Muu spreads his evil across the intertubes once again! :D

So... why can't we get good games from Japan?

Not man-chanting. Wota-chanting. Don't be sexist. I'm sure 1% of the fans are female.

It's like Rock Band for pod people.

I was gonna ask what the appeal of this series is, you know, not to insult it, but to ask, but then I thought of DDR, and Guitar Hero, and Rock Band, which you could ask the same for.

As far as little girl poppy happy songs go, that was palatable.

@ChiltonGaines:

No, I can't lie. I liked that. Srry for the double post.

*Checks America*

GODDAMMIT iDOLM@STER WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!?!!?

Seriously Namco, just put in some english words and I'll manage, please!
You can even leave the voices alone just please bring it here!!!!

Okay so...why does this open with some sort of kidnapping/child prostitution scene? What the hell is that? And what does it have to do with the rest of the game? Oh, you zany Japanese~!

I really don't even know how you play this game. I'm guessing it's more about watching the game, and adoring cute animated girls, than it is actually playing anything.

I'm surprised MAN CHANTING isn't a tag...

Why...why am I so interested in this game?

Do you think there's something wrong with me?

Wait...they're keeping it in Japan....but.....it's not for PS3 and the box?

Someone correct me on this!

thing is that those "man-chanting" is part of Japanese idol concerts.....

i've seen it before....it's not pretty....

Add this:

That has to be the closest thing to anime to date...Unless I haven't seen enough Japanese next-gen games.

@remanance: Eternal Sonata looks as good as any Anime I've seen, and runs much smoother than most. We may not have hit true "realistic" graphics yet but this gen can sure as hell produce some nice cartoon graphics. Flawless ones, really.

Curiosity got the better of me. Needless to say you can imagine how it went going from Johnny Lytle and Stanton Moore to this.

This would be enough to get me to buy a 360 if this came to the US with Japanese voices intact.

The scariest thing about man chanting is that they actually do it in real life.

Also, is that tiny animated clip at the beginning of the video something unrelated or is there something about iDOLM@STER that I don't know?

I'm not even sure if this one is even a game. The first was about micromanagement and mini-games where each girl had strong and weak points and you had to build them up or partner them with girls who balanced them out. The dance/singing lessons were basically memory or reaction mini-games, then you'd send them to auditions which were kind of rhythm games. And if they won the audition, then you got to watch the music video. Then, if you were really serious about it, you could unlock the ability to also manage the studio camera crew and pretty much edit together your own video.

For this "game," however, it looks like they completely did away with the lessons and manager aspect and it's focusing completely on music videos and performances.

@Kavatar: If you buy the first release super expensive edition of the game it comes with a ton of extras, one being an OAV movie for the series.

@AlKusanagi: Thanks for the explanation. I was wondering what type of game this was.

Hmm. Kidnapping, money, and half dresses underaged girls. Is it just me, or does it seem like this story was ripped straight out of a hentai?

@scotty: Seriously. A killing waiting to be made.

@psycoking: It is not even close to a coincedence. It's made so people will think that, and then get disappointed when they buy it and there is no rape. Don't know why they need to do that- the game stands on its own, quite easily.

@psycoking: Ripped? I thought it was more of a symbiotic situation... ^^;;

Its like they added the worst part about idol concerts to a game!

The boundaries between reality and fantasy are crashing down!!! D:::::

I Probably wouldn't ever play THE iDOLM@STER (willingly) at first glance, but it does have a very refreshing atmosphere that would at least garner a single play if it came stateside. After a friend introduced me to Guitar Hero, I'm little less skeptical when it comes to "out there" games like this. And yeah, the characters are almost hypnotic in their cuteness.

@dowingba: Not surprising, seeing as how Eternal Sonata and THE iDOLM@STER were both made by Namco Bandai. Sega's Valkyrie of the Battlefield: Gallian Chronicles is also another next-gen title with excellent Cell-Shading. They've both defiantly achieved an almost unrivaled level of detail with three-dimensional cartooning.

Those characters are so over-the-top cute (yes I know this is normal for 'idol' singers) that it's downright frightening. D:

La la la la SHINY SMILE! *Insert some japanese words* SHINY SMILEEEEEE! Its so cute but a bit creepy cause its probably mostly boys playing this game. Cause the boys like the cute girls. SHINY SMILEEEEEEEEE!

Despite how gay saying this makes me, I actually do kinda wanna play it. I love their outfits.

@Witzbold: I've heard the worst things about Ota-geis, but funny enough when you see it in the game like this it actually looks OK. I tried to get some FF11 friends to get tickets for one of those shows, but there were 10,000 fanbois trying to get 500 tickets on a server that could only accomodate several hundred connections at a time which promptly bit the dust (numbers slightly approximated).

L4U is part roll-your-own idol PV, part rhythm action game a la DDR/any of its brethren. Namco's released quite a few of those Taiko Master games, so I think it's safe to assume the rhythm action to be of pretty decent calibur. The game portion of the original 360 port wasn't all that great anyway, aside from the Audition system which is actually pretty strategy-heavy -- something that doesn't shine through very much because the online matching system sucks.

The Japanese(men) are overly obsessed with idols. Grown, adult men freak out over pop idols that are here today and gone tomorrow. They are quite similar to teeny-bopper girls who freak out over people like Brad Pit or John Mayor.

i'm giving away my xbox out of protest because it's not coming out here, actually i'm exchanging it for some programming work, but If it WAS coming out here, i'd be faciallkeeping it.. can't MS forfeit ONE grunting tatooed space marine gorefest in exchange for this?

I would buy that sheerly out of how cute it looks.

Oh, I'm glad I wasn't going to sleep tonight, or else I'd have horrible nightmares of tiny Japanese cartoon ladies staring at me... those eyes...

THOSE EYES... THOSE HORRIBLE UNMOVING EYES...

they're coming... they're... coming...

How can you get cuter than that?

I have noticed that most female Japanese pop singers tend to use the highest pitch voice they can muster...but this is ridiculous...They sound like chipmunks! or they are trying to make the impression that they are 4 years old. That was almost frightening to watch. What kind of adult male would buy something like this?

Oh god, this is just disgusting. :(

@bigdonthedj: Couldn't... finish... video... ears... bleeding...

I asked my Japanese friend what the hell this "iDOLM@STER" business was about. So it's apparently it's a game for guys who like looking and touching anime girls?

What? I emailed Ashcraft with this news days ago. At least give credit where credit is due, fucker.

In some part, I want to buy it, but I know I'd feel like a prize dork for playing it. It'd be a headphones on, door locked kinda game. If anyone saw you playing it, you'd just shrivel up into a balll.

@Android18a: Unless they sit down with you and start to enjoy the action too. ;D

Dirty little secrets can be shared too~

This vid reminds me of "Perfect Blue", and that's not a good thing if you know what happens in "Perfect Blue"

@MonkeyBiz:
I will acknowledge your video post only because it happens to contain an Oingo Boingo song.

@ABigSmall: No. No it's not. Geez. It's no different than any of the various football (aka. soccer) or baseball manager simulator games.

*awaits comments on how those games cater to homoerotic fantasies*

@Android18a: On the bright side, it will make you perfect for the next Metroid movie adaptation.

The more I see of this game, the more I want a western version to come out here in the states. Preferably in Japanese language and English subtitles.

I have a feeling that this would not only appease male otaku types, but it would female otaku types as well stateside.

Bring iDOLM@STER to us!!

Bandai I know that the market for this game would be small in the US but Id be willing to pay 100-120 bucks if you bring it over for us, just a throw a few pieces of free clothing in! Come on Bandai, slap some subtitles on this and bring it over!!!!!

The video Rickrolls you for 439(+9) damage.
You are confused.
You Facepalm for yourself 34(+3) damage.
You die.

Yeah this game is begging for an Electroplankton style release in the states. There's enough of a market for it to recoup the cost of slapping on some subtitles and a quick n dirty translation. However, there is not enough of a market for a mass release. I think the subject is pretty foreign to a lot of people, and the core market would be angry with an English only version. Thus internet sales only and keeping it at as close to the original as possible would be the only way I could see them making any money off this in the states.

so i went to wikipedia.. [en.wikipedia.org]

and i still can't figure out where the game starts?

@dowingba: No, Eternal Sonata suffers the same awkward stiffness that makes iDOLM@STER extra creepy. Sure they have some nice character design but you need more than 10 static facial expressions and repeating rigid stances. You want good flowing animated cartoon graphics then look no further than Wind Waker. And while it's not perfect it has none of those awkward flaws that Eternal Sonata and iDOLM@STER possess. I'm just saying that if you're going to create a game that's mostly about presentation like these two then you really ought to do it right.

Some people here make me so angry.
All ignorant, going all, "oh lawd is dat sum hentai", "lulz pedo freaks", "omg japan freaks so pathetic". Ever thought that maybe....just maybe....it's....hold on wait for it.....a good game?

Shocking, I know.

@scotty: You're telling me this isn't weird? Sure it might be a good game, but here in the states seeing prepubescent girls dancing and singing like that is not exactly the norm. I mean I'm sure these comments come from people in a different culture than yours Scotty.

I still really want this game. Dammit, Atlus, bring it out over here already! I want more quirky Japanese games in my 360!