OK, there may be positive impressions as well as the negative ones. One positive impression includes the change to the arcade hardware which no longer runs Windows XP Embedded along with the fact that it has better audio hardware and drivers. There's even the internal camera for top-down video recording of yourself playing the game like you're trying to show off the fingering or some kind but that is more or less an official addon for the machine unlike Maimai series where the entirely of you can be seen in the video playing the game although there's no official video capturing stuff of the game's screen. I'm not sure if the in-game audio will be recorded through the Stereo Mix or not just like Maimai series does although there won't be so much sound effects going on during the recording.
The location test took place 3 months ago but some trouble cropped up there that Konami had to pull back the machine off the arcades quickly probably due to some threat going on as stated on Twitter. The story according to Bemanistyle is that someone wanted to go to the arcades where the game was being location tested to harm the hell out of those people there. At least, he apologized but I don't know the reason on why did he do this.
My guesses for that person who made the threat were like:
- There were still nerds supporting the game or whatnot?
- Heavy obsession with Metal Gear/Castlevania/Silent Hill?
- It's probably due to something else
Perhaps, the third guess in the list is the more accurate one as the fans of those games stated in the second guess are already smart enough to drift away from Konami for good in favor of other stuffs. Even if Konami makes a comeback with various reboots like Super Bomberman R, Bishi Bashi Channel and of course, DDR in the west, there's still no guarantee that those fans will make a comeback as well.
Last thing is that the style name of Beatmania IIDX 25 refers to the illegal cross-country races organized in America in the 1970s. Illegal events are unforgivable and I bet that I had seen some before.
The game will be out sometime in December and with the new hardware, it should keep the series going like Gitadora does ever since 4 years ago. The others still have outdated arcade system to be frank like Jubeat, Pop'n Music, DDR, Sound Voltex, Reflec Beat, etc.
