In 1999, Konami of Japan unleashed DrumMania on Japanese arcades and with it, the ability to link the machine together with GuitarFreaks for session play. This was considered a novel idea at the time, though it wasn't the most affordable setup. The following year, they released a home version of DrumMania, complete with the appropriate controller. That is, of course, if you had no intentions of playing the game with any sort of accuracy.
Jump to the present day and not only has Harmonix solved the problem of session play, but they've also produced a drumming peripheral that challenges the quality of Konami's original arcade beast.
Sticks in hand, we sat down behind Harmonix's latest kit, flipped the difficulty to hard and proceeded to lay in like few others have before. If there is any doubt as to the mastery of rhythm wielded by Harmonix, Rock Band surely squashes it.
With Rayman's musical mini-games and the multi-peripheral DDR franchise already making passes at the Wii, it would seem that Nintendo's system gets along famously with the rhythm genre. The two are like a pair of dazed lovers skipping blissfully through a park, unaware that their uncontrolled flailing and unexpected gyration is leaving everyone in the nearby vicinity with bloody noses and swollen eyeballs. That certainly sounds like the ideal Wii experience, at least according to EA -- they've just announced Boogie, a Wii-exclusive rhythm game that wants you to dance, pose and sing your way to living room stardom.
On the heels of XBLA's Boom Boom Rocketand EA's announced intention to bust into music games "sooner than you think" comes a game which, at first glance, appears to be the result of Tim Burton drunkenly colliding with a Singstar demo kiosk. Boogie will see gamers producing the moves and vocals for a music video, presumably making use of that super secret Wii microphone. The nunchuck is also incorporated here, giving rise to the possibility that the microphone peripheral itself may also harbor motion-sensing abilities akin to that of the Wiimote. What's the use of a microphone if you can't twirl it about like a buffoon?
Do you love Beatmania? Have you always wanted to check it out but your arcade wouldn't carry it? If you answered yes to either one of those questions and live near Naperville, Illinois, you will have an opportunity to try your hand at the latest in Konami's original rhythm series. You may have played Beatmania before and your local arcade may even have it, but this test is special. The results may determine if we ever see an official, arcade release of Beatmania IIDX here in the States.
Mirroring the grass roots promotion of last years Dance Dance Revolution Supernova, Konami is teaming up with coin-op manufacturer Betson Enterprises to bring Beatmania IIDX 14: Gold to the US for a limited time only. Whether Konami is considering a US version of the game or to begin releasing the titles internationally (see: Supernova) is unknown as the test is simply to determine the general interest level of the game.
The location test begins on March 5th at the Brunswick Zone in Naperville, Illinois. The machine will remain on test for an undetermined amount of time, though we can't imagine it staying beyond two weeks. So bring a friend, a lot of quarters and show your support. This may be the only chance in your lifetime to play Ghostbusters.
It's the 10 year anniversary for Konami's legendary Bemani series of rhythm titles and you know what that means! More sequels! Okay, so they're not doing much out of the ordinary aside from some choice merchandising opportunities, but if you're a Bemani fan, sequels to your favorite series are about all could ask for at this point.
Bemanistyle attended AOU this weekend to check out the latest batch of assembly line titles in Beatmania IIDX 14: Gold (featuring Ghostbusters), GitaDora V4 and the all-star of the bunch, Pop'n Music 15: Adventure. Yes, it took fifteen sequels but we finally get character previews in Pop'n Music. Whose to say they don't work hard for the money now?
A few of the artists were on-hand, conducting interviews and generally fawning to their audience. Also making an appearance was Dance Dance Revolution Supernova 2, albeit in poster-form only.
Perhaps Seizure Party would have been a more appropriate subtitle, as Konami's latest Dance Dance Revolution game will require the simultaneous use of three peripherals: a dance mat, a Wii remote and a Wii nunchuck. The Bemani developer has announced that their decidedly groovy franchise will pay a visit to the Wii, with Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party releasing sometime before 2007 keels over from pure exhaustion.
The game will feature all the modes series fans are familiar with, though we expect they really mean it with Workout Mode this time. Konami also encourages players to invite up to three friends for fantastic and potentially dangerous multiplayer stomping, flailing and gyrating. Remember, it's not embarassing if you enjoy it.
Are we on the verge of a Ghostbusters revival or is there just something strange in our gamerhood? First it was Zootfly with their incredible test footage for a proposed Ghostbusters game and now this -- a remix of the classic Ray Parker theme in the next Beatmania.
Currently running the trade show and test location scene, Beatmania IIDX Gold is the 14th iteration of Konami's 7-button wonder. What are the chances of us being able to get our groove on to this awesome remix? Slim to none until the game sees its eventual Playstation 2 port in Japan. Until then, enjoy the video!
Has it really been a decade since Konami made the rhythm-action genre a cultural phenomenon? Apparently so. And to celebrate BeMani's 10th anniversary, Konami is holding a 'Pop'N Music Culture Festival' next month at Tokyo's Laforet Museum. Fans should make arrangements to be in Harajuku, Tokyo on February 24/25. Limited edition BeMani-related goods will be on sale at the event, while Konami plans to keep the party dancing with a string of live performances from dance troupes and DJs.
The best mementos of this anniversary, though, are the Pop'N Music t-shirts being made by Graniph (a Japanese t-shirt designer that's more Benetton than Bape) to commemorate everything that's been funky about BeMani over the past decade. Only 500 of these shirts are being made, so residents of Japan should make their orders "pronto".
Forget for a moment that libraries are supposedly places where one can go for some quiet reading. Forget too that librarians are typically known for being shushers and squelchers of anything resembling fun. Finally, forget that there's an inverse relationship between time spent exercising and time spent sitting in a library.
Now you're ready to accept the wackiness of a situation in which a teenaged librarian uses DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) to settle disputes between patrons and to determine whether an overdue fine should be waived. Totally awesome, if completely inappropriate in a library environment.
When the New York Times wrote about the PC Recording Studio Guitar (a guitar that plugs in to a Mac or PC via USB), we wondered immediately whether the device could be used for a more authentic guitar-hero experience.
Instead of mindless entertainment that does little to advance skills that are appreciated by the non-gaming public, game technology could be used to teach us skills that might help us climb the Maslovian pyramid to self actualization. If a capable game developer were to write a strong rhythm game that used a real guitar as a controller, we'd gladly slap down the 200 bones required to learn guitar. It'd be a steal, and an investment in the future.
Is your plastic, roll-up DDR pad seriously crimping your krumping? Do you need the solid feel of an arcade pad to grant you the superhuman celerity that marks the series? Yeah, that's what I keep telling myself also. If you know your way around some tools, have some basic welding experience (what, you don't?), and have the requisite dedication to house a rather unwieldy dance pad, this'll make for a fun weekend project.
Red Octane's Guitar Hero II is on show and we tried out the co-op mode. It's an improvement on Guitar Hero's multiplayer modes, as it assigns different parts to both players; we took the bass part to another player's lead, and made some beautiful music.
Inevitably the bass line has less sparkle than the lead, so this allows less skilled players to accompany those more proficient. The single-player mode caters to the harder end of the spectrum with three-finger chords -- a Red Octane employee hinted at four finger chords too. Before you run away in terror, remember it takes just as many fingers to play a real guitar.
Note: Guitar Hero has been released in
the US for six months, but is a new release in Europe. This review uses the European version of the game.
Once,
I dreamed of being on stage, lights in my eyes and music in my ears. Yesterday, for five glorious, rock-filled minutes,
I was living my dream. Sliding my fingers up and down the fretboard in power chords, using fingers which haven't borne
callouses for years, I was creating music… and what music it was! Songs I remembered tentatively picking out
came to life, finally, with consummate skill.
The fact I was pressing five brightly coloured buttons on a
reduced-size guitar that looks like a child's toy is irrelevant. I was engrossed in the music, concentrating hard,
picking out notes and chords with a frown when I missed and a smile when I did well, the audience's cheers and boos
echoing my success.
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz,
RedOctane CEO Kelly Sumner revealed that the company's "got other products in development" in the music
genre.
The former Take Two Interactive Europe CEO's statement that he "can't tell you what [these other
products] are and when they're coming" would lead us to believe he's not talking about the Guitar Hero
sequels (sorta like song expansion packs) already announced.
A rhythm line-up to rival Konami's Bemani
brand, perhaps? This blogger would love something to take advantage of the RedOctane drum peripherals created for
Namco's Taiko Drum Master, and it wouldn't be too hard for Harmonix to work up a karaoke game considering
their work on Karaoke Revolution (unless licensing prevents it). Whatever the case, fans of music gaming would
love to see what Sumner's got up his sleeve.
Why have one hero when you can
have them all? While Accordion Hero may not
be your thing, perhaps this will mollify Guitar Hero fans keen to
expand their repertoire.
The CEO of RedOctane has revealed to UK trade magazine MCV that several
Guitar Hero sequels are in the pipeline, from Guitar Hero 2 to country'n'western and metal, following
SingStar's successful genre-themed-spinoff model. Guitar Hero launches in Europe in a month's time,
giving gamers this side of the pond the chance to finally see what all the fuss is about.
We recently brought you news of an ad campaign with the slogan "Give your thumbs a rest",
and this timely article by Killer Betties is an excellent port of call for anyone wishing to do so while still playing
video games.
Thanks to gaming, it's easy to find exercise that is both fun and continually rewarding,
without battling the elements or paying for expensive gym memberships. Fitness and gaming are becoming unlikely
bedfellows thanks to sophisticated gym machines and programs like Yourself! Fitness; the article also looks at
popular options like DDR and Donkey Konga which can be surprisingly good for you.
In 1999, Konami of Japan unleashed DrumMania on Japanese arcades and with it, the ability to link the machine together with GuitarFreaks for session play. This was considered a novel idea at the time, though it wasn't the most affordable setup. The following year, they released a home version of DrumMania, complete with the appropriate controller. That is, of course, if you had no intentions of playing the game with any sort of accuracy.
Has it really been a decade since Konami made the rhythm-action genre a cultural phenomenon? Apparently so. And to celebrate BeMani's 10th anniversary, Konami is holding a 'Pop'N Music Culture Festival' next month at Tokyo's Laforet Museum. Fans should make arrangements to be in Harajuku, Tokyo on February 24/25. Limited edition BeMani-related goods will be on sale at the event, while Konami plans to keep the party dancing with a string of live performances from dance troupes and DJs. 
