IndyDDR.com

To each his own, I guess. The new arrow panel design was the one thing I didn't like when I saw the new Japanese cabinets. I may agree with you that there's more to the new design--as in, there's more design. It's just not really my taste. It kind of strikes me as "retro future" like what someone in 1979 would guess something might look like in 2009. I don't really hate it or anything. I just prefer the old design.

Hey, this was posted on DDR Freak too

I have contacted Betson concerning the quality issues and here is the reply received....

"Please send inquiries to the manufacturer Konami. We are just purchasing finished goods from Konami. We have notified them of the Problems."

So according to Betson, Konami was behind the manufacturing. Yet when I look on most other websites Betson is identified as the manufacturer. The most obvious conclusion is that somebody is lying, but the question is who.

Amp Divorax wrote:I have contacted Betson concerning the quality issues and here is the reply received....

"Please send inquiries to the manufacturer Konami. We are just purchasing finished goods from Konami. We have notified them of the Problems."

So according to Betson, Konami was behind the manufacturing. Yet when I look on most other websites Betson is identified as the manufacturer. The most obvious conclusion is that somebody is lying, but the question is who.

My bets on Betson.

Fluffyumpkins wrote:

Amp Divorax wrote:I have contacted Betson concerning the quality issues and here is the reply received....

"Please send inquiries to the manufacturer Konami. We are just purchasing finished goods from Konami. We have notified them of the Problems."

So according to Betson, Konami was behind the manufacturing. Yet when I look on most other websites Betson is identified as the manufacturer. The most obvious conclusion is that somebody is lying, but the question is who.

My bets on Betson.

I see what you did there.

I had to say it =P

Oh and yeah and Konami or Betson really was lazy with the speakers. They did rip them right out of Guitar Hero.

http://arcadeheaven.files.wordpress.com ... abinet.jpg

I really hope that game is selling like crap. Such a poorly designed arcade game.

I tried out the DDR X cabinet at the GameWorks in Schaumburg. Ugh, what a mess.

The lag issue is very real. I haven't ever experienced such a problem before on any DDR or PIU cabinet; on this DDR X machine I went from As and Bs to Cs and Ds. It's nice to know (in some way) that the problem isn't isolated to a single location.

Another thing that really bugs me about DDR X is that the video backgrounds for some songs (Xepher in particular; I think DoLL was affected too) were just stretched from the 4:3 aspect of earlier machines to 16:9. And man, it looks horrible. Some videos were properly centered, but all videos I saw had very obvious macroblocking and noise issues, which isn't something I'd expect to see on any sort of modern arcade hardware. (If Andamiro can make it work, you'd think Konami could too...)

Ah well. One nice thing about the Schaumburg GameWorks is that they have all of their dance machines (Extreme, SuperNOVA, X, and an ITG cabinet) lined up, so it's pretty easy to go back and forth between machines.

BakaOrochi wrote:I had to say it =P

Oh and yeah and Konami or Betson really was lazy with the speakers. They did rip them right out of Guitar Hero.

http://arcadeheaven.files.wordpress.com ... abinet.jpg

I really hope that game is selling like crap. Such a poorly designed arcade game.

At least those lights turn blue when Star Power is active. The DDR X lights do nothing.

Fluffyumpkins wrote:At least those lights turn blue when Star Power is active. The DDR X lights do nothing.

They do something... They light up and look ugly and make me wish that they'd turn back off.

You are a master of your craft, Brian. Awesomely objective and informative review!

Interesting review.

This made me want to go and check out the new cabinets, but unfortunately we don't have any new X cabinets that I know of in Fukushima's immediate area. I'm planning on heading down to Tokyo in three weeks, so I'll keep an eye out for a new machine so I can get an in-person comparison between what you wrote and the JP version.


Concerning the question on song selection, I don't know if the JP and US versions are different, but overall I honestly just find myself primarily playing older songs (Extreme and before). I especially like the new X steps for some of the older songs, but most of the actual new songs don't really appeal to me.

LikeableRodent wrote:most of the actual new songs don't really appeal to me.

I think I started feeling that way somewhere around MAX.

And that's not to say I don't like any songs since 5th Mix...of course I do. I just think I used to like the majority of songs and it's been getting progressively to the point where I have to search to find the few that I like amidst the catalog of each new mix. But that's just my personal musical preference.

trythil wrote:I tried out the DDR X cabinet at the GameWorks in Schaumburg. Ugh, what a mess.

The lag issue is very real. I haven't ever experienced such a problem before on any DDR or PIU cabinet; on this DDR X machine I went from As and Bs to Cs and Ds. It's nice to know (in some way) that the problem isn't isolated to a single location.

Another thing that really bugs me about DDR X is that the video backgrounds for some songs (Xepher in particular; I think DoLL was affected too) were just stretched from the 4:3 aspect of earlier machines to 16:9. And man, it looks horrible. Some videos were properly centered, but all videos I saw had very obvious macroblocking and noise issues, which isn't something I'd expect to see on any sort of modern arcade hardware. (If Andamiro can make it work, you'd think Konami could too...)

Ah well. One nice thing about the Schaumburg GameWorks is that they have all of their dance machines (Extreme, SuperNOVA, X, and an ITG cabinet) lined up, so it's pretty easy to go back and forth between machines.

Sensors at this location were updated Friday evening, June 19th. Would appreciate any feedback you may have.

EDIT: Was confused. Go about your usual business.

Ho wrote:

LikeableRodent wrote:most of the actual new songs don't really appeal to me.

I think I started feeling that way somewhere around MAX.

Yea, Extreme was the last mix that really had new music that I like in it :/