Beatmania IIDX 29 Cast Hour Controversial Feature - Paid Loot Box Feature for Random Patterns

Indeed, I wrote the blog articles about the new features of Beatmania IIDX such as the Lightning Model and the controversial video-capture saving feature in Beatmania IIDX Bistrover which is present in Lightning Model cabinets only. The upcoming sequel comes with another minor controversy, a paid lootbox feature for Random patterns. It's controversial but not as controversial as the paid lootbox for character card feature in Sega's Ongeki.

At least, in Sega's Ongeki, you're going to need character cards or something as part of the gameplay in which you'll move the characters left and right and dodging projectiles coming at them in addition to the notes. It's basically a rhythm game with additional gameplay features but it comes with its own controversy I already mentioned such as a paid lootbox feature for character cards. Why the need for physical character cards for a rhythm game in the arcades?

At the current time, the upcoming sequel to Beatmania IIDX 28 already had a location test last week and it's theme this time is video livestreaming. Overall, that's like two minor controversial features present in Beatmania IIDX 29 when it comes out in the arcades sometime this year. So about the paid lootbox for Random patterns, it is exclusive to Lightning Model cabinets just like the Pay-To-Screen-Capture feature from Beatmania IIDX 28.

Beatmania IIDX 28 Bistrover's Controversial Video Saving Feature?

Really? Charging players a fee to video capture in video games? Is there a place where you can book a video filming session to get yourself filmed? Sure, holding a phone or camera alone will not look professional enough that such professional video filming equipment will be needed there and you'll need to pay a fee for a session like that and then you can do whatever you want there while you're being filmed.

Imagination-aside, there's a understanding that filming in the arcades is not allowed and prior to Konami planning this feature, many arcades in Japan and Korea have the opportunity to allow the players to screen capture whatever game they've played. I don't know if that will cost additional money or not. In case of Konami's new plan, this feature is useful for players to video capture the game in the arcades provided that they're playing the game on the Lightning Model cabinet running Beatmania IIDX 28. I do get the feeling that the E-Amusement Pass and E-Amusement account are needed for this and the video capture feature charges players a credit-per-song/quarter-per-song. It's basically a Pay-To-Showoff method besides the Pay-To-Print feature Konami had implemented in various modern arcade games.

Once the video is saved to the server at the price of another quarter, you can eventually download it to your computer or phone so you can post it to video sharing site or social media. The difference is that you won't see the Paseli and Credit counters when compared to standard video capture method that shows everything.

So it shows that Konami has regards for profits by charging players additional credits for various features in arcade games including paid loot-box features as if the Mobile and Pachinko businesses didn't anger people enough. Then again, there were recent comebacks starting with Super Bomberman R on consoles and PC but there were other controversies Konami stirred like charging players additional fees for the save slots in Metal Gear Survive, a new medal game that takes place in a casino with some Virtual YouTuber-like characters and of course, Armored Princess Battle Conductor which has the shady loot-box feature.

Man, imagine being a shill enough to put in additional quarters for such greedy features in arcade games today and especially if you want to show off your Beatmania IIDX skills. This is it, the first gaming controversy Konami stirred of this year!

Beatmania IIDX Lightning Model

At the time of writing this blog post, support for Windows 7 recently ended for consumers with paid extended support lasting 3 more years for business users. The Embedded Standard edition has until this October with Embedded POSReady 7 having until next year before the OSes go EOL. In case of Beatmania IIDX Lightning Model machine, it uses Windows 10 IOT which might be a smart move.
The machine has an additional screen which is a touchscreen replacement for the effector sliders, LCD Marquee and Keypads. It has Sound, Settings and even News menu with the latter being added recently.
You can adjust the turntable resistance and even adjust the headphone and effector volumes on the touchscreen area as well as to bring up the Keypad area as physical keypads are removed. The same removal goes for the physical effector sliders. The physical buttons for Start, Effector and VEFX are arranged due to the introduction of the touchscreen. Other exclusives for the Lightning Model include its exclusive songs and Eisei Dan which is a bigger challenge.
Another unique thing is the usage of 120Hz monitor for Beatmania IIDX Lightning Model which may pose another difference in timing but you do get a smoother gaming experience. I don't know how smooth 120FPS is compared to 60FPS when it comes to rhythm games.
One more thing, if you try to look up "Rhythm Games in 120Hz" online, you can see the information about Razar Phone 1 & 2 having the official list of games supporting 120Hz/120FPS and Groove Coaster 2 is one of the rhythm games to have that. The other smartphones will have 120FPS but there's no way to know if the games will have 120Hz native support or not. I don't know what the experience is like since most of us have the devices that run at 60FPS but if I see the Lightning Model cabinet in the local arcades, that is the closest way I can experience 120FPS.
Lastly, the headphone jack is officially available in Beatmania IIDX Lightning Model and that should be in every Beatmania and Beatmania IIDX cabinets in the first place in my opinion. Also, someone had the guts to use the VEFX feature on the Lightning Model to turn on and off the effects while playing the game like he's DJing or something so maybe the touchscreen feature is the improvement. It might seem fun that way but it can increase difficulty that way. Your best bet to do what that person did will be to play the songs in lower difficulties while turning on/off the effects at the appropriate time

Useful references:
https://www.androidauthority.com/razer-phone-120-hz-games-827605/
https://remywiki.com/AC_HEROIC_VERSE
https://twitter.com/smallghostK/status/1209502233772969984

Beatmania IIDX Heroic Verse First Play

The objective of attempting the remaining songs from IIDX Sinobuz and Cannon Ballers isn't over yet and I already attempted various Hardstyle, Hardcore and Trance related songs from those folders even before IIDX Heroic Verse came out. The menu where you select Single Play/Double Play was taken out as you can toggle between them in Music Select screen. Another good thing is the inclusion of language selection in Entry screen, similar to how Bishi Bashi Channel has when you start the game. As I was suggested to explore other music genres, I sort of did the same for Beatmania IIDX when browsing the song list. Needless to say, the weaknesses I have when it comes to Beatmania IIDX are still with me like I ended up failing various Level 8/9 songs.

Beatmania IIDX 26 Rootage First Play

Sure, the Hi-Speed settings are changed in Beatmania IIDX 26 Rootage but it probably meant that I had to get used to this new impression. The good thing about the new Hi-Speed setting is that you get to see how fast or slow the note goes down in the preview pane, similar to the one in Pop'n Music before the music starts. It's quite useful although the songs with multiple BPMs are little challenges to the adjustment plans of the Hi-Speed settings. There's even the Hi-Speed value at the bottom with decimal places and the sufficient speed ever since having played the previous Beatmania IIDX games will take place at higher value. Normally by default, you get the range of numbers to choose from in the Hi-Speed settings and they have decimal values but there's also another way to adjust the speed. This is changed in Beatmania IIDX 26 Rootage where the range of numbers is now 0 to 10 and having selected 2, 3 or 4 doesn't probably mean sufficient note falling speed or the speed of the scrolling chart.
Pressing 0 key at the Game Over will show the legal info related to the QR code implementation. You have 60 seconds to read it and can scroll up and down with the turntable but I suppose that reading it is irrelevant in the first place. You can also press 5 key during the Results screen.
The HD* in the Definition Type is removed in which the machines using this previously to cause the offset increase to +1.0. So, if the machine uses the 42" monitor ever since the introduction of that monitor a few years ago, it will have the offset increased.
There are remixes of the licensed songs ever since Beatmania IIDX Gold although one of them, U.S.A., remixed by Phquase is ruined with the muffled auto-tuned vocal but somehow, some player by the name of DDX had the guts to show off the gameplay videos of him dancing to that song. In theory, it's already quite impossible to play the game and dance at the same time when the song is attempted in higher difficulty. It is possible to do what the original Beatmania player, ITOH, did, when it comes to that song, U.S.A. It is hard enough in Hyper difficulty and it's going to be even harder in Another difficulty. However, I won't do what ITOH or DDX did in the arcades even when attempting songs like U.S.A. or other licensed songs. Speaking of licensed songs for IIDX Rootage, it may seems that Particle Arts and U.S.A. are like my favorites or some sort.

Beatmania IIDX Cannon Ballers First Play

About the disturbing player name that I mentioned in some previous Beatmania IIDX related blog post, it turns out that the Terms & Conditions against inappropriate player names HAVE BEEN THERE in many Bemani games although the shameful thing is that they're not translated to English in many Bemani games and this is one of them so it's a shame on me for not knowing the Terms & Conditions earlier. They're there in Beatmania IIDX but they aren't translated whatsoever. And by the way, turning off the machine or disconnecting it from the network as a way of ragequitting or mischievous act is one sure way to get you banned from or kicked out of the arcade. It doesn't matter which genre you're playing but I'm sure that this warning has been there against such misbehaviors.
Good thing is that the camera option has been turned off by default but even then, I still have yet to figure out some of the patterns in the notechart so that I can do things usually like other players do. However, I still have to figure out the balance to get my timing right like 2.20 of Hi-Speed for 170-190 BPM or something for instance.

Beatmania IIDX 25 Cannon Ballers

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.

Beatmania IIDX Gameplay Report - May 19-20

Things were like in cramped shape at the arcades as if there were small spaces in between the music game machines. It looked like I was finished with Beatmania IIDX after having attempted most of the songs from IIDX Lincle, Tricoro, Pendual and Sinobuz but I have additional criterias, the song genre and the decency of the song. If the song is quite decent enough, the chance of it being manageable is good or great depending on the difficulty.
One great news was that I managed to clear Sweet Clapper in Another difficulty although the song level can be misleading to other players at times. However, I didn't know if I could clear it like that so I set the Groove Gauge to Assist Easy just in case I won't be able to clear the song with Easy Groove Gauge but it turned out that the Groove Gauge didn't drop that much.
The reason for this revisit is to make sure that the arcade machines aren't infected by the global cyber attack in the form of some ransomware everyone knows of. Indeed, the machines are still working fine although one of the Groove Coaster machines didn't start at all and it was stuck at "Starting Game" screen. Patching embedded systems like those machines is no easy task
One off-topic thing to note, the house renovation, needless to say, already started in May 19 so going back to my home in these renovation days is like seeking self-trouble as nearly everything was filled with dust but that is something I shouldn't worry about if I know what I'm doing. Furthermore, I already ran out of money inside my EZ-Link card and the left side of my earpiece is missing the cover as if I can't get clear hearing without it. I do have a backup one received from my niece's mother but I should learn to safeguard my earpiece and it may mean that I have to go back to my home to retrieve it. Needless to say, the relocation due to renovation isn't comfortable enough as the Home Improvement Program there is still on-going just like my home's and if I have to do some DJ practice for instance, I'm already out of luck. Not to mention that the idiotic trash from my home staying over with me has been causing irritations everywhere. I thought I caused some trouble because of her bad influence and going back to my home for check but I didn't as if I couldn't feel anything unusual when checking my stuffs and the machines I played in May 19. However, I have a bad feeling that this worry will come back again because of her stupidity. Also, the outer part of the fader for Filter part of IIDX machine had gone off. Whoever caused that might have done caused it to fall off accidentally so the amount of worries might not be that big. I don't know who did that when I saw the outer part fallen off. Lastly, who the hell came to the arcades with the scooter in May 20? That would pose a threat to the shopping mall if ridden around but at least they got escorted out.

Beatmania IIDX Gameplay Report (March 18)

I guess that I had already done additional music arrangements that can be viewed on my YouTube and Soundcloud accounts and it looked like it was the time to go to the arcades again. This update included the existence of the Expert Mode in Beatmania IIDX Sinobuz along with its Classic Class feature as well as the new song playable in this period, Crew, as part of Beatnation 10th Anniversary. For Beatnation 10th Anniversary, the campaign is said to be for Japan only which you have to play Beatmania IIDX 30 times with your E-Amusement pass to proof that you have done that 30 times during the campaign period according to the campaign's official website. Next, you have to proof that to the game center staff with your E-Amusement pass if you want to get the CD of the song. One thing to bear in mind that each Beatmania IIDX cabinet has 4 copies of the CDs.
Since the campaign is like for Japan only, I don't think this is going to count for overseas Bemani players no matter how many times you have played Beatmania IIDX or perhaps the song, Crew, during this campaign period so that you overseas players DON'T NEED to play the game like 30 times. It's like asking for SGD60 for 30 credits in which each coin out of 4 for a credit costs $0.50. So that is like $60 for 120 credits in total for this campaign. Do you want to contribute to those in-game events for arcade games to the core?

6th KAC Live Stream

Thanks to Round 1 reviving some arcade scenes in the US in the modern way, it seems that DDR is back there with DDR A and DDR A is said to be the first DDR game to have the E-Amusement support. The success of the location testing of DDR 2014 in the US might have led to the official availability of the sequel, DDR A and it looks like the players from US were welcome to take part in 6th KAC.
At first, the competitors from Japan and Korea have been quite fierce that they had a higher chance of winning in 6th KAC but a surprising miracle came from the US KAC finalists for DDR in which one of the finalists had won the championship by surprise. Another interesting thing about that finalist from US, Chris, was that he had the legendary skills in Guitar Hero as well.
What I don't like about the live stream is the misbehaviors from the nerds in the chat session on YouTube. They had been spamming it with political, cursing and even other disgusting stuffs. And someone had the guts to comment about the characters from Sound Voltex at the *****graphical level. *Sigh* That person should be kicked out of YouTube or even better, the Internet for this. Such stuffs I saw were no jokes nor trolls. Another stupid thing people had been spamming the chat was the simulators of the official rhythm games. For me, I don't think such topics like that are pretty much allowed. Why the hell do you want to play those simulators when you're actually interested in the official and actual rhythm games, then?
Unfortunately, even if the KAC finalist from the US had won the first place along with DDR A being in the US thanks to Round 1, it is already too late to undo the damage for other parts of Konami when they announced Bombergirl for the arcades that was being location tested in this year's JAEPO. I already fear that there's no such thing as cancellation of such arcade games like Bombergirl which is the controversial spinoff of Bomberman. At first, the announcement of Super Bomberman R had people think that Konami is making a comeback but no, it's not a clean comeback all along when Bombergirl for the arcades was announced. It's so controversial because of unacceptable contents although Bomberman is the kids-friendly franchise. To explain this further damage Konami has done in detail is a different tale.
Also, Nostalgia, the spiritual successor to Keyboardmania, was shown at this year's JAEPO with improvements to the physical controller design in which the gameplay is made less difficult thanks to the controller's less realism. Things in Keyboardmania were realistic but as realistic they were, the game was extremely difficult and trying out a real piano is much tougher than that. I have also seen Marasy, the genius pianist involved in this year's JAEPO in which he played various songs from Bemani franchise in the real piano in front of the KAC attendees.
Lastly, besides KAC taking place, there's the similar competition involving rhythm games from multiple developers and it's not the first time crossover songs were made playable. Also, it marked the great end of the Lunar New Year celebration for Bemani fans.

Beatmania IIDX Gameplay Report - December 24

Well, it looked like Konami implemented another mobile gaming element to one of Bemani games this year, this time with Beatmania IIDX Sinobuz's castle intrusion event. What this does is to increase the amount of riceballs by 1 per 10 minutes of not playing the game. The maximum you can get is 2000 riceballs but bear in mind that you don't migrate the riceballs over to the next castle so the remaining ones will be lost by the time you've completed the previous one. I believe that it will take estimated two weeks to get 2000 riceballs which you can gain with the Replenish command. There's also the Skills command where you can reduce the enemy's strength, increase your strength, reduce the consumption of riceballs, etc. Choosing Search will search the castle for treasures, gates and enemies to deal with and then choose Event to begin battle. You get to choose Event Cards to deal with which may look like a virtual card battle you will have in mobile games, not the arcade games.
Once the whole castle is like 100% searched and raided, all is left is the boss character to deal with to conquer the castle. Like always, events like this can be grindy and Konami has already gone to the deeper bullshit level with the Ninja theme for Beatmania IIDX after the Train one.

Beatmania IIDX Sinobuz First Play at Bugis Virtualand

Perhaps, the title says it all but the last time I played IIDX Sinobuz was at Century Square arcade the other time. The goal of attempting the remaining IIDX Pendual songs still continues to this day. Not to mention the various updates of this month like the new Maimai sequel that already came out along with the new Sound Voltex sequel that will come out soon. Hell, I believe that the new Pop'n Music and GITADORA sequels already came out before I recently knew that. The day I played IIDX again at Bugis Virtualand was in Dec 15.
After the gameplay, you get presented with a mini-game again, this time, you're supposed to raid the castles from bottom to top floors. During gameplay, you get presented with items needed for that event. When you're inside the castle, you're supposed to search it for an item or a target. You can consume the amount of riceballs for extra strength by choosing the third option. Once you've located a target, you get to choose the second option to encounter it. There may be other options I don't know of that I have to look up online.

Beatmania IIDX Sinobuz First Play

Military, Medieval Fantasy, Train and of course, Ninja themes for a DJ simulation rhythm game like Beatmania IIDX are ABSOLUTELY OUT OF PLACE! How could Konami come up with such themes like that? It's not amusing as the real DJs discover such bullshit themes like that and play Beatmania IIDX for the first time during the time the game is having those styles. Sure, it can make them look ignorant at times but I can assure you that such DJ gigs will NEVER have those places decorated with with such themes stated above. You can dress up like a medieval warrior or ninja for a DJ party for instance but who's going to appreciate the fact that Konami has gone too far? Also, I don't think I may have seen a DDR game with an irrelevant theme like that.
Having knowing the fact that zombies don't fit in Metal Gear according to Hideo Kojima, how about saying and realizing that military, medieval fantasy, train and ninja themes DO NOT fit in DJ simulation rhythm games like Beatmania IIDX? I can assure that none of the DJ Max games may have such irrelevant themes like that. That may include probably DJ Max Technika series and Beatcraft Cyclon. What about Deemo? Does its theme fit so much correctly?
So here's what the newest style of Beatmania IIDX offers for you. Each day may have different system BGM when you start the game along with differences to the Mode Select screen. One of the days every week gives you some kind of boost in the in-game currency although there should be better features to represent yourself like the player message that is displayed in-game like in Jubeat and Groove Coaster. Also, all the unlockable songs from Beatmania IIDX Pendual are available in case you don't have so much time for arcade gaming in the arcades. Obviously, you may have to pay money for stuffs representing credits and having to unlock something you want costs even more. What's worse is the trip to specific arcade center located elsewhere.
The Century Square Virtualand arcade has the brand new Beatmania IIDX machine with the newest LCD monitor that is larger than the HD LCD monitor that is available since IIDX DJ Troopers. The newest LCD monitor was already available like a year ago but not all arcade cabinets make use of it. Using the newest HD LCD monitor, the game can identify the Definition Type as HD*. Not to mention that the feel of the cabinet of that machine is quite brand new when tapping the keys. The machines at Bugis Virtualand are using the SD monitor for proper timing so it may pose me challenge when playing Beatmania IIDX on the machine with the HD* monitor.

Beatmania IIDX Gameplay report - August 9

I do not believe what I did accidentally at the arcades on that day while self-refreshing at Beatmania IIDX after like two months or something. Prior to my arrivial, the top plastic parts of the turntables for one of the cabinets were starting to become loose/un-pasted and somehow, the pasting wasn't strong enough that the top plastic part moved out of the way while I was playing Beatmania IIDX there. Thankfully, I asked the staff to fix that top plastic part of the turntable but it surely took days to get the turntables 100% fixed for that cabinet.
It was unforgivable when that happened and I suspected that those imbeciles at home were behind the bad influences/influences of stupidity that that minor accident happened. I felt disgraceful to the gaming community because of that and the future way to make it proud again will be to open more doors to DJ networking. I'm already sure that I saw the previous cases where the turntables of the Beatmania IIDX machines were vandalized and people suspected that someone who doesn't play Beatmania IIDX must be behind that.
Lastly, there was a change in layout again at the arcades along with new games that arrived there.

Beatmania IIDX gameplay report - April 22nd

Somehow, I messed up my sleep schedule that I ended up going to the arcades quite late in the late afternoon but it looked like there was one thing to play Beatmania IIDX again, either to get my itchy fingers scratched by the sharp edge of the turntable or maybe to determine the true culprit behind the cutting of my finger skin. It turned out that the layer just below the very top of the turntable has the sharp edge that may scratch your finger skin if you're not scratching the turntable correctly like it already happened to me but it seemed that either someone peeled off the top part of the turntable again or perhaps, that part was not pasted correctly that I would expect a more accurate condition of the turntable.
Another shameful thing was that the bed or the floor I've been on is attracting some itch on my body so the itch problem isn't quite over yet and that I may expect that the dengue problem be solved in my current place as soon as possible as it is one of the most notorious ones for having the most amount of problems.
Lastly, the train track construction event for Beatmania IIDX Copula is already over as of this time of blogging and that the new event called Melody Line is coming soon. Again, the goal of playing Beatmania IIDX Copula will be to improve my skills and attempt the remaining IIDX Pendual songs. A credit or debit card is required if I want to unlock the Pendual songs that are still locked by purchasing the E-Amusement Basic Subscription but I don't know if that feature will be available outside Japan and I hate to falsify things in my accounts like that.

Beatmania IIDX Gameplay Report - April 8th

At least the mistakes were solved this time in which I played the same set of songs in Expert Mode in Beatmania IIDX in Hyper difficulty with Auto-Scratch turned off. Unfortunately, it looked like I scratched my finger while scratching the turntable which was like causing skin cuts on that finger. Play too much of Beatmania IIDX and that finger would get its skin cut open. Fortunately, the vinyl or traditional turntable texture was nothing like that but for the Beatmania IIDX turntable, its texture has the dotted pattern that trying to scratch it too hard may result in the finger skin being scratched as well. The workaround for this is that there should be some official tape-mod for the turntable but it is quite rare to find one.
Reasons for tape-mod may be the fact that your hands may get sweaty or maybe my finger gets scratched when scratching the turntable. I don't know if the Beatmania IIDX PS2 controller's turntable has the same texture pattern or not but I don't want to risk cutting my finger skin over scratching the turntable as it may be painful. Imagine me playing Beatmania IIDX with the glove on.
Or maybe that I scratched my finger skin at the metallic edge of the turntable, I don't know.

Trip to TKA Virtualand Arcade at Bugis Junction (March 28)

Okay, the promise was fulfilled again with another trip to TKA Virtualand arcade at Bugis Junction yesterday with another gameplay of Beatmania IIDX and Sound Voltex again. There were some local events that took place last week but I found other events to be much more appreciated than those like the in-game events for Beatmania IIDX, Groove Coaster and of course, LLSIF. Yesterday, the Score Match for LLSIF pretty much ended with the maintenance taking place while I was already out there at the arcades.
Unfortunately, the controversies of this month I mentioned were delayed or something as the Nesica service was offline at the TKA Virtualand arcade at Bugis Junction, leaving the Groove Coaster machines offline. Obviously, if the game is offline, a different screen will be displayed before the title screen. In fact, lesser things will be mentioned by the navigator when the game's offline in general. I guess that it ruined my mood a little bit because of the trips I went to at Century Square.
Another major mistake was that I forgot to turn off the Auto-Scratch and switch to Hyper difficulty before going for Rave set in Secret folder in Expert Mode in Beatmania IIDX. That looked like a laughable mistake.
Lastly, do I look like I cared for the local events that took place last week? No, I don't have any interests whatsoever and things are still as normal as ever. There will be online events taking place in March 29 Western Time which is already March 30 Local Time like I'll be attending them whenever possible although that is already beyond the scope of this blog post.

Gameplay report at Virtualand at Bugis - February 5th

I'm well aware of the updates that took place at Virtualand arcades at Bugis such as the headphone jack for Beatmania IIDX machines, the Sound Voltex Generator as well as the controversial Museca. And of course, the games are still running smoothly even though Windows XP Embedded had gone out of support last month that many arcade systems running that OS are considered old and yet, some of the services like Nesica X Live and E-Amusement are still powering the old Windows XP Embedded based arcade machines and especially that current games are being updated at this time on those machines. Sega and Namco are already using the recent technologies and especially for Taito for Groove Coaster series which is obviously active and current. I don't know what Windows OS the arcade machine running Museca is to be frank but sooner or later, there should be a boot-up video like that. Like EZ2DJ series, some Bemani series are still running on old Windows technologies that there's no need to worry about and especially that the 5th KAC already went on recently.
The confusing thing was that there are no paper labels or whatever for the custom headphone jacks on the arcade machines and not all Jubeat machines have those jacks ready for unknown reasons. Not to mention that the devices supporting custom headphone jacks should be fixed or something as when I played Beatmania IIDX on one of the machines, only the left side was outputted. Other updates for Beatmania IIDX as I knew of included the Expert Mode in February 3rd and the interface for that seems to be based on the one from Beatmania IIDX Pendual. Normally, the songs/courses are in black boxes or something with the folders having white boxes but for Expert Mode interface, I still have yet to get used to it.
Unfortunately, even with the earpiece on and hooked up to the headphone jack, I still failed the Class Level 4 in Beatmania IIDX like I was having issues with certain patterns from some songs. R5 was already painful enough with repeat notes on the same lane plus other patterns.

Beatmania IIDX 23 Copula first play

Now that we know that Beatmania IIDX 23 Copula recently came out last week, I figured out that it was a proper time to get going to the arcades again. Songs that were in parts of One More Extra Stage and Course modes in IIDX Pendual are normally playable. New to the gameplay includes the Hell Charge Notes, more assistance options although going for Easy Clear, Auto-Scratch or both may seem to be the standard options to be used in case the song is getting much harder to clear normally, and the ability to choose Normal, Mirror, EX or EX-Mirror in the Class mode.
Again, the rhythm game machines were arranged and now, there are two Beatmania IIDX machines instead of one this time again. I don't know about the machine on the left but man, please don't tell me that the IIDX machine on the left is the one with the LCD monitor again. It was a pain in the past like I thought that the machine wouldn't respond well in network connectivity stuff but it turned out that the machine was having some problem with the hard disk drive or something that replacement would be needed or something.
Also, the policy is getting more strict than ever that anyone who damages the machine in the arcades will have to take responsibility and the arcade center staffs have the rights to shut it off when that happens. Anyone who refuses to cooperate with them will be reported to the cops and worst of all, there will be no refunds for any machine that is damaged. Maybe there should be security cameras in the arcade if that's the case but since the rhythm games nowadays are suited for players aged 16 and above as I guess, you won't find any childish and mischievous troubles that easily.

Beatmania IIDX gameplay report - August 9

And it looks like we were back as the celebration preparation was really big on that day, that was, on certain places where the national celebrations were taking place live. Outside of those places, celebrations from home and shopping complexes were being prepared via live stream so it was seriously a special day for us. The trip was free via public transports and trains but of course, it's not the same for the games at the arcades themselves because the funny thing was, if the games at the arcades were set to Free Play, there would be non-stop hogging that it could be highly problematic for players like us. Needless to say, bus stops and train stations were seriously crowded and so was the arcade at Bugis Junction but the most crowded places of course would be the bus stops, train stations and even the venues where the celebrations were taking place.
The progress wasn't anything special other than the fact I managed to fix the video game neglection I had the last time for Beatmania IIDX. I adjusted the speed and the sudden+ cover again to make things stable after having come up with some theory that making the speed too fast can make the note falling choppy even at 60FPS. I don't know if this is choppy like that in LCD HD monitors but thankfully, I had some made some progress there. The neglection included terrible timing that resulted in terrible grade and somehow, I might have forgotten the usual way of playing Beatmania IIDX. Perhaps, someone must have the guts to harm me indirectly or something. Or maybe I should not have seen those idiotic YouTubers at all as they brought bad influence to me that I got neglected because of that.