Konami's Bombergirl controversy (Definitive Rant?)

By today's standards, Konami's game development actions regarding the highly disturbing Bomberman spinoff game, Bombergirl, might have landed themselves in hot water over the seriously disturbing gameplay elements when the characters take damage for instance. Some of the characters with such profiles I won't mention here combined with the indecent gameplay elements I just mentioned are super obvious by today's standards that Konami could risk crossing the line of going too far. The risk of Konami crossing the line sort of existed starting 4 years ago when I ranted about some highly disturbing Netflix dance movie certain content creators like Sidalpha made some videos of. Suffice to say, their opinions of that movie were highly negative. By that time I knew how disturbing and selfish that movie was, I could have redone a rant on Konami's Bombergirl much earlier than the time the disturbing Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid shmup game was released, and here it is, a proper way to rant.

Konami's Bombergirl was released in arcades way back in 2018 with the Konami Game Station version being released a few years later on PC. There happened to be some sequel but even then, I'm already better off with decent and non-disturbing games from Konami and other game companies. If the hot water wasn't dodged and dismissed enough as some whiny rubbish, they even had a spinoff of Mahjong Fight Club series with a similar concept.

Spinoff or not, this had gone way too far and what kind of creep would want to ask for the release of Konami's Bombergirl in the arcades outside Japan? I wouldn't be surprised if the content creators I know of made a gaming news video of the game sparking controversy for having a western arcade release.

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.

Beat Arena VR

Beat Arena is the VR spinoff entry by Konami that is part of the Bemani franchise and the first in the franchise to be released in VR for both Oculus Quest 1 and 2 which require Facebook account authentication if you want to play it. Sure, the reputation of Facebook isn't that great nowadays when it comes to privacy and especially for the past controversies they had caused upon the users. One thing you should not worry is the fact that Beat Games, the developers of Beat Saber were acquired by Facebook via Oculus Studios as there will still be new content on multiple VR headsets including Oculus Quest series of headsets. For PS VR version, there's seems to be some technical limitation but that's not what we're here for.

What we're here for is the news regarding Beat Arena. It was recently released and contains tons of songs to choose from and play with other in-game band members in front of the crowd no matter which game mode you choose. There's also other instrument to choose, something Rock Band VR lacks. And what's a rhythm game without the playfield with notes coming at you? Both Beat Arena and Rock Band VR have that but Rock Band VR seems to be going steps backwards with Freestyle type gameplay for Story Mode while retaining the actual playfield in Classic Mode although the Classic Mode looks more like a practice mode since you're not playing in front of the in-game crowd.

For comparison below:

Rock Band VR

• Classic Mode: Traditional playfield present with blank background and there are tons of songs to play.
• Story Mode: Free-style gameplay with the band and crowd. Features several venues.
• Lack of other instruments and online multiplayers.

Beat Arena

• Multiple instruments to choose from.
• Tons of songs to play with other band members in front of the crowd.
• You get to wave your hand or something as a way of making a gratitude to other members before you start the song. I don't know if this is the case for real-life band performances or not as I'm no musician.
  
• You also get to do some feedback to other band members at the end of the song.
• Regardless of the game mode, you get to play in front of the crowd and the playfield is present on top of the live scene in the background.
  

It's basically Konami's answer to Rock Band VR and what Rock Band VR should have been. I'm glad that there's a display of sufficient competence from Konami but there's still no guarantee that this alone can restore Konami's reputation. There's even a Yu-Gi-Oh VR game but I have no interest in blogging about it whatsoever.

OK, it seems that I made a close comparison of Beat Arena to Rock Band VR as Rock Band VR came out a few years earlier which is the opposite of many Bemani rhythm game franchises coming out earlier like DDR, Beatmania, Guitarfreaks/Drummania and Pop'n Music coming out in the 90s for instance. Beat Arena seems new and is not part of whatever game series whatsoever. It's similar to other Bemani games that came out in the 2010s as standalones starting from Future Tom Tom, Beatstream, Dance Evolution, Dance Rush Stardom, Nostalgia and Museca although Museca had its own controversy for a lack of originality in which it had the layout similar to the one from Neon.FM arcade cabinet. Nostalgia series seems like an answer to Deemo and the same gameplay elements are in Beat Arena as well in addition to the gameplay from Guitarfreaks and Drummania series.

Region-wise, Beat Arena was recently released in Japan and Asia so the players in the western regions are out of luck as of this time.

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!

Armored Princess Battle Conductor

The robot-themed action figure franchise seems to be back with the upcoming mobile and arcade games from Konami as announced from this year's JAEPO. The arcade game by the name of Armored Princess Battle Conductor has some interesting cabinet design with the left extra monitor displaying the characters you're currently playing as during gameplay like it reminds me of the link animation from Arcana Heart 3 or something. Like Sega's Ongeki, there will be character card slots to insert character cards on. There's also the customization stuff along with in-game photo-taking and other stuffs although you'll be doing all that within the limited time since it's an arcade game.

The strange thing about the game is that, the gameplay takes place in the house's living room and the characters are all figure-sized like it's Toy Story version of a robot action game and that makes sense since the franchise started off with action figures in the 2000s but the previous games based on the franchise didn't seem like that as if the gameplay takes place in the actual battlefields. OK, it turns out that even this latest game entry will HAVE stages taking place elsewhere instead of the house. There are other things to rant about like CHARGING CREDITS/PASELIS TO DRAW ADDITIONAL CARDS and of course, the character doing something I can't describe once she's knocked out and then she disappears from the field after a while. Note that the armor that she has disappears first upon getting knocked out. The character should stay lying down upon defeat before disappearing. Normally, in a third-person team-vs-team action game for the arcades, the match doesn't end until one of various conditions is fulfiilled so if a character is defeated, it's not over yet. In the case of Gunslinger Stratos series, the match can actually end if one of the teams has emptied the team health gauge completely so one of the characters from the defeated team must have faced a final knock out of something.

Armed Princess Battle Conductor will have its Card Entry Terminal thingy where you can print the character cards. Sega's Ongeki has the terminal thingy and you're charged each credit or something for each card printed. Like most of Japanese mobile games, there will be character cards of multiple rarity levels so it looks like there will be PAID LOOT BOX feature in an arcade game like this and there's a purpose in drawing character cards for the sake of gameplay and more powerful characters by higher rarity levels.

If you're interested in a franchise like this from Konami, then maybe this latest arcade entry is what you'll try should it come out one day outside Japan. However, if you're trying to feel offended over anyone ranting about microtransactions and loot boxes being like gambling features in video games, don't bother making defensive comments on their content. You'll be scolded online for defending such a greedy practice like spending too much real money on buying in-game currency for the sake of using that currency to keep drawing character cards until you get the ones you want. Plus, a run of a modern arcade game already costs $1 or more in the local arcades and the addition of loot box feature that charges you additional credits may look like a worse story than other game modes charging you additional credits.

Armored Princess Battle Conductor will be out in the arcades next month and questions about console/PC releases may be difficult ones since the game looks next-gen compared to the previous game in the series.

Student in Japan arrested for making threats to Konami due to the bug in mobile game

This isn't the first time I knew of a case about someone getting arrested for making such threats to the game company. The previous case was about a suspect making such threats to Square Enix over what, the loot box feature in mobile games or something that he got arrested for that but in the recent case, it's about the high school student in Japan making such threats to Konami over the bug in the Pro Evolution Soccer mobile game in which the series is also known as Winning Eleven in Japan.

What kind of mental issue was that that drove him to making threats like that? And when it comes to the mental issue topic mixed with Konami, there were wild guesses from people like "It's something due to the company not offering whatever new games from the classic franchise he wants", or something like that. But no, it's not all due to Konami having no plans to come up with newer games from various classic franchises like Castlevania, Metal Gear or even Silent Hill. So if you think that Konami has nothing left after whatever happened to Castlevania, Metal Gear or even other classic franchises you know of, you may be mistaken. Some other franchises like the Bemani and sports video game franchises are still on-going even today with newer sports games from Konami like the ones centered on baseball or soccer are still being released on consoles and mobile. There's one warning though, later sports video games from Konami may or may not have microtransactions and loot boxes.

Another recent progress is that some of the franchises already made a comeback but even then, there's no guarantee that such comebacks may restore those franchises' reputation. Contra Rogue Corps and Metal Gear Survive are already bad examples with the other recent games being the opposite.

Sure, the reputation of Konami had become that bad but it doesn't give anyone like that student the excuse to make such threats to them over whatever happened to him like he lost match due to the bug that angered him. Of course, many players vent their frustration over highly difficult obstacles in video games but it takes them time to succeed after sometime even with sufficient solution. Another situation will be you challenge other human players online. Who knows what will come at you when you are like, victorious or some sort but that's a situation of another time? One more gaming situation regards the microtransactions and loot boxes in video games where you draw a box/card pack of random rare items at the cost of in-game currency. It's no easy feat to collect a complete specific group of items like that that it may require tons of luck like it's gambling or some kind. Some of the Virtual YouTubers are seen drawing card items like that in certain mobile games and their behavior is unspeakably insane or some sort. The worse thing about microtransaction+loot box practice is about spending tons of real money just for that combined bullshit and the same practice can be found in the arcades via some of modern Konami and Sega arcade games there where DRAWING EACH REAL CARD REPRESENTING A CHARACTER REQUIRES EACH CREDIT or something. Plus, I don't know if such practices may advance the gaming addiction or not.

Another off-topic will be the JAEPO event which is a gaming event in Japan that showcases arcade games, redemption games, vending machines, etc. I'm sure that Konami has been involved in that event like regularly and especially for the Konami Arcade Championship. However, if you're going there just to demand Konami or Sega to come up with new games from whatever classic franchise like they're your puppets or something out of your immature mind and you have blatant disregard over whatever they're showing there, you may as well be banned for causing trouble like that.

Skullgirls 2nd Encore Steam version - Controversial addition of S****Fox

Skullgirls is one great fighting game including its 2nd Encore edition upgrade and many versions of it were released in the past years but the recent addition of S****Fox as the background character in Skullgirls has angered the fans of the game and the genre, resulting in review-bombing the Steam version as well as the forum thread that would include the lawsuit or some sort. For that person, they're more or less an E-Sports player with an unusual persona route like he represents himself as a blue-and-white anthropomorphic fox. They're part of the fandom that has things about the animal characters with human personalities and characteristics. Such kinds of fictional characters already existed in the past as well as human-like characters based on the fictional monsters like those from the Pokemon franchise for instance. As an E-sports player involved in EVO events, they even overpowered other players in some tournaments. I guess that their character is one reason people frown upon or something and their addition in Skullgirls as the background character had caused some anger.
About the lawsuit someone came up with as stated in the forum thread, they even wanted Sega to be involved in suing Lab Zero Games over that character added in the game. I don't know if that is a reference to the S***c franchise which I don't give a native and faithful shit about but at least, S****Fox is a better character than that retarded and eccentric S***Chu comic franchise whose comic books and merchandises were like sold illegally without any official approval from both Sega and Nintendo. In fact, you can even come up with your own nickname/artist name that has the word S***c in it except that it has NOTHING TO DO with that S***c franchise. I've already seen some artists/DJs having that word in their professional alias. I even played some games that have that word in their game name.

Account update 

Last year, I even came up with the prototype DJ logo to represent myself professionally and of course, I can't use my current nickname as the DJ alias even though it is a reference to the name of the spaceship from Taito's Darius series so I came up with the alias based on my real name instead just like how DJs did. However, the profile header is still incomplete until I can use the proper photo of myself at the DJ event venue. I had one like that on my Facebook account but I'm still looking for a different photo even today. Furthermore, I even removed gameplay videos of S***c games I played from my YouTube channel due to the revised COPPA YouTube policies which was COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY in the first place as those games are family-friendly to begin with. I shouldn't have taken such actions out of panic to my YouTube channel like that. One thing to take note is that not all games I made videos of on my channel are family-friendly. Certain games may seem inappropriate for children.

Conclusion

So, in this case, you can go in the modders' favor in which you can remove S****Fox from Skullgirls if you don't like that addition so you can play the game just like it was before the controversial additions occurred. You're in the right to be angry over this addition but a removal mod seems to be a better way than review-bombing the game itself.

ARESPEAR gaming PCs by Konami

So, Konami was involved in the manufacturing of the gaming PCs which were done with eSports and 120Hz in mind. Speaking of 120Hz, some of Konami games will be supporting that such as Beatmania IIDX Infinitas and Heroic Verse with the latter for the Lightning Model cabinet. It seems that many other devices with 120Hz were recently announced but who knows which games will be having that besides using 60FPS as default?
Currently, it may seem that Beatmania IIDX is getting 120Hz support but that's not the only rhythm game to have it in the arcades. Bandai Namco is announcing the same thing with the new Taiko Drum Master game. I assume that it will be next-gen as the current-gen Taiko Drum Master games in the arcades are still running at 60Hz. I guess that the current Taiko Drum Master games in the arcades are still at 720p or something with the upcoming next-gen being in 1080p with 120Hz support and the QR Code Reader. The upcoming next-gen Taiko Drum Master will be released on System BNA1 which uses Windows 10 IOT.
There's even Bemani Pro-League whose inaugural year will begin in May this year starring Beatmania IIDX although I don't know if the ARESPEAR gaming PCs will be involved or not. Other games to be parts of the eSports scene are Pro-Evolution Soccer series although I don't know if the other franchises will be part of it as well.

Windows 10 IOT in arcades

A few years ago, Taito started using Windows 10 IOT on the on-going Type-X3 machines running the Nesica X Live 2 service before other companies started using that OS on their newer arcade systems. Konami's already doing that with the new Bemani PC for Beatmania IIDX Lightning Model cabinet, Namco's already doing that with BNA1 ever since two years ago and Sega's already doing that with Sega ALLS. The strange thing is that there are two different versions of the same game by Bandai Namco in the arcades with one of them being on the newer machine with newer contents.
Tons of games have been doing that and the same may go for some of Konami's rhythm games in the arcades in a different way in which new arcade systems apply to the new cabinets while the game is more or less the same with the one on the new cabinet having new features and its own exclusive songs. DDR A20 and DDR A were on-going simultaneously although DDR A20 is a sequel. At that time, DDR A20 was Japan-exclusive until it was released on the previous arcade cabinets and the arcades outside Japan although the palette is blue-ish instead of gold.
Then, about Nesica X Live 2 and All.NET P-Ras Multi 3, certain fighting games are re-released for those services with minor changes although the ones on All.NET P-Ras Multi 3 will have additional characters to match the console/PC releases or something like the upcoming Under Night In-Birth Exe:late [Cl-r] which will be released on PS4 and Switch as console releases with one additional character. There are even indie games that will be released in the arcades via All.NET P-Ras Multi 3 like Sound Shooting and Rolling Gunner to name a few.
There's also Exa-Arcadia which welcomes indie games although All.NET P-Ras Multi 3 may or may not take advantage of their capabilities for indie games on it. The rules are that games released on Exa-Arcadia must have exclusive contents. Anything that's exclusive to the arcade version cannot be implemented back to the previous versions. Somehow, the mobile version of Aka-To-Blue won't be discontinued after all although it won't have any support whatsoever. They had plan to discontinue the game on mobile in favor of the arcade version but that plan was scrapped. I guess that scrapping the mobile version of the game after the arcade/console/PC version is a sellout idea or some sort. The cartridges have some proprietary connection although nobody knows if there will be security features inside them.
I don't know if I get to see Exa-Arcadia games in the local arcades but if I happen to find them, I should be able to play them.

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.

Sound Voltex Gameplay Report (September 15)

At the recent time, I already had the policy on trying out the electronic music in Sound Voltex series provided that the tracks are originals or something. The number of remixes of Touhou Project songs has been growing way too quick like it is way too outnumbering and it can be boring trying to listen to endless amounts of remixes of the same song. Not to mention that the tracklist of Sound Voltex IV has been like shoehorned with some weird songs, songs from Tokimeki Idol which obviously fit right in Bemani games, as well as more Touhou related arranges disguised as Sound Voltex Floor tracks and even tracks taken from Beatstream series which was already discontinued in favor of Nostalgia.
Well, I guess that this may be the last time playing Sound Voltex but I still have yet to attempt the remaining songs in Beatmania IIDX and Groove Coaster.

Bishi Bashi Channel 2nd Play

Perhaps, I felt satisfied in learning the button-mashing method from one of the gameplay videos in which you use your finger to button-mash just like you would on the game controller button maybe for playing games like Star Soldier for instance but here in Bishi Bashi series, this is challenging as you will need to button-mash all the buttons when possible and to use that method in Bishi Bashi Channel is even more challenging as the green rotator button has different feel and shape in design as recycled from Museca.
Unfortunately, I need to figure out other mini-games in Bishi Bashi Channel like how to hide in a box from zombies for instance. I guess that stopping button-mashing isn't going to help and doing something to the green button like I did doesn't help as it did worse for me like the character got caught jumping or something. Sure, other mini-games should be manageable like the one that's like the Javelin Throw from Track & Field but with throwing the mascot character from Gitadora, the one where you feed the rabbit while spinning the green button if it's a wrong snack to feed and the one where you're supposed to bash the door by button-mashing. I still have difficulty in doing other mini-games without making too much mistakes. Somehow, I got a Perfect in that Sound Voltex-like mini game although Bishi Bashi series is the mini game set type of a game so it can be challenging to hear what's from the machine with your ears while getting to the rhythm. However, I had made some mistakes in the Laser Note thingy like I was too late or something. Getting off the Laser Note in Sound Voltex will decrease the groove gauge and the last part of that mini-game is important for the final score.

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.

Bishi Bashi Channel First Play

Like other new games in the arcades that recently came out, this will cost 15 virtual tokens for 4 coins which may be equal to a credit. For games like this, things will be costly since I have never played any Bishi Bashi games before in my life and this is more or less the first one. Shame that I had no idea on the fishing mini-game as if I grabbed on the cheap ones without any problems. The bigger problem on my first attempt has been my timing. It has been half-ass when it comes to playing Beatmania IIDX ever since several years ago even with the balance strategy to keep my timing right and I STILL have a hard time in keeping my timing right with the silent intro and outro portions of the songs.
I guess that if I don't make any mistakes, I won't get penalized in Bishi Bashi games when it comes to further parts of it but then, I eventually visited the DJ gig venue by the name of Rev Up Stomp Out yesterday after this. Of course, the change from Museca to Bishi Bashi Channel may be a good news for me but it's not the same for those who have played Museca. So, the options for the operators are:

1. Get the offline kit for the Museca machine and install it so people can play it.
2. Upgrade the cabinet which involves changing the game from Museca to Bishi Bashi Channel.

It's a shame that the machine's offline but I still got to play the game anyway to experience the Bishi Bashi series for the first time. Unfortunately, I look like a sucker at the series although the concept seems to be interesting at best but I can probably say the same for when I had played Beatmania IIDX for the first time. Not to mention the button mashing method is different as the buttons are large that I need to find a way to mash the buttons at higher speed.
The Attract Mode is full of Demo Mode as indicated from one of the gameplay videos on YouTube and the only to see the Title Screen will be to insert the coins. *Sigh* I don't know what the game's intro is like.

Bishi Bashi Channel

Sure, Museca isn't quite original in terms of cabinet design and gameplay that it is one of the controversial music games Konami had made for the arcades but there's an official news stating that it is going to be discontinued at the end of this month in favor of Bishi Bashi Channel which recently came out last week. I suppose that it's a good move this time for some reasons.

1. The controversy can be undone with the discontinuation of Museca although what cannot make the controversy undone is that there will be an offline version of the game. It's a similar fate to Future TomTom and Dance Evolution Arcade getting offline kits and licenses. Well, without them, the game will be useless at the end of the support period. You can't even start the game at all as it uses E-Amusement Participation service in which the game must be online and supported to start but the offline kits and licenses remove this requirement.
2. This marks the return of Bishi Bashi series ever since the last game that started in the arcades in Japan and Asia 9 years ago. Bomberman already made a comeback with a few recent Bomberman games and it's the same for Bishi Bashi series although Konami did the wrong thing with Metal Gear Survive which continues its franchise in a wrong way.
3. From what I've seen, Konami has done the right thing this time with Bishi Bashi Channel. The Bishi Bashi has some disturbing parts like the use of Otomedius characters but that's for the Japanese version. The Asian version uses Beatmania IIDX characters for that mini-game instead and even then, some mini-games like that are unspeakably stupid.

There might be English versions of the previous Bishi Bashi games in some Asian countries in the arcades as well as the European releases of the ones for consumer systems although the Asian arcade releases of some Bishi Bashi games are fully voiced when compared to English Playstation releases of Bishi Bashi Special series.
Those who have been playing Museca are likely to feel disappointed over its discontinuation but to cuss Konami over this without knowing that one other franchise is making a comeback is outright ignorant. Nostalgia for the arcades proved to be Keyboardmania's return and spiritual successor like a manageable game so it's another good move for me.
Some of the mini-games in Bishi Bashi Channel are direct references to various Bemani rhythm games and such appearances have been around ever since the previous Bishi Bashi games with DDR and Guitarfreaks mini-games. This has the mini-games based on Beatmania IIDX and Sound Voltex although the Sound Voltex one is more like something straight out of Sega's Ongeki than Sound Voltex itself until the end part. One funny mini-game is the one that makes the Somebody Scream meme official where you stack up multiple ice-creams while the music still goes. Unfortunately, the Beatmania IIDX related mini-game is shoehorned with the weird and stupid ch**r squad part but its in-game UI and Stage Result screens are quite good looking and even then, this is one thing that suits some BMS Players like Lunatic Rave 2 or something else better than the actual games as Beatmania IIDX is supposed to be a DJ-themed rhythm game where you expect some electronic music but no, you don't get that music in that mini-game.
Other mini-games are not quite new as they first appeared in previous Bishi Bashi games in addition to the new ones exclusive to Bishi Bashi Channel. There's also the grading system which changes depending on how well you do as well as the player-saving feature which I guess if you do well, you may have saved the other players who can't make it. Like the previous Bishi Bashi games, you must fulfill the stage objectives and there's no rule in outscoring other players like in The Bishi Bashi.
Lastly is the game's official art that has two hosts and the other characters on it. I guess that this kind of art brings you back to the time when Arcana Heart 3 Love Max came out in the arcades and on consoles and computers.
If there are flaws in the Bishi Bashi series, it will have to be regarding some mini-games that are unspeakably stupid. Plus, some of the mini-games don't end until you run out of mini-game lives. Maybe there should be a timer to make things quite fair or something. Another flaw of Bishi Bashi Channel is that there's only one E-Amusement Pass Reader and it can be confusing to know which player side belongs to who or some sort. Many other games have multiple E-Amusement Pass Readers for each player side but this one has ONE E-Amusement Pass Reader and FOUR-Player support. Perhaps, I can assume that Bishi Bashi Channel has like two flaws but it's still made the series a great return in the arcades.

Dance Rush Stardom (Updated)

Another spinoff of DDR which makes use of your legs like the DDR franchise as if the improvement is quite little when compared to realistic dance games. However, this is another fun game and a great new step to know a new type of dance which is shuffle dance. During the location test phase, the dance platform isn't that wide and those who played the game knew what the gameplay was like. It's like a DDR version of TapSonic in terms of gameplay visually except that the game is centered around on shuffle dance which is one dance to mix with EDM music. That surely makes things energetic although there are already other types of dances that have yet to be implemented in dance games.
This is one positive spinoff when compared to other spinoffs that shoehorned the classic franchises in a disturbing way. Dance Evolution is another positive spinoff of DDR which makes use of Kinect for realistic dancing but that's not the only Kinect dance game out there when it first came out on Xbox 360.
Furthermore, like Maimai series, the machine also supports video filming of the players playing the game.

Multiple controversies

Perhaps, this whole blog post may bring more than the main topic of Metal Gear Survive controversy as it is not the only controversy Konami has caused. Needless to say, things in AAA games are also going on a worse route as well. But here are the following controversies Konami has caused.

Love Plus controversy

The Love Plus franchise is considered a radicalized gaming material to me for being that realistic of a simulation like a lifeless loser nerd in Japan had the guts to get himself married with one of the characters from the game. I should hope that that marriage is more or less illegal in the first place as it raised people concerns and questions like the DS running out of battery, things not working well because the DS is too old or something or perhaps, his DS is taken away, thrown away or smashed to shreds for illegal marriage. Even worse is that the fictional characters are not programmed to grow old, choose whatever career/job they probably want including the new home of course and even give birth to children. Like Tokimeki Memorial franchise, I'm sure the entire in-game period takes place in high school days but not beyond. You can graduate and move on from school but the game doesn't care for your perspective.

Pachinko/Slot machines

Some of the franchises were ruined as a result and especially for Metal Gear franchise although some of them still continued on traditionally like nobody cares for those Pachinko/Slot spinoffs. Even I have a STRICT principle against this kind of bullshit.

Controversial spinoffs

When Metal Gear Survive was released, people were not pleased with the features and concept. The zombie shooting concept is repeated countless times like there have been tons of zombie shooting games with different game genres, the locked features are taken from mobile games or some kind where you have to pay additional in-game currency to unlock them, the gameplay experience is found to be boring or something and one of the gameplay features has you build up fences against zombies which is kind of political and I don't like it from what I saw from Angry Joe's review of the game. Last but not least is the inclusion of microtransactions and other bullshit. So as a spinoff, Metal Gear Survive sort of stinks and so is its sales. People have hated it as a result of the controversy Konami has caused.
For Tokimeki Idol, it's the same example as Metal Gear Survive in terms of repeated concept as if this whole thing is like an asset template flip. The UI layout is unoriginal, the game concept is unoriginal and quite the same as the other games like a Home Screen showing a character whom you choose as a partner, Main and Side Stories, Character and Team Management, Live Show for gameplay, Card Drawing and the list goes on. It's rare to see a difference in the UI layout, the game concept as well as the gameplay. It's as fine as the arcade games of the past but what makes this sub-genre of the rhythm game genre extremely controversial is the microtransaction and loot boxes. People tend to spend too much real money for the premium in-game currency just to get a specific but extremely rare item and that can be extremely damaging to their gaming lives just because of whichever mobile game they play so the idol-themed rhythm game is not the only kind of mobile game that has the microtransaction and loot box features. In fact, why would Konami go on a more dangerous route like this? Can you imagine how much overall real money will be spent just for that excuse on more than one mobile game like that? It's as dangerous as gambling practically and if there's anyone out there who tells you to do that dangerous practice in mobile games, don't heed that fraudulent advice.
Next is Bombergirl, a perverted looking spinoff of Bomberman franchise and it gets worse than Otomedius series. Firstly, it includes the clothing damage bullshit which some other arcade games already have in the 2010s. I AM GODDAMN SERIOUS ABOUT THIS FEATURE IN OTHER ARCADE GAMES IN EXISTENCE! Even various Konami arcade game franchises are having this fanservice bullshit by revealing so much of skins for some of the new or existing characters. The gameplay is sort of like other Bomberman games where you have to make sure that the opponents get blown up and the cabinet has some design elements from other Konami arcade games as well like the transparent panels from Jubeat or something. One good news is that there's a Bomberman medal game which is like a good alternative to Bombergirl just in case you're sick of that fanservice bullshit Bombergirl has. I'm sure there will be people of all ages there are going to play that medal game just because it's Bomberman like it's fun blowing up blocks, enemies and one another.
To support a filthy spinoff like those mentioned above is like supporting the modern-day Konami or some kind but that doesn't seem to be the point.

Work Environment and Relationship

There might be corporate restructuring taking place at Konami more than once and the Kojima Productions was like isolated or something and they had no rights to borrow resources from the other teams or some kind. Even worse is that various famous men who produced the famous franchises had already left and are nowadays producing something similar elsewhere like Naoki Maeda's Cross X Beats which obviously didn't him and his new team so much time compared to other games which would take several years or something to be made while resembling something similar to the classic games they formerly made. Another problem is how harsh the work environment is nowadays as well as the job application censorship which poses a large difficulty for former Konami employees. It will be extremely tough for them to get a future professional job even if they are told to. Will telling their spouse, children, parents and siblings all the truth be able to help? If they probably want to get a new job in the future, it may be best not to put Konami's name on their resume under work experience. This is the last kind of company you may want to work at and you're warned to avoid it like a plague.

Additional charges for features in arcade games

If you notice closely, some of the game modes charge you more than the initial amount of credits to start the game. Normally, it's one-credit-per-run unless you're playing an arcade game that has the Continue feature in which the game doesn't end until you've completed the final stage and the game has tons of stages you must go through but it is not necessary to go through those extra-credit-charging game modes. Another minor controversy is about the feature that charges you additional credit to print something in Sound Voltex IV song result screen. Furthermore, you will be charged additional Paseli for other features you've chosen in various rhythm games. Perhaps, you're already better off using several dollars of money to buy some food or something. The same Paseli charging feature is also in E-Amusement Cloud which is arcade gaming in the cloud.

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.