Do not be alarmed: it's only iDOLM@STER

18 Comments by Jared Rea Jan 29th 2007 8:35AM
Filed under: Arcade, Microsoft Xbox 360, Online, Simulations

As one of the Xbox 360's most elusive exclusives, Namco Bandai's Japanese juggernaut The Idolmaster seems to strike a chord with just about every person that comes across it, be it good or bad. While some folk seem to embrace it's cheesy pop trappings and obsessive management gameplay, others flee in the opposite direction out of fear of being caught in an episode of To Catch a Predator.

Heavens to Murgatroid! What a terrible reputation!

To settle the score on The Idolmaster once and for all, the internet's own Dom Nguyen ventured to Nagoya, Japan and returned with a detailed report on his Idolmaster experience. The deeply involved community. Accidentally punching your idol in the ear. The official Idolmaster towel. Everything you've wanted to know about the sim that has Japanese tweens by the throat, all in a lovely photo blog.

Consider yourself learned.

Tags: dom nguyen, DomNguyen, heavens to murgatroyd, HeavensToMurgatroyd, namco bandai, NamcoBandai, the idolmaster, TheIdolmaster, to catch a predator, ToCatchAPredator

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

benjamin: Jan 29th 2007; 9:02AM

You've no idea how much I'd like to play this game.

I'm being totally serious.

ill trooper: Jan 29th 2007; 9:35AM

Interesting directions in multiplayer online gameplay...

It reminds me of William Gibson's book "Idoru."

sheppy: Jan 29th 2007; 9:46AM

LOL at "I must break you!"

I forget what fighting game it was, but I had a character boldly state "Spicy Pizza chaffs my ass!"

baby sea tuna: Jan 29th 2007; 10:01AM

What...the...fuck? Well, at least next time someone says "wah, wah all the 360 has is shooters!" M$ can now counter with, "Wait...What about our award winning fairy-ass J-Dating-Sim game?! And don't forget the backward-compatable Barbie Horse Adventures..."

Then agian, this is coming from a level 56 pinata gardener so what the hell do I know?

Erwos: Jan 29th 2007; 10:04AM

The "I must break you!" comment was my fave, too!

The whole thing is a little... odd. And creepy. I will readily admit to enjoying Princess Maker 2, but this takes it to another, almost-wrong level.

I think what was most interesting about the article was the description of the scene involved. A bookcase full of guides? A communal diary? Sit-down gaming? Nationally networked cabinets? Save game cards? No wonder arcades are still alive and well over there.

sheppy: Jan 29th 2007; 10:21AM

Yeah, the death of arcades over here was mainly because they weren't focusing on what you can't do at home, but rather hoping the six months it would take for Tekken 4 to hit PS2 would be long enough to come out profitable on that $5000 jamma board...

That, and Skeeball... which I love. I get all sorts of funny looks when a grown man walks into Chuck E Cheese, blows $10 on Skeetball, and just gives the tickets away.

Jonah Falcon: Jan 29th 2007; 10:31AM

I'm interested in this game, too. I hope they bring it to the US just like they did Space Channel 5.

Zertoss: Jan 29th 2007; 10:47AM

#6

I did the same thing when I went to Disneyworld a couple of years ago. I think I accumulated around 1000 tickets when I ran out of quarters, and I gave them to one of my cousins, but they didn't want any of the prizes, so we ended up giving all our tickets to some little kid. His mom gave us all some quarters (she wouldn't take no for an answer), so I went and racked up a new high score on the LotR pinball machine.

Anyway, I wouldn't mind giving this game a spin. It certainly looks different, and I like different. I can only imagine what the idols would be saying on XBL though. "I will break you" is awfully tame compared to some of the things I've heard.

0ldb0y: Jan 29th 2007; 12:00PM

The fanfare and competition seems analgous to the States' fantasy sports passtime. Looks like a winner to me.

BPM: Jan 29th 2007; 12:46PM

In case anyone missed the link in the last post about THE IDOLM@STER, here's some gameplay videos of it:
http://stage6.divx.com/tags/IDOL+MASTER

Most impressive cel-shading I've seen yet.

That Fuzzy Bastard: Jan 29th 2007; 1:04PM

And it's coming to 360? Fascinating---MS looks prepared to keep throwing money at Japanese console-exclusives until Japanese people start buying their system, and this is a good choice for expanding the 360's customer base. Of course, it would all be in vain were Sony not stumbling so badly, but seeing as how they are, MS really could expand their user base fast with this kind of thing.

benjamin: Jan 29th 2007; 3:10PM

@#12: I can only see this getting ported if they change the loli idols to something like American Idol.

And that would be very, very lame.

raycosm: Jan 29th 2007; 6:14PM

So what was the towel for again?

borgie: Jan 29th 2007; 10:31PM

this game will sell very, very well. It will move 360 to people who would never have considered it before. This game however will never be ported; unless mainstream or at least the gamers in the West are fans of Morning Musume or at least familiar with their story and customs. It's a part of J-culture that may never translate, so this game will never make it here. It's just too bad, most of you won't know the joy of J-POP idols.

Segadult: Jan 30th 2007; 12:45AM

"the sim that has Japanese tweens by the throat"

Dude, have you guys been following this game at all? A hundred times more grown men want this game than tweens.

Abscissa: Jan 30th 2007; 2:16AM

"...tweens..."

Learn English:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/preteen

Hanachan: Feb 10th 2007; 1:09PM

As a female, I should be offended by this game, but I'm a huge MoMusu/Hello!Project fan, so I just find this hilarious and I want to play it :)

Calci: Apr 27th 2007; 12:08AM

I LOVE this game very much. I wasn't interested by any video games in 10 years, but when I glanced at it, I instantly decided to buy XBOX360 and iDOLM@STER. It is simply FASCINATING!!
It is a shame that this excellent game will never be catered to overseas.

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