsumoto artwork. The songlist still isn't 100% complete and we already have a whole slew of tracks from recently release beatnation records albums, a track by Shinichi Osawa (Mondo Grosso) and a new song by American bemani fan turned Konami artist, DM Ashura.

Keep an eye out as the day (or night for us american fans) goes on, if we're lucky some gameplay videos may just hit youtube or nicovideo while the game is still extremely fresh. We'll keep you all as informed as possible of anything new that we find.

beatmaniaIIDX 16 EMPRESS Official Website
beatmaniaIIDX 16 EMPRESS e-Amusement PASS features
DM Ashura Official Website - Has a sample of "neogenesis" up now.

Images courtesy of 2ch and Purotora

Ver. 100:J:A:A:2008111900

NEW SONGS

[HARDCORE] GUHROOVY fw. M-PROJECT - ALL I NEED YOUR LOVE (145BPM) SP:[N5/H7/A9] DP:[N6/H7/A9]
[ONLY ONE EUROBEAT] SUPER STAR 満-MITSURU- - ALL MY TURN -このターンに、オレの全てを�*ける- (177BPM) SP:[N6/H9/A11] DP:[N6/H9/A11]
[RECKLESS RAVE] Remixed by DJ YOSHITAKA with Michael a la mode - B4U (BEMANI FOR YOU MIX) (170BPM) SP:[N6/H9/A11] DP:[N7/H9/A11]
[HOUSE] 猫叉Master feat.JUNE - Bahram Attack -猫叉Master Remix- (155BPM) SP:[N4/H9/A10] DP:[N5/H9/A11]
[HAPPY☆JIG] S.S.D. with ななっち - BRIDAL FESTIVAL!!! (160BPM) SP:[N4/H7/A9] DP:[N5/H8/A9]
[NOSTALISH REQUIEM] e-lma - CaptivAte2～覚醒～ (175BPM) SP:[N6/H9/A11] DP:[N5/H9/A11]
[BUCHIAGE TRANCE] Remixed by DJ Yoshitaka - Cyber Force -DJ Yoshitaka Remix- (146BPM) SP:[N5/H9/A10] DP:[N6/H9/A10]
[MEGA MIX] kors k as disconation - Flash Back 90's (155BPM) SP:[N4/H8/A10] DP:[N5/H8/A10]
[DREAM TRANCE] Sota Fujimori - Fly Above (150BPM) SP:[N5/H6/A8] DP:[N5/H8/A9]
[HOUSE] ravex - HOUSE NATION (128BPM) SP:[N4/H7/A9] DP:[N5/H8/A10]
[MORNING FULL ON] L.E.D. - HYPERION (150BPM) SP:[N6/H9/A11] DP:[N6/H10/A11]
[TECHNO POP] Creative Life - I'm Screaming LOVE (147BPM) SP:[N4/H6/A7] DP:[N5/H7/A9]
[HARDCORE] L.E.D.-G fw. Eriko Tanzawa - JEWELLERY STORM (176BPM) SP:[N5/H9/A10] DP:[N5/H9/A10]
[ELECTRO-TECH] Ryu☆ - Mind Mapping (128BPM) SP:[N4/H7/A9] DP:[N4/H7/A8]
[EUROBEAT] Y&Co. feat. DOMINO - Monkey Dance '09 (155BPM) SP:[N4/H8/A10] DP:[N4/H8/A11]
[TRANCE] PINK PONG - MY FUTURE (148BPM) SP:[N5/H8/A9] DP:[N6/H9/A10]
[TECH-BREAKBEAT] DJ Mass MAD*ism - naughty girl@Queen's Palace (145BPM) SP:[N5/H9/A11] DP:[N5/H8/A10]
[ENERGETIC TRANCE] DM Ashura - neogenesis (151BPM) SP:[N4/H6/A9] DP:[N5/H7/A9]
[DANCE MUSIC OF SORROW] C×F (Music Produced by NAOKI MAEDA) - NΦ CRIME (169BPM) SP:[N4/H7/A9] DP:[N5/H8/A9]
[HOUSE] Shinichi Osawa - OUR SONG (136BPM) SP:[N4/H7/A9] DP:[N5/H8/A10]
[PSYCHADELIC TRANCE] Remixed by L.E.D. - PSYCHE PLANET-GT (152BPM) SP:[N6/H9/A10] DP:[N6/H9/A10]
[E-DANCE POP] 上野�*市(a.k.a.Baby Weapon, DJ SWAMI) feat.星野奏�*� - Punch Love ♥ 仮面 (172BPM) SP:[N5/H8/A10] DP:[N6/H9/A10]
[BIG BEAT] 猫叉Master+ - Queens Tragedy (152BPM) SP:[N4/H8/A10] DP:[N4/H8/A9]
[TECH PARA] good-cool ft. CHiCO - secrets (150BPM) SP:[N6/H9/A11] DP:[N5/H9/A11]
[CANDY RAVE] kors k - smooooch･∀･ (177BPM) SP:[N4/H8/A10] DP:[N5/H8/A10]
[UK HARDCORE] Remixed by kors k - THE SHINING POLARIS (kors k mix) (172BPM) SP:[N5/H8/A9] DP:[N6/H7/A8]
[HOUSE] Remix by Sunset In Ibiza (SII) - thunder -HOUSE NATION Remix- (128BPM) SP:[N4/H7/A9] DP:[N5/H8/A10]
[ELEMENTAL CHANT] Zektbach - Turii -Panta rhei- (148BPM) SP:[N4/H9/A10] DP:[N4/H8/A10]
[PROGRESSIVE] TAKA - V2 (150BPM) SP:[N6/H11/A-] DP:[N5/H10/A-]
[90's RAVE] Y&Co. - Y&Co. is dead or alive (145-876BPM) SP:[N5/H9/A10] DP:[N5/H10/A11]
[DRAGON'BASS] IDEA NOTE - アタックno.3 (170BPM) SP:[N5/H7/A9] DP:[N6/H9/A10]
[IRON CONCERTO] Seiya Murai - 鉄甲乙女-under the steel- (160BPM) SP:[N4/H7/A10] DP:[N5/H9/A10]
[J-TRANCE] 小林ゆう - 翼 (149BPM) SP:[N4/H7/A9] DP:[N5/H8/A10]
[HOU-ROCK] Des-MASTERS - ハリツヤランデヴー (143BPM) SP:[N5/H8/A10] DP:[N5/H8/A10]
[J-DANCE POP] HHH+H - まほろば (149BPM) SP:[N5/H7/A9] DP:[N5/H8/A11]
[POP TECHNO] Dr. Honda - ミッドナイト�*�天使 (150BPM) SP:[N5/H7/A9] DP:[N5/H8/A9]
[ポップス] AKIRA YAMAOKA feat.喜屋�*�ちあ - 山岡晃の「クイズ！家事都合！」 (148BPM) SP:[N4/H7/A10] DP:[N5/H8/A10]
[RAGE AGAINST EMPRESS] D.J.SETUP - 天空脳番長危機十�*連打 (150BPM) SP:[N5/H10/A11] DP:[N5/H10/A11]


EXTRA STAGE

[PSY TRANCE (FULL ON)] kors k as StripE - Programmed World (153BPM) SP:[N5/H9/A?] DP:[N?/H?/A11]

ONE MORE EXTRA STAGE

[DANCE SPEED] 青龍 - 3y3s (191BPM) SP:[N?/H?/A?] DP:[N?/H?/A?]

DJ POINT UNLOCKS

[BALLAD] NM feat. Thomas Howard - BALLAD FOR YOU ～想いの雨～ (065BPM) SP:[N3/H5/A7] DP:[N?/H?/A?]
[NU STYLE GABBA] DJ CHUCKY - BLUE MIRAGE (170BPM) SP:[N5/H10/A12] DP:[N5/H9/A11]
[DISCO] good-cool - Dancin' Into The Night (139BPM) SP:[N?/H?/A?] DP:[N?/H?/A?]
[DEEP HOUSE] SPARKER - FLUTE MAN (130BPM) SP:[N3/H6/A7] DP:[N4/H6/A8]
[NU SKOOL BREAKS] Sota Fujimori - Just a Little Smile (136BPM) SP:[N4/H7/A11] DP:[N4/H7/A11]
[GOSPEL] Lala Moore with CoCoRo*Co - Make A Difference (130BPM) SP:[N5/H9/A10] DP:[N5/H9/A?]
[NU JAZZ] SLAKE - Ready to Rockit Blues (150BPM) SP:[N3/H5/A6] DP:[N5/H6/A8]
[TECHNO] L.E.D. - SOLITION BEAM (152BPM) SP:[N6/H9/A10] DP:[N?/H?/A?]

BEGINNER ONLY
[撫�*��*ック] 紅色リトマス - 凛として咲く花のごとく (139BPM) [from pop'n music 15 ADVENTURE]

DELETED SONGS

beatmaniaIIDX/substream
LUV TO ME
diving money
special energy
PRINCE ON A STAR

beatmaniaIIDX 4th style
Nothing Ain't Stopping Us
LUV TO ME (Ucchie's Edition)
JIVE INTO THE NIGHT
Get On Beat ~Wild Style~

beatmaniaIIDX 5th style
Remember You
OVER THE CLOUDS
Give Me A Sign
Mobo☆Moga
Virtual Mind

beatmaniaIIDX 6th style
20,November
Y31

beatmaniaIIDX 7th style
2002
Secret Tale

beatmaniaIIDX 8th style
Foundation Of Our Love
V35

beatmaniaIIDX 9th style
CHARLOTTE
I'm In Love Again -Y&Co. EURO MIX-
TWO DAYS OF LOVE
Logic Board
Let's Say Hello!

beatmaniaIIDX 10th style
5.8.8.
R2

beatmaniaIIDX 11 IIDX RED
KI・SE・KI (IIDX RED EDIT)

beatmaniaIIDX 12 HAPPY SKY
PINK ROSE
Under The Sky

beatmaniaIIDX 13 DistorteD
tiger YAMATO
Look To The Sky (cyber true color)

beatmaniaIIDX 14 GOLD
HONEY ♂ PUNCH
Red Rocket Rising

beatmaniaIIDX 15 DJ TROOPERS
I'm In Love Again -DJ YOSHITAKA REMIX-

NOTES & NEW FEATUES

- The new turntable that Konami announced at the location test appears to come standard with all upgrade kits, and is nothing more than the top piece with a better non-slip texture on the top. I can't help but feel that it would've been just as effective and a lot cooler if they made it look more like a real LP.

- There are apparently a decent amount of updates made to the e-Amusement score tracking service this time around. The most notable of these being the new DJ Data service offered on the e-Amusement website. This new service will apparently track your clear rate, full combo rate and score data for each on each difficulty and allow you to review them on your web browser.

- Internet Ranking tracking has also been streamlined with the e-Amusement service, with all results being viewable on the same portal site as your DJ Data.

Click here for more images

frzamonkey, manager of an arcade in Daytona, FL that I got in contact via Joystiq is at IAAPA and contacted me from the show floor to deliver these few small updates:

- The game is basically a modified version of Guitar Hero III running on PC hardware at it's current state. No word on whether anything major will be added or changed before it's release as of yet.

- The Konami/Activision partnership may have more to do with the potential earnings of the game rather than Konami giving up on the US market or both companies wanting to play nice. Not too surprising, but at least that doesn't necessarily mean the end of GFdm.

- The controllers for the arcade version are modeled after the Guitar Hero World Tour guitars, but built more like the Guitar Freaks AC guitars. There go any durability concerns anyone should be having.

- Online functionality is definitely planned, and will be handled through the same servers as Raw Thrills' hit Big Buck Hunter titles.

- Song updates through the online connection are a possibility.

Above everything else, he does say that the gameplay remains fun and true to it's form. We should have some more updates as well as some pictures as the show continues, with a larger feature on the show as a whole as it wraps up. Keep checking back.

edit; Pictures Added. Big-ups to mDaWg and his boss Ed.

So we all know Konami is going ride the coattails of Guitar Hero a little longer and many of us ... er, well, alright - all of us - suspect this means Rock Revolution is on the chopping block. After a mere month on the market, it seems some stores are already scrambling to get rid of their stock of Rock Revolution for the holiday and one would assume the stores that have been out of stock on the product recently aren't rushing to get more copies of the game after the NPD's October report that the game struggled to sell 3,000 copies in October (which is probably off slightly, considering two copies of a game that didn't release until Nov. 11 (Wii) were supposedly sold in October - geez, news sites, do some research for once before you post headlines mocking a game for selling two copies).

Any way, to cut to the chase, both Amazon and Play-Asia are already trying to dump new copies of the game for less than $30:

Amazon.com - $29.99

Play-Asia (Playstation 3 version only) - $26.90 for one week only

Even on eBay, the Playstation 3 value on a new copy is holding around $29.99, while I managed to find a copy played only twice for $15 after shipping and one sealed copy is sitting at no bids, $0.99, free shipping (I'd imagine there's a reserve, though). The 360 version is struggling to hold an average value more than $30.00, hovering in the $35 area.

So, while brick and mortar retail stores have been quite stingy on lowering the price on Rock Revolution, many online retailers and auction sites have been allowing players to pick up the title at about half price, barely a month after the game was released to market. With the latest batch of DLC for the game seemingly a last-ditch attempt to snatch up all of the GuitarFreaks fans that have now lost all respect for Konami of America, I figured I'd try to save you as much cash as possible, but I have a feeling if you wait after the holidays (or maybe even before at this rate), you'll be seeing this game in the $19.99 and under bin at your local retailer (or you could just get it for less if you're lucky on eBay).

This post also gives me an excuse to announce that I have added a retro-dated review to Bemanistyle.com for the Xbox 360 version of Rock Revolution, which I wrote for my personal site. If you want to know how bad the game really is, go ahead and check out the fun.

The first pic of the upcoming American Idol booth we touched on in our Guitar Hero arcade post has also surfaced and, surprisingly, the booth will offer singers a chance to capture their performance for personal use.

The touted feature of the cabinet will allow players to record their performance and either have a DVD of the performance burned on the fly at the booth or have it e-mailed. Given the circumstances, it is entirely possible this arcade cabinet will also be published by Konami, but we can not confirm that at this point. We're looking to get a lot more information on the title as it makes its debut tomorrow at the Orlando International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions event.

This is most likely the remainder the news for today from the IAAPA show, but keep checking back tomorrow as I'm sure we'll have a wealth of updates on the future of arcade rhythm gaming.

We've created quite a buzz, but, yeah, some of you are still skeptical. You want proof. That's not too abnormal - when someone makes a claim, you have to support it with proof. We said we had a very reliable source on our Guitar Hero rumor and that same source has forwarded us the very first photo of the Guitar Hero cabinets from the floor of International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions' Orlando, Fla., event set to begin tomorrow.

Every physical aspect we posted about for the "rumored" Guitar Hero cab are present in these pics: At the top of the cabinet, you'll see the Raw Thrills and Activision logos, and, what is that on the left - it's Konami's logo! The LED lights are clearly at the bottom of the screen and appear to change color - maybe just at random, but perhaps along to in-game occurrences. Finally, the screens are wide and it's easy to believe these rank in at at least 32 inches.

Obviously, screens can't confirm the Internet contests, but that will most likely be talked about during the show.

The side panel features the Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Judy Nails along with logos very similar to the ones used in that game. The guitar controllers on stock in photo appear to be the ones used in Guitar Hero: World Tour, which really begs a question: Eddie and I do not see wires and we notice what appear to be CS guitar controller boxes on the ground. Can these cabs wirelessly sync up to your personal, beloved home guitar controller?

Edit: The answer appears to be no. When asked, our source indicated Raw Thrills will be developing its own controllers from scratch. While the guitars will be original, they are slated to maintain the look of Guitar Hero: World Tour's guitars. It was said Raw Thrills "really wants to try wireless sync ... but it won't ship that way."

Overall, though, the cabinet looks very aesthetically attractive and we can see there are two selector buttons (red and blue) that appears to indicate the machine will be for two players. Also, we're digging the foot rests housed on both sides of the cabinet - I know I like to put a foot up and rest the guitar on my knee in Guitar Freaks.

In the photo, you'll also clearly see in the background, the reported American Idol cabinet (I'm going to guess the tagline on the cab says "Star Studio"). If we come across news on the cabinet, we'll be sure to post more about it.

I've made sure to attach the full-size photo along with the story and you can be sure we'll continue to follow this cabinet, and any other music game cabs, with more details as they develop through the course of IAAPA.

Allegedly, sometime very soon, "arcade" Guitar Hero will no longer be relegated to fan-made setups such as the one pictured to the right - no, if these rumors pan out, you'll be shredding alongside a friend via your local arcade location.

Back at the beginning of October, rumors started circulating that Activision-Blizzard's Guitar Hero series would be hitting the arcade scene thanks to the development efforts of Raw Thrills. Today, a very reliable source has told Bemanistyle.com exclusively that this is indeed 100% true and the cabinet is slated to make its grand unveiling at the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions exhibit in Orlando, Florida, beginning this Tuesday.

While Raw Thrills is reportedly handling all of the development and engineering, perhaps the most startling news of all is the development that the cabinet will be published by Konami, of all companies, which, if you're a regular on the site, you should know as the publisher and developer of the long-running Guitar Freaks series (among other things). So far, our source has stated the cabinet is going to feature 8-10 speakers, more than 500 LED lights and a 32" monitor. The cabinet is also reportedly slated to take advantage of Internet connections to provide online cash tournaments sometime starting in 2009.

We're still labeling this as rumor until we see for ourselves on Tuesday, but, believe me when I say this is a very reliable source. Once it's unveiled, however, hopefully, along with new arcade machines from Konami and PM Studios, the U.S. arcade scene will get the kick in the pants it needs to rejuvenate a little.

Edit: I've been talking to Arcade Heroes, which picked up on our story, and with the site's knowledge of the IAAPA event and the arcade industry, here are the tidbits they had to add:

"Tiny update: While I tried to get some confirmation on this, all I could find out is that Konami is going to be at the Betson booth, which is why they are not on the IAAPA map. Raw Thrills also shares the Betson booth so the union on Guitar Hero would be pretty easy to handle. That and our friend Editor in the comments below confirms it so now we just are waiting for the pics and video."

The Editor comment referenced in the above quote:

"Yay - we can talk about it now the news has broken - yep, Konami owns the rights to the technology for AC application so they worked with Activision and Raw Thrills. More big news about Konami expected soon."

If you're wondering, Andamiro is supposed to be at the event as well, so we're hoping to pull Guitar Hero, DDR X, Pump It Up, American Idol (another Raw Thrills production) media and anything else music oriented that might be at the event. Nothing is confirmed in the way of what will physically be at the show, but Arcade Heroes has a nice prediction piece up for the event.

The first pic of the new IIDX Empress poster has emerged. Enjoy!