Konami to unite Japanese offices

Cutriss · Staff Member Joined: 24 Jan 2002

Konami announced today that it would bring all of its Japanese subsidiary organizations (KCES, KCEJ, KCET, and KOL) under one roof, in order to better facilitate communication between departments and also to put a new focus on online gaming. Konami previously used KOL (Konami OnLine) to solely manage its online properties, but it is hoped that this restructuring will allow them to better tap into the growing online gaming market.

Press Release for the studio merger can be found here. Press Release for the KOL merger can be found here.
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sherl0k · Maniac Member Joined: 27 Jan 2002 Location: the internet

I hate you, you beat me to the headline.

Just kidding.

I'm really hoping something big comes out of this. HEY BRING BACK BEATMA...HIPHOPMANIA IN THE US
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Reenee · Trick Member Joined: 21 Nov 2003

In layman's terms...? *spins hand around with rolleyes*

Fedora · Trick Member Joined: 23 May 2004 Location: Atchison, KS

Konami officials added an addendum today, stating that "Now message board junkies won't have to differentiate between several different branches of our company in order to know who to blame for the corner arrow problem in DDR Extreme US."
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Uiru · Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2004 2:16 am Post subject:

I'm hoping KCET + KOL = PS2 songpacks.

Or KCET + KCEJ = more Bemani crossovers.
~Uiru
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Bandit · Trick Member Joined: 10 Oct 2004 Location: Pittsburgh

I think if Konami wanted to appeal to it's Bemani audiance in a new way, why not port some special DDR/ other bemani mix's over the the PSP?

The PSP would be a great platform to port over to and who wouldn't want to play while on the go. That is if you know how to play with both thumbs, 1 on the d-pad and the other on the right side. The reason I say that is because i've seen people play CCR in many different way's.

That is after their done taking a break from DDR or if they decide to bring it back from the dead in some way.

Icee of AUG · Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2004 6:33 am Post subject:

So this means better home versions

Reenee · Trick Member Joined: 21 Nov 2003

Uiru · Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2004 8:16 am Post subject:

Better, worse, or cowmonkeys are not the point of this press release.

However, if the fruit of this union is more portable Bemani games, let me be the first to vomit over somebody important. We specifically want DDR on GameCube, not Game Boy. :p
~Uiru
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Catastrophe · Trick Member Joined: 04 Mar 2002 Location: Worcester, MA

Bah. This isn't good news at all! Consolidation is the opposite of expansion. Was it a good thing for anyone when Konami closed their Illinois (arcade) office? By merging four of their teams Konami is admitting that there either isn't enough for them to do, or that they each are not making enough money. Both causes are BAD.

Tomo_kun · Trick Member Joined: 26 Oct 2003 Location: SE-WI.

Bigboy45678 · Basic Member Joined: 06 Sep 2004 Location: The Mall

Whats a merger?

goatman596 · Trick Member Joined: 17 Oct 2004 Location: Tucson, AZ

All it means is a bussiness re-organization. I personally think it is probably a good thing, seeing as the stock rose just after this press-release came out.

As far as DDR goes, I think the only change will be an increased support of Online play in japanese releases. So, for us...it means nothing.

ch · Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2004 7:47 pm Post subject:

better communication between departments means a faster turnaround to the us market, so we may se releases quicker
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CStarFlare wrote:

I approve of the direction this thread is going

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch?e=20090310025322668

zdemigoth · Trick Member Joined: 05 Oct 2002

Maybe they can all get together and figure out where the licensed songs from DDRMAX2 CS and Extreme CS (EDIT: and Petit Love) went.

Hopefully this means that the quicker communication will translate into more Bemani or SOMETHING, but its too early to tell what sort of impact this will have, if any at all.

otakujpop · Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2004 11:12 am Post subject:

Really, faster releases of games isn't as important for PS2 users, if Konami is really interested in really breaking into the online gaming community, make songs downloadable for the next US PS2 DDR game, this is not something that Xbox should have alone, hard drives can be bought, songs can be saved on the PS2, the Eyetoy in Extreme was a cool improvment, but I hate that my friends with Ultramix can have all songs, even some of the E-Rotic songs from Beatmania Korea, on one disc instead of my limited songs on six(I have the original games for PSX)
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Cutriss · Staff Member Joined: 24 Jan 2002

digifork · Trick Member Joined: 28 Aug 2004 Location: Columbus, OH

zdemigoth · Trick Member Joined: 05 Oct 2002

1. In terms of downloadable song packs, the only thing released for Ultramix was KO's right? I understand that it is important for the company to make a profit but charging 5 bucks for a few older recycled songs isn't great IMO. However, if they offered licensed content (say two licensed songs and three NEW Konami crossovers) then I would seriously consider purchase.

Along the same lines, its hard for them to demand that much money for the downloadable content when the songs show up in an emulated form (Read: Stepmania) a few days after release.

2. The Bemani series has tried to show love for the HD in the past but the effort wasn't great and the feature went pretty much unused. IIDX 5th Style had the endless mode only available for those that had the HD, and while the feature was cool it wasn't worth the price of a hard drive. It was even harder to justify when there was no visible reason why the feature needed the hard drive storage capability.

Svenyip · Trick Member Joined: 05 Apr 2003 Location: Pittsfield, MA