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This is Dolce. He isn't an arcade gamer, he's a human sequencer. Dolce is a top beatmania IIDX player. In the past, he's either placed or won Konami's Top Ranker music game tournament. It's easy to see why. More »
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Guitar Hero, the arcade game? According to rumors, an arcade version is incoming from developer Raw Thrills and publisher Konami. Konami is of course no stranger to arcade music games with its successful Beatmania, DrumMania and GuitarFreaks titles. A source has apparently told game site bemanistyle.com that the Guitar Hero arcade game is 100 percent true. "So far, our source has stated the cabinet is going to feature 8-10 speakers," bemanistyle.com writes, "more than 500 LED lights and a 32" monitor. The cabinet is also reportedly slated to take advantage of Internet connections to provide online cash tournaments sometime starting in 2009." If true, this arcade title will be unveiled at the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions exhibit in Orlando, Florida on Tuesday. More »
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Konami has announced location tests for new Bemani title beatmania IIDX16 EMPRESS. Starting next month, the arcade location tests will be at Round One in Osaka's Umeda and another one in Tokyo (more details in the link). Okay, that's fine and all, but you know the current theme for beatmania IIDX15 DJ TROOPERS? If not, it's pictured. DJ TROOPERS clearly has a militaristic vibe going on. Empress does not. It's an about face! Hit the jump to check out the beatmania EMPRESS theme and brace yourself. More »
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The newest member of the Bemani family—which includes DDR, Guitar Freaks, Pop 'n' Music, et al.—in Japanese arcades is jubeat, a touch-panel game that... well, we're not sure what the hell is going on with this one yet. It's currently on location test in Japan, so we're sure to see how the game behaves in motion soon enough, but it appears that players will have to frantically slap display screens in time to J-pop tunes, competing with others via local or internet connection. That mysterious glowing cube on top of the cabinet? Unsure, but it may simply be for decoration and to increase the obnoxiousness of the seizure inducing lightshow. More on jubeat as we learn about it. More »
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Back in May, Konami dangled a Beatmania carrot rope, telling fans that if 2,500 pre-orders were received by June 17th for character Iroha Umegiri figurine, the piece would go into production. If not, well. When first announced, there wasn't even a resin sample or character model. Since then, the above figure has surfaced. More »
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Like rhythm game Beatmania? Konami sort of announced that it would be launching 1/8 scale PVC Bemani figurines. Check out the design illustration for character Iroha Umegiri. Promising. More »
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Konami has inked a deal with Sony BMG to distribute its music online via iTunes and Rhapsody. From Bemani stylings to Michiru Yamane's Castlevania soundtracks, Konami has a rich back catalogue to draw from. And looks like they will! Brian Ashcraft More »
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