This sounds interesting. I'll see if I can talk to some people when I visit Japan (since I'm supposed to be researching my topic, not just playing Bemani) about this network. With the prevalence of data networks in large Japanese cities, I could see this being doable. I don't know how they'd handle locations not in large cities.Ho wrote:My very, very basic understanding is that the newer arcade machines (pop'n, IIDX, GF/dm, etc.) are connected to some kind of a network. I believe this is also tied into the cards that you may have seen going around for the various games (somewhat similar to Initial D cards, but for a different purpose).
I think that Konami is controlling things like song unlocks and software piracy protection using this sytem. I suppose if there's a network in place that sending an e-mail out wouldn't be much of a problem for them.
Of course, this wouldn't work in the US. Namco establishments still use a 9600 baud dialup for their work :)