Supernova 'Conversion Kits' are in Stock

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Supernova 'Conversion Kits' are in Stock

Post by Amp Divorax » Mon Apr 28, 2008 3:47 pm

I know that nobody here with a AC machine will upgrade to Post-Extreme, but I figure that I should mention that Betson Enterprises has the SN Conversion kit listed as in stock once more on their site.
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Re: Supernova 'Conversion Kits' are in Stock

Post by Ho » Mon Apr 28, 2008 5:11 pm

I would consider it for low $$$ and if it didn't involve anything that would prevent me from going back to 573 without major hardship. The latter seems possible, but the former seems quite unlikely.

And even then, it would probably only be used as a stepping stone to SN2 provided I could get on e-amuse. This seems even more unlikely still. My understanding is that there is some sort of subscription fee for e-amuse. I'm already resigned to my machines making no money, but it would be pretty hard to justify having them actually costing me money on a regular basis.
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Re: Supernova 'Conversion Kits' are in Stock

Post by MonMotha » Mon Apr 28, 2008 5:33 pm

The indications I've been given are that they are offering e-Amuse access for free in the USA to try to get people to join. There are apparently revenue share agreements in Japan, though.
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Re: Supernova 'Conversion Kits' are in Stock

Post by Amp Divorax » Mon Apr 28, 2008 9:58 pm

Ho wrote:I would consider it for low $$$ and if it didn't involve anything that would prevent me from going back to 573 without major hardship. The latter seems possible, but the former seems quite unlikely.

And even then, it would probably only be used as a stepping stone to SN2 provided I could get on e-amuse. This seems even more unlikely still. My understanding is that there is some sort of subscription fee for e-amuse. I'm already resigned to my machines making no money, but it would be pretty hard to justify having them actually costing me money on a regular basis.
Honestly, I think that POV is completely justified as I'm a fan of MAX-Extreme and Supernova removed alot of songs.

Something I forgot to mention is that the conversion kits were also designed for both DDR and ITG machines according to http://kyle-ward.com/index.php/2007/09/ ... rom-death/ so it seems Konami is making a more active attempt to make all 4 panel dance games go Supernova.
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Re: Supernova 'Conversion Kits' are in Stock

Post by chocobojoe » Mon Apr 28, 2008 11:27 pm

e-Amuse is $10/month

and lol save the whales

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Re: Supernova 'Conversion Kits' are in Stock

Post by MonMotha » Mon Apr 28, 2008 11:29 pm

chocobojoe wrote:e-Amuse is $10/month

and lol save the whales
Citation Needed
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Re: Supernova 'Conversion Kits' are in Stock

Post by lgolem » Tue Apr 29, 2008 12:24 am

MonMotha wrote:
chocobojoe wrote:e-Amuse is $10/month

and lol save the whales
Citation Needed

Is it really $10/month???...I thought it was a profit share with Konami...

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Re: Supernova 'Conversion Kits' are in Stock

Post by FLAKK » Tue Apr 29, 2008 1:29 am

The e-Amuse service is more like $100/month on top of whatever you pay for a cable internet line. If it really were only $10/month, Incredible Dave's in Louisville would have already placed an order on it. Last I talked to the techs, they will never get it because of the outrageous cost. Besides, e-Amuse is pointless now that unlock codes are being released for SN2. Level 1 was just released not too long ago.
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Re: Supernova 'Conversion Kits' are in Stock

Post by Ho » Tue Apr 29, 2008 5:29 am

FLAKK wrote:Besides, e-Amuse is pointless now that unlock codes are being released for SN2. Level 1 was just released not too long ago.
I'm not sure I'd call it pointless. I'm sure novelty was a factor, but playing with e-Amuse a couple weeks ago was about the most non-freestyle-related fun I've had with DDR since SN was released. And as you recall, the extent of unlocks at the time consisted of 2 songs, so I don't think unlocks are the only attraction for e-Amuse.
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Re: Supernova 'Conversion Kits' are in Stock

Post by Amp Divorax » Tue Apr 29, 2008 10:23 am

Flakk, another reason for E-Amuse being popular is that it also saves and tracks scores. I should also mention that while there is a unlock code available, non E-Amuse users are unable to unlock any of the 'special' notecharts or participate in time-based events such as Zukin Wars which currently is the only way to unlock Lamour Et La Liberte (Darwin and Silver Remix).

As for E-Amuse being free in the US, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if that was true as Konami knows that a decent amount of machines domestically are owned by private collectors such as Ho and arcades by nature are nowhere near as profitable as in Japan.
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Re: Supernova 'Conversion Kits' are in Stock

Post by lgolem » Tue Apr 29, 2008 12:27 pm

Amp Divorax wrote:Flakk, another reason for E-Amuse being popular is that it also saves and tracks scores.
And that system is no where near up, so even though: myself, Ho, Tim, Flakk and Shammers all have e-amuse cards and 'accounts' (if you will so call them that), we can't even access that information, and out of the unlocks we did achieve were: 0.5X and a silly foot note skin Image
I am sure there is more we can get from the unlocks maybe some new songs or something but we played for a while and didn't get any. All in all the e-amuse system is just like the USB system for Pump NX2, saves shit you have unlocked, so far we have yet to unlock anything worth having the system over.

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Re: Supernova 'Conversion Kits' are in Stock

Post by Aoi-chan » Tue Apr 29, 2008 11:08 pm

Ho wrote:I would consider it for low $$$ and if it didn't involve anything that would prevent me from going back to 573 without major hardship. The latter seems possible, but the former seems quite unlikely.

And even then, it would probably only be used as a stepping stone to SN2 provided I could get on e-amuse. This seems even more unlikely still. My understanding is that there is some sort of subscription fee for e-amuse. I'm already resigned to my machines making no money, but it would be pretty hard to justify having them actually costing me money on a regular basis.
Ho, I've done 2 SN upgrade kits from Extremes. It was pretty straight forward and doesn't require anything too difficult. There are two different install methods for the upgrade, 1 for Japanese cabinets and another for Korean/USA cabinets. The Korean upgrade is slightly different and was a bit more time consuming, while the Japanese one was a breeze. There are different wires and connecting harnesses used between the two and I think the kit supplies both of them by default.

Basically you are just pulling out the 573 logic and replacing it with the SN logic. There's a new dual JAMMA connector board which mounts inside the cabinet and if memory serves correctly, that's about it. You use the same audio system, power supplies, etc. Applying the new decals took longer than installing the kit.

One thing to note, the SN logic looks like garbage compared to the 573 system on the same CRT. The new SN dedicated cabinets are using a newer CRT with Kortec KT2914-DF monitor boards which look much better, brighter and higher res. Maybe its not fair to compare a SN upgrade kit to a dedicated system with different CRTs, but it's worth mentioning.
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Re: Supernova 'Conversion Kits' are in Stock

Post by chocobojoe » Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:28 am

FLAKK wrote:The e-Amuse service is more like $100/month on top of whatever you pay for a cable internet line. If it really were only $10/month, Incredible Dave's in Louisville would have already placed an order on it. Last I talked to the techs, they will never get it because of the outrageous cost. Besides, e-Amuse is pointless now that unlock codes are being released for SN2. Level 1 was just released not too long ago.
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Re: Supernova 'Conversion Kits' are in Stock

Post by Ho » Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:54 am

First off, welcome to IndyDDR, Aoi-chan. Your repair/maintenance/technical posts on DDR Freak have been consistently informative and insightful. I admit that not a lot of technical discussion goes on here, but I'm glad to have attracted a quality resource like yourself.

Are you connected to the arcade referenced in your signature block? I'm guessing that's where all the experience you've shared has come from. I took a look around that site and the list of games. It looks like a solid collection. You might be amused that one game in particular evoked a gasp and huge smile on my face...Cosmo Gang! I haven't seen that game in years, but I have many fond memories of it. I'd probably have to mark it down as my favorite redemption game of all time. (It should be noted that I'm generally not a fan of redemption games at all.)
Aoi-chan wrote:One thing to note, the SN logic looks like garbage compared to the 573 system on the same CRT. The new SN dedicated cabinets are using a newer CRT with Kortec KT2914-DF monitor boards which look much better, brighter and higher res. Maybe its not fair to compare a SN upgrade kit to a dedicated system with different CRTs, but it's worth mentioning.
I'm not too surprised by that. 573 DDR was standard resolution while SuperNOVA is 480p. In conversions, it must downconvert the video to be compatible with the standard res monitor. I've played on both conversions and dedicated cabinets, and I agree that the conversions tend to look "flickery" by comparison which is perfectly understandable for an interlaced vs. progressive display.

Since my machine is in a private collection, I would not want to lose access to all of the pre-SuperNOVA material. If I ever upgraded to SuperNOVA, I'd want to be sure that I could go back to 573-DDR with minimal effort (i.e. no permanent modifications were needed). I suppose I could swap out the monitor with a multisync to have the best of both worlds.

But to be perfectly honest, I really just don't play enough DDR at this point and wasn't particularly knocked out by the content in SN1 or SN2 to want to make the investment. If I was a public location and would make some of it back, that would be one thing. But in private collection it's pretty much just money out the door. Given the pricing I've heard on SN/SN2 upgrade kits, there are whole (used) machines I'd rather have for the same or less money.
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Re: Supernova 'Conversion Kits' are in Stock

Post by Aoi-chan » Wed Apr 30, 2008 11:57 pm

Ho wrote:First off, welcome to IndyDDR, Aoi-chan. Your repair/maintenance/technical posts on DDR Freak have been consistently informative and insightful. I admit that not a lot of technical discussion goes on here, but I'm glad to have attracted a quality resource like yourself.

But to be perfectly honest, I really just don't play enough DDR at this point and wasn't particularly knocked out by the content in SN1 or SN2 to want to make the investment. If I was a public location and would make some of it back, that would be one thing. But in private collection it's pretty much just money out the door. Given the pricing I've heard on SN/SN2 upgrade kits, there are whole (used) machines I'd rather have for the same or less money.
Thanks! I've seen you on ddrfreak for years and always loved reading your posts. Your knowledge is impressive and I've learned quite a bit from you over the years. I recall first learning how to clean out a DDR pad from your online tutorial. Not sure how much of a "resource" I can be, but thanks for the confidence.

As for the SN upgrades, the prices are bound to go down eventually. I personally like SN for what it's worth, Extreme was just getting very old and boring to me personally. Having more songs and better graphics was a welcomed change. Too bad the majority of hardcore players in my area really hate SN and have been all over the ITG2 ahem*hacked*ahem cabinet we have running with over 1000 songs loaded on it. Here's hoping for a SN3 that doesn't suck in the eyes of the hardcore players.
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