How could we get IIDX popular in the U.S.?

[m335h73r of PBJ]

Beat n' Groovy is exactly what America deserved in a bemani game.

[ngox]

Originally Posted by Ætheros

I'm hearing a lot of "Americans wouldn't be interested in/like/be pantient enough to play it if it came to America."

My question, has anyone actually tried to show it to their friends. I mean I bought BMUS when it came out, and I showed it to a bunch of my friends. They were stepmania/DDR players to begin with (though not hardcore fanatics like most of us on bemanistyle) but they seemedc to love it once they got into it.

Seriously, these kids are your typical american gamer kids who play guitar hero, halo, listen to metal and all that, and all I had to do was show them this game and they fell in love with it.

Has anyone actually tried this yet?

Seriously, if people actually knew about this (moreso than the few of us that frequent boards like these) then I think IIDX could have a pretty big following.

BMUS only failed because konami gave it a crappy songlist, and it was never promoted. A simple TV ad or a bundle with a DDR game or something could have made it a lot more successful.

Also, with the rumors flying around about future IIDX releases on PS3, we won't have to worry about having modded systems or anything like that since most import PS3 games are region-free. We just need to get the word out guys.

I've shown the game to a lot of my friends who are into DDR and GH. Most of them are willing to give the game a try but usually can only get to 2s or 3s and then lose all interest. IIDX has a much harsher learning curve than either of the two aforementioned music games, and pretty much all acquaintances tend not to have the patience with such a game.
Regarding BMUS, it probably wouldn't have been that much more popular even if it was bundled in. People who buy DDR don't want unnecessary baggage coming with their games. Sure, it might be a game they would try out the the first few times, but I'm certain they would grow impatient with the game after failing 4s and 5s. The crappy controllers don't really help either.

TL;DR - The learning curve for IIDX is too steep for a majority of people and so they lose interest because there is no noticeable improvement.

[Mushushu]

I went to a LAN party a few months back that one of my co-workers was hosting.

Well it wasn't a LAN party so much as it was a "Bring whatever game console and PC games you want and whoever wants to play them plays them."

So I brought all of my beatmania games + my FP7 and my PC for random RTS/FPS games that I'm sure the majority of people would be playing.

There were about 10 of us there, and a few hours into the LAN someone asked me what the hell that thing was sitting next to me with a turntable on it and 9 buttons.

We had another room segregated for the ultra large TVs and game consoles, so I went in there and stole some guy's spot since he wasn't even at the party at the time.

Popped in IIDX and showed him the basics of how the game played at, I think a 10-ish level song. He was like "HUH WTF OH GOD LET ME TRY" So I let him be as he was playing level 1s and 2s... Two hours later he was still there still playing DJ Troopers. I asked him if he wanted to try the other styles out but he refused.

I didn't realize it, but maybe about an hour after that he was joined by 3 other people that I knew from work who were also equally entranced by the game. They basically sat there for half the day just playing DJ Troopers on level 1-3 songs over and over and over again. They'd occasionally come in to ask me something about the game like how to change difficulties, display the score bars, etc.

Everyone else that didn't care for the game kept complaining about the "CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK" from the controller and that they should stop playing it because the music sucked.

I found out a couple later that two of the guys that were hooked on DJ Troopers ended up buying a USKOC and the US version of beatmania. They told this to me at work.

Mission accomplished.

[Ætheros]

Originally Posted by ngox

TL;DR - The learning curve for IIDX is too steep for a majority of people and so they lose interest because there is no noticeable improvement.

Well there definitely are people who will lose interest once they realize that it'll take longer than a couple months to master the game, I have no doubts about that. It's the rest of us that get satisfaction through challenge that are drawn to this stype of game, and so many of the same type of people haven't heard about this game yet. If Konami had better executed the US version, even just a better songlist, and a little more promotion, I think we'd all be surprised at how much it would catch on in the states.

[Razer]

Originally Posted by Sexual Inherendo

Beat n' Groovy is exactly what America deserved in a bemani game.

I don't recall murdering anyone, so I'm confused as of what exactly I'm being punished for.


The reason why IIDX will never be mainstream in the states is because of it's relentless learning curve, Konami's adamant refusal of any sort of media exposure (or any mainstream media company ever having hearing about it to make it a possible choice to have it in the background of episode X in series Y), and the sour taste that BMUS might have left in the mouths of those who showed interest in it but not quite enough to import the CS releases.

[crux]

This is something of an aside, as it's for a different Bemani game with a much higher cost of entry, but stick children in front of Pop'n Music with an ASC and watch what happens. My 11 and 12 year old nephew and niece stayed at our house for about a week. I introduced them to Pop'n and they played for the entire trip (I also had DDR but they were far more transfixed with Pop'n).

There are numerous problems with mainstream adoption, some of which have already been mentioned. The genres prevalent in Bemani titles have never been widely adopted in the United States. Almost ironic, as turntablism was invented here and the U.S. is home to some of the most brilliant artists. But, of course, Beatmania has never really bothered to adhere to turntablism or even hip-hop by and large, so therein lies part of the problem. They weren't willing to spend the time or budget to secure some of the artists that DJ Hero and Scratch are willing to secure. Not that DJ Hero and Scratch are the epitome of perfect soundtracks, but they've managed to secure legends like DJ Shadow or Mix Master Mike where Beatmania U.S. had Britney Spears.

A major problem is also the difficulty. Many of us are familiar with repeating low difficulty songs to nigh exhaustion before we gained the skills necessary to progress to higher difficulties. In fact, some people buy multiple styles to get a wider diversity of easy songs and some songs will never be played unless the player is willing to dedicate many months practicing. It was a consequence of each game's arcade predecessor, but they failed to learn the lesson that made DDR a success in America. Arcades largely died off in America for a reason. Not a good or just reason, but nonetheless it's clear that Americans enjoyed the leisure of home console games over the grueling difficulty of arcade games trying to pump quarters out of its players. DDR was popular for many reasons, but certainly one is that it started off very basic and allowed for easy progression, having three or four difficulty choices for the vast majority of songs. The caveat, of course, is that the game never gets difficult enough - but no one knows that unless they have experience with the game. Beatmania has always refused to evolve from its arcade roots, for better and worse.

And, of course, there was the marketing. Or the complete and utter lack thereof. It seemed as if Bemani didn't care if Beatmania succeeded in the U.S. in the first place. Even if the game was well developed I can't imagine it would have been popular enough to reach the mainstream without proper marketing, though certainly popular enough to increase the adoption rate.

Even if Beatmania pulled off all these things with a new U.S. release, there's the simple fact that today we're saturated with music games. The perfect Beatmania release would garner fans, certainly, but we can never expect it to chase the popularity of Guitar Hero without becoming Guitar Hero (which they don't seem to be adept at either), and even then Guitar Hero and Rock Band will win out.

[NMD]

'tis a sad tale.

[_____Cait]

Maybe if they put a picture of Noria on the cover and played Silvia Drive in the commercials people would buy it.

[t7r]

Originally Posted by _____Cait

Maybe if they put a picture of Mitsuru on the cover and played She is my wife in the commercials people would buy it.

This.

[Mushushu]

If Konami ever considers bringing beatmania stateside again (aka never), they really ought to focus on making the game more accessible and not as intimidating.

IIDX is a long running series in Japan and it's developed a well established fan base that understands the core mechanics of the game and how difficult it is. Note charts from today's Bemani games though were never as difficult as they used to be several years back when they were first just being conceptualized.

It'd be awkward to suddenly release a game in a foreign country where no preconceived notion of Beatmania ever existed, and for everyone to suddenly be a IIDX god getting AAA on black another tracks.

One of the many problems BMUS had was its inaccessibility to most players. There weren't any comprehensive tutorials on how you were supposed to play, and even though the difficulty curve was far more forgiving than the Japanese versions, it still destroyed most beginners and only left behind hardcore gamers that were determined to actually get better at the game.

Sure you can play IIDX however the hell you want- One hand on the turntable, one hand on the keys, two hands over the keys and a pinky to scratch the turntable, use your face to hit the keys while scratching the turntable with your foot, etc...

But with a more comprehensive tutorial, at least players would have an idea as to how to get better at the game and how to play it more effectively.

Other obvious problems were mostly aesthetics such as the awful purple/yellow theme, the lack of GOLI art and other bizarre additions like forcing a player to complete songs before unlocking them in Free.

The lack of GOLI art though is understandable. They were probably trying to appeal to a larger audience than the hardcore weeaboo gaming crowd. But honestly that's what this game evolved into.

Even if BMUS ended up being partially successful in America, it would obviously never reach the popularity of the ___ Hero games because it doesn't carry a wide list of recognized, licensed western music, it's a far more difficult and hardcore game, wasn't well advertised, and... Well Konami just doesn't know how to localize games.

Every attempt they've made to localize a game has resulted in catastrophic failure.
edit: Not counting DDR obviously.

You know what, nevermind.

tl;dr - How could we get IIDX popular in the U.S.? Fire Konami's localization department.

[starfox444]

What I'm doing is hunting down the game discs and ISOs and playing it on my PC using an emulator. In some cases it may not be the most legal way but without a way to purchase online or locally, it's my best option.

In summary; greater physical availability.

[aroomwithaview]

Originally Posted by _____Cait

Maybe if they put a picture of Noria on the cover and played Silvia Drive in the commercials people would buy it.

its funny because youre serious

Originally Posted by starfox444

What I'm doing is hunting down the game discs and ISOs and playing it on my PC using an emulator. In some cases it may not be the most legal way but without a way to purchase online or locally, it's my best option.

the only case where its legal is if you already own the product

otherwise its the least legal way because it is stealing

and saying that you have no way to purchase the games online while play-asia banners sit on top of the page that you and i are both looking at right now shows how stupid your post is

its a different debate if you dont want to pay the costs to get the games

but dont give us bullshit about how you cant find a way to buy them

[CG ZiO]

3D crowds that cheer every time you hit a note correctly or boo when you miss, then die of heat stroke and dehydration after each song with 1000 or more notes

[Fred 00]

And there should be some star power-equivalent.

LSD trip maybe?

[NMD]

Originally Posted by aroomwithaview

its funny because youre serious

the only case where its legal is if you already own the product

otherwise its the least legal way because it is stealing

Pretty sure it's illegal to make copies of any game, regardless of whether you own a legit copy (EULA states making any copies is prohibited). Sure you can argue they're backups, but it's still illegal. Not that I'm criticising, I make backups myself