Yes, the test location for Beatmania IIDX 17 called also Sirius starts today 27th of May and ends the 2nd of June in Japan.
And btw the way it seems that Sirious is going to be actually bright^_~ (white/light blue)

We did not need to wait for long till Jubeat’s test location. The first test location started today at Round 1 - Sanomiya . This one will end tomorrow at midnight.

Next test locations will be held at Round 1 - Yokohama Station West Exit and Entertainment Square Pasuka. At both locations Jubeat will be present from 17th of March till 22nd of March.

Jubeat Ripples theme looks like “Soappy Bubbles everywhere”. Different blue colors are the main color + orange. There is a new Touch marker. It’s not the Green/Purple one from the previous game. This one shows the perfect timing with a “cloud” turning from white to orange color. The super high-tech feel is gone…

Most of the songs on Jubeat Ripples are licenses. Few are covers and KONAMI Originals.

After Handsome JET’s early death announcement another sad news shocked me;

Jason Michael “Stillwind” Borenstein has passed away last Saturday. He has helped with the likes of DanceDanceRevolution SuperNOVA2 and Dance Dance Revolution X and was also the audio director of the Xbox DDR series. He is also famously known as the face of Michael a la Mode on the TUTORIAL modes of beatmania IIDX GOLD and above.

(Source: bemanistyle.com)

Two days ago I discovered on Mieya’s Blog that Handsome JET died. But I was surprised to find out that it was already 8 months ago thus in May 2008. He died in a traffic accident.

He is known for doing music for Guitar Freaks and Drummania (wasuremono, futari no rabu, kimi no tonari ni, dare? etc). But for IIDX players he might be known more because of his song - Little Little Princess.

The special site was open on 10th of December and everyone awaits the release of the Japanese DDRX arcade machine.
Wonder how it looks like when new cabinets are being made?

Credit goes to Molik who got this idea

Beatmania IIDX 15 DJ Troopers CS is almost out. It might take some time (2 days) for the shops to sell it but it’s officially released! So don’t forget to get your copy.

Jubeat update was done and it brought a surprise. Instead of 4 songs that we expected 4 more were in the update.

Evans / DJ YOSHITAKA
あいのうた / 肥塚良彦
Crosswind / Mutsuhiko Izumi
In Scottish Highlands / Thomas Howard Lichtenstein

DDRX and DDR Full Full Party SE OSTs are available for preordering on konamistyle. So if interested you can get a copy (along with a DDR USB^_~)

Two days ago Jubeat staff posted on their blog that a jubeat online update will take place during mid-december. Four new songs will be added to the game. Each song comes from a different “living” bemani game.

From IIDX - SigSig by kors k.
From DDR - TRUE♥LOVE by jun feat. Schanita
From PNM - 凛として咲く花の如く by 紅色リトマス
From GFDM - Slang by Kozo Nakamura

Beatmania IIDX 16 Empress is released today.

Starting today Japanese people can try out the new Guitar Freaks and Drummania game. It’s called GFDM Blazing V6.
The test ends started on 7th and ends on 16th of November.

KONAMI announced that they will release 17th Pop’n Music in February 2009. The game’s full title is Pop’n Music 17: The Movie. The main color of this theme is light purple.

We don’t know much yet except that the game will be aimed for both beginning players (Enjoy mode) and expert players. KONAMI also announced that they will be organizing e-amusement events regularly and that new licensed and original music will be in the game.