Needs more love for Gus.

I wonder if Konami will start producing X versions of the soft pad with the new decos...I'm hoping they'll be around for the next US CS bundle release, seeing as how we are usually one step behind the JP one.

I have to say all of them have things to get excited about for me.  X because I own a PS2, and because of arcade previews, and HP2 and Universe 3 because of the number of KO's announced for them.  HP2 has the nice interface going for it and Universe 3 sounds like it's going to have the most features seen in a CS release so far.

Thanks for the vid!  It seems like Challenge is being used for shock arrow charts now then...but I'm just guessing that from the foot ratings.  Also hear Votum stellarum in the Midnight Dawn mix, it'd be cool to see what else is in it.

Can you give the difficulties for FotF's charts?

I see you haven't encountered On The Break and Flight Of The Phoenix yet...I'm guessing the former has been bumped down to Final Stage like people expected and FotP has become an unlock with its new steps.

The poll needs a "pre-rendered background videos on live-rendered stages with characters" option like HP2.  People could then also have a choice to choose between the two if they wanted.

I use Rainbow/Solo mostly and Note every so often.  In terms of shapes, I do like the Cyber-shaped noteskins in SN2.

In terms of realistically adding things, I think it's about time HiddenSudden/Phantom and Fuwa Fuwa got implemented as part of the regular selection of mods.  In terms of other mods though (aka ones from Stepmania), I'd like to see Boomerang and Beat.

I'm pretty sure he's referring to Ryan Cravens, the guy who handled location tests at BZ, not DukAmok.

Either way, if this is true about butterfly oni being an 11, I can't say I'm all that happy about it.  Wrong one to rerate for sure, unless it's a new chart.

If it's true though, I demand to see Michael a la Mode's REBEL EREBEN soundbite along with level select.

To add to the above, it seems like it's about time DDR followed in the path of other Bemani and had (differently) themed games.  On the other hand, I like SN2's gameplay screen a lot more than the screenshots we've seen for X's (I know that things may still change, but that's how I feel about it given the screens released).  I really liked the look of SN2 and while I do feel a change in theme from game to game would be interesting, I'd like to see that sleek, metallic look retained.  IIDX has managed to retain that clean look with RED and other themed games, I don't see why DDR couldn't also retain that balance while having a themed game.  Also agree with what has been said above about ES stages having different backgrounds.

Just my two cents.

I like characters and the stage design in SN/2 was nice, but I think it'd be really cool if you could have the stage designs playing background videos on the floor of the stage or surrounding it.  If people don't like the characters, they can have the option of simply seeing the background video.  Retain the X-combo activated side-art though, that was a cool touch.  I also realize that while background videos take up time to make, I feel they add to the experience just as much as characters could.