I have seen a lot of posts that are confused about what e-Amusement is, and how it works. I've put this little bit of information together here. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask in this thread and someone will answer.
What is e-Amusement?
E-Amusement is a network set up for Konami's games (most notably, their Bemani series). It allows you to do many things, such as track scores and automatically enter your high-score name for you at the end of the set. It remembers your previously used modifiers and settings. It tracks your own personal "Players' Best" sort.
No big deal, right? You can always write your scores down, and it doesn't take that long to put in your name after a set. And really, if you're used to putting in 3x rainbow for your mods at this point it'll take you what, 5 seconds?
How about unlocks? Tons of songs that aren't normally selectable can be played while on e-Amuse. What about Internet Rankings and on-line tournaments? You can compete with other players across the country in events that are tracked and can provide you with real bragging rights. (Did I mention before that you can get your own personal unlocks based on Internet Ranking performance?)
What does e-Amusement mean to us?
To us, e-Amusement means the possibility of more bemani in the future. The failure or success of e-Amusement is going to show Konami what we really want, and how we feel about the Bemani series.
Beyond that, it means that we'll be getting a much better experience than we did with SuperNOVA. It's widely accepted at this point that the sync job on SuperNOVA was less than spectacular. The patch CD fixed some of these problems, but also created some new ones. What a lot of people don't seem to know is that the Japanese SuperNOVA machines that were on e-amuse got fixed. Konami would regularly send small fixes to the machines via e-Amusement to correct problems like this.
Also, in the past Konami has been known to give out cool stuff based on Internet Rankings. With Beatmania IIDX Red, each of the Internet Ranking winners received a very rare vinyl containing remixes of some of the new songs. With DDR 4th Mix, a similar thing was done with previews of songs by Naoki that were planned for 5th Mix. Konami has even held concerts with their artists, and invited small numbers of random e-Amusement subscribers to them.
What does my arcade need to set up e-Amusement? (Technical stuff below)
*Most arcades have an internet connection these days, if for nothing else than sending e-mail. A DSL or cable connection with at least 384kbps download speed is needed.
**This connection must have a STATIC IP. This is likely going to be the most difficult hurdle to overcome. Thankfully, most business-class internet service will allow you to add a static IP for a marginal cost.
*A monthly subscription fee must be paid (price TBA).
*Purchase of the e-Amusement hardware from Betson (
Betson Enterprise)
Arcades will likely balk a little at these costs. After all, they are already making plenty of money on the machine, how is this going to change anything? This is a significant investment for them, and you need to explain why it's worth it to THEM, not just to you.
Here are a few reasons why arcades should/will be interested in this:
*COMPETITION. Let's say you have two arcades near you, both with SuperNOVA 2. One has e-Amusement, the other doesn't. Even if the one with e-Amusement is slightly farther away and/or slightly more expensive, aren't you going to prefer that machine?
*Sale of E-Amusement cards. While the initial investment of getting these cards can be seen as more money down the drain, the revenue gained by selling them will quickly make it back (and then some).
*Increased revenue over a longer period of time. When your local arcade first gets SuperNOVA 2, you will likely play it a lot for a short time (all those new songs), and then get bored with it. Nothing new is coming, so once you play all of the new songs 10-15 times, you'll be done. With e-Amusement, new songs will be unlocked frequently, meaning you'll come back again to play the new stuff. With the online tournaments and internet rankings, you'll play a lot more in an effort to keep your spot and to compete with your friends (and enemies). Instead of a short spike with a rapid decline, arcades will see much more frequent business, meaning more revenue for them.
What is e-Amusement? 
