DM/GF e-Amusement thing? (Help needed)

[Reppi]

After playing around on Google, Wikipedia, and these forums a bit, I have come to these conclusions about the whole e-Amusement thing with DM and GF. Please feel free to correct any mistakes I have made, add something I have missed, or elaborate on some points.

- e-Amusement uses Cards to store user data (Username, Skill Points, Songs Unlocked, Songs Cleared)
- e-Amusement Cards are only available in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan (Boo-Hoo, I live in Canada )
- e-Amusement version of games give Skill Points
- Skill points are used for mainly bragging rights, but some previous versions used SPs to unlock Extra/Encore stages. (You can select those songs from the song list normally)
- Bonus games at the end of sessions are used to unlock new content for the card user
- The new "e-Amusement Pass" is a universal (To the Konami games) card to store data on GF, DM, and BMIIDX, DDR Supernova, Pop'N'Music, and some TBA games instead of having one card for each.
- Estimated unlockables for now:
--- 2-5 Extra Songs
--- 1-2 Encore Songs
--- 5-7 Gitadoking Events
--- 3-5 Things that are unlocked by the different mini-games at the end

Please clarify this for me. I live in Canada so I know it's a bit pointless for me now, but help would be appreciated.

**Note** TBA = To Be Announced

Edit1: Fixed mistakes- Thanks for all who helped

Edit2: Added more stuff. You guys are like encyclopedias (In a good way!).

[aeriyu]

Let's take a stab at it

- e-Amusement uses Cards to store user data
- e-Amusement Cards are only available in Japan (Boo-Hoo, I live in Canada )
- e-Amusement version of games give Skill Points
- Skill points are used for ____________
- Only available for Drummania/Guitarfreaks V3 or higher
- Bonus games at the end of sessions are used to unlock new content for the card user
- Still more to come... maybe.

- believe so
- nope, they're in any arcade that Konami likes. So, there's some in HK, Singapore, etc; probably a few in Korea?
- you get skill points on every single song, based on how well you perform (perfect and combo length are big factors in this)
- bragging rights
- nah, it's been around for some time; since V, at least...

grr... we're missing bonus games too? -_-ll

[AlphaConqerer]

Well, like the unlock games like Gitadochanko and stuff; you need an e-amuse card for those. That's the only "bonus game" I'm aware of at least.

[Chrono Helix]

Well, V had this strange minigame where you've got this 4X4 grid, and you got, say, 3 squares you could fill up. They'd move about randomly until you hit the Start button, at which point they'd stop. Each square filled up brings you closer to finishing a picture on the grid. Finish a picture and you unlock a new song or something.

V2's minigame gave you a roulette with the odds of you winning dependent on your performance for that session.

[rmz]

Originally Posted by Chrono Helix

Well, V had this strange minigame where you've got this 4X4 grid, and you got, say, 3 squares you could fill up. They'd move about randomly until you hit the Start button, at which point they'd stop. Each square filled up brings you closer to finishing a picture on the grid. Finish a picture and you unlock a new song or something.

Like Masterpiece Silver, then.

[Vampyre]

Originally Posted by Chrono Helix

Well, V had this strange minigame where you've got this 4X4 grid, and you got, say, 3 squares you could fill up. They'd move about randomly until you hit the Start button, at which point they'd stop. Each square filled up brings you closer to finishing a picture on the grid. Finish a picture and you unlock a new song or something.

V2's minigame gave you a roulette with the odds of you winning dependent on your performance for that session.

Yeah, those are the Gitadochanko games.

Anyway, e-amuse has popped up (maybe only briefly?) in Europe at that arcade machine operators convention. There's an article about it in the news archives.

[eddie]

GFdm e-amuse started with the 9/8 location test.

[Megamanny]

Originally Posted by Eddie

GFdm e-amuse started with the 9/8 location test.

But isn't there E-amuse for GF8/DM7?

I remember looking through the GFDM gateway and there is a a few options showing something about E-amuse.

[僕の飛行機]

Originally Posted by Megamanny

But isn't there E-amuse for GF8/DM7?

I remember looking through the GFDM gateway and there is a a few options showing something about E-amuse.

To be specific it was GUITARFREAKS 8thMIX / drummania 7thMIX power-up ver.
The original version didn't support e-AMUSE.

[Kei.SG]

- e-Amusement uses Cards to store user data

User data, which includes, but is not exhaustive:
1) Username
2) Skillpoints
3) Songs cleared and the respective clearing achievement level
4) Unlocked songs

- e-Amusement Cards are only available in Japan (Boo-Hoo, I live in Canada )

Japan, Hongkong, Taiwan, and Singapore.

- e-Amusement version of games give Skill Points
- Skill points are used for ____________

Skill points are achieved in varying ways for different games. And Skill points are mainly used for bragging rights aka ego-enlargement. However, in the mixes before V3 which supported e-amuse, Skill Points are also used to unlock Extra stage and Encore stage songs for normal stage play by attaining a certain amount for different songs, ie. you can freely select those songs from the playlist during normal song selection.

- Only available for Drummania/Guitarfreaks V3 or higher

GF8dm7 had a power-up version, and I believe that was the pre-location-test test, aka Alpha version. It used thin magnetic cards which are very bendy and soft, and spoil easily IMO to store the bare minimum of information on it. This trend of using GF-specific and DM-specific cards carried on until the current mix, V3, where it was replaced by a harder and more rigid RFID styled card.
This new card, known as the "e-amusement pass", enables one user to use just one card, and not many cards as previously required, to play on different types of Konami games which support the system, ie. in the past if you wanted to play GF, DM and BMIIDX, you needed 3 cards, one for each game, but now you just need one card for all those games.

- Bonus games at the end of sessions are used to unlock new content for the card user

There used to be "bonus games", like the Gitadoland in GF11dm10, GitadoTower in V, and GitadoChanko in V2. It somehow stopped in V3.

Hope that helps. Please correct me for any inaccuracies.

[Sagat believer]

I know a little history about the system in GFdm. Specifically, is it true that GuitarFreaks 10thMIX & drummania 9thMIX was the first-ever GFdm mix to have brand-new debuts to be unlocked via this system? I remember reading somewhere that Funky sonic World, Souhaku, Get it All, Honolulu Loco Boy, rpm RED, and Electric Sun debuted this way.

[oni-ice]

Originally Posted by Reppi

- The new "e-Amusement Pass" is a universal (To the Konami games) card to store data on GF, DM, and BMIIDX, instead of having one card for each.

DDR Supernova and Pop'N'Music (no idea on the version) also uses E-amusement Pass.

Moreover, the not-yet-released game of Silent Hill also uses E-amusement too.

[June.H]

GF8dm7 had a power-up version, and I believe that was the pre-location-test test, aka Alpha version. It used thin magnetic cards which are very bendy and soft, and spoil easily IMO to store the bare minimum of information on it. This trend of using GF-specific and DM-specific cards carried on until the current mix, V3, where it was replaced by a harder and more rigid RFID styled card.

I'm a little confused from your wording, but Power-Up ver. was an actual upgrade and an actual release. You can still find some boards floating around. I don't think GFdm used the e-amuse hardware either by this time until 10/9.

I know a little history about the system in GFdm. Specifically, is it true that GuitarFreaks 10thMIX & drummania 9thMIX was the first-ever GFdm mix to have brand-new debuts to be unlocked via this system? I remember reading somewhere that Funky sonic World, Souhaku, Get it All, Honolulu Loco Boy, rpm RED, and Electric Sun debuted this way.

Yes. 9/8 started locking revivals via e-amuse (and released them for normal play via password like DDR 6th-Extreme). Then 10/9, you can get the optional e-amuse hardware (a separate board + HDD), which had a pretty large chunk of revivals and the aforementioned locked songs. But none of the songs were available for normal play at all unless you were connected to the e-amuse network (from what I understand).

[Kei.SG]

Originally Posted by Baka of the Orochi

I'm a little confused from your wording, but Power-Up ver. was an actual upgrade and an actual release. You can still find some boards floating around. I don't think GFdm used the e-amuse hardware either by this time until 10/9.

Confusing it be, my fault. Basically what I'm trying to say is:

a) GF8dm7 had a normal version

b) Later on, Konami released a "power up ver."

c) It used all the hardware required for "e-amuse", ie. the flimsy magnetic cards, the card reader, and "Konami e-amusement routers/modems" to access the network

GF8dm7 official page
If you look under "power-up ver." you will notice that such hardware has been used since GF8dm7, which is why I'm just suggesting the thought that GF8dm7 was the "Alpha/Beta test" for e-amusement.

[BobbyS]

If e-muse unlocks songs, how many extra? just a couple extra at the arcade or what?