Aside from being horrible in its current state, it could maybe be changed a bit and serve a purpose.

At $18,000 I can already tell not many dedicabs are going to be sold.

The full version of freebird has the same chance to get into DDR as DDRmax megamix.

The point was pretty obvious; look at the people clamouring for 13's and beyond. They're a minority, yes, but to them, fun is obviously in the "wall of arrows following nothing" step charts. To other, fun lies in the "well thought out 7" kind of step charts

Dont attack people who also enjoy songs that are a challenge for them. Charts like Uber Rave or one more lovely are played by people on pad just to see what they can do. They dont play exclusively play very difficult songs.They are interested in at least some difficult songs, just not stream-filled songs like someone might expect. Hard songs can be made just as well though out as any song. They are just notable if they arent well thought out, more so than a 7 or 8 block difficulty song. Besides, if a game didnt cater to people of your skill level, you'd want that to change, at least somewhat, correct? Its the same thing, just from the point of people with a different skill level. The Pre-Supernova boss songs were well thought out and were fun to play once you could get a certain point. Obviously not everyone who could pass them thought they were fun, but they grouped the challenge aspect of a game with the fun to appeal to people. There is absolutely nothing wrong with adding more difficult songs to the game, so as long as they are not taking away from other people's experience (such as with multiple difficulties and a variety of songs) with the game and are stepped carefully.

You have to remember that skilled players started out without the skills they now possess. They probably had many of the same opinions as people on this board. They still can enjoy a well thought out chart, but they just want well thought out charts that also are reasonable for their skill. Everyone's opinion can change on this subject. We won't know until we get better.

Im wondering if anyone who is angry about shock arrows is good at mines...

"so are we all in agreement that mines are stupid or are we some sort of weird hypocrite"

People cant say they will hate them under any circumstance. I just think that a lot of people arent certain how konami will use them. 

Im looking foward to this mix. Im not really concerned about shock arrows. Sure they may be a bit confusing at first but they make for a really interesting feature. Charts that utilize notes that are supposed to be avoided can be quite fun. They shouldnt be abused, but if used right it adds a lot of fun to a chart.

 The cabinet design looks good. Only thing im wondering about is the recession of the panels. maybe they'll be a bit shallower than on other DDR machines (I hope). I can see it attracting the attention of people who have never played DDR before and those who are very seasoned at dancing games.

USB support also sounds good.

I find the two ones that are rather location specific to be useless. It wouldnt be beneficial to most of the community.

 The virtual ddr tournament wouldn't be bad, but e-amuse isnt widespread enough for it to be feasible

I voted an arcade tournament tour. It would get people to play on DDR instead of competitors because they would get to see what is new.

One possible suggestion for the tournament tour, though, is that the winners could participate in a national tournament. 

ITG timing windows are commonly considered to be judge 4, and DDR's timing windows are generally considered to be judge 5 IIRC. Judgements are equal to the arcade so a marvelous on SM is the same kind of judgement as on DDR.

It is difficult to compare timing windows, as timing improves on keyboard. Higher judgement levels (whether using metrics.ini or the game preferences) can be used to match up keyboard and pad timing, though.

Obsessive anime fans who worship a few series and will attack anyone who critizes the series, address their friends using Japanese honorifics, act like they really know all about anime, despite only having watched anime series that are quite popular in america among other people like them.

The worst part is that they act like elitists.

Not really much else I really hate besides the typical cliques. 

Then the thoughts in this thread would be realistic. However, people are being way to pessimistic.

Note the episode 1 part. It'll probably be done again, with the same reward.

Why not let people start on it early?

Never have been called *** playing DDR.

But people who call people *** for playing DDR are stupid, so theres no point in caring.

Instead of posting a long list of locations, im just going to do one of the different reasons this thread was created, talking about locations:

 http://www.ddrfreak.com/locations/locations.php?action=displayLocation&locationID=1720

 Place I go to the most frequently. unfortunately the bemani games are in a row, and its made worse by the fact that the overly loud drummania machine drowns out the other machines, especially the ones right next to it.

 http://www.ddrfreak.com/locations/locations.php?action=displayLocation&locationID=27382

 Place I go to infrequently. Not really too much to say other than theres some distractions sometimes.

 http://www.ddrfreak.com/locations/locations.php?action=displayLocation&locationID=21550

 I havent been here in about 4 months. I need to go back sometime soon.

 http://www.ddrfreak.com/locations/locations.php?action=displayLocation&locationID=31104&status=new

 Place just opened recently, im still waiting to hear about the condition of the pads, but the place looks interesting.

Im going to guess they see only two kinds of people that have wiis:

1) Casual gamers

 2) Serious gamers who have a PS3 and/or a 360 as well as a wii.

 So if thats what it is, then they dont see a reason to produce something catering to a more serious crowd on the wii, when they can just make it for the other two.

All that says to me is that kid has good technique.

Warming up on determinator is kinda weird though...

What level charts do you think there are generally too many and too few of (going by foot rating)?

Too many 7s and 8s, not enough 10s and above.

Should tens use time gimmicks to make reading the song harder?

If gimmicks=Something not needed in the file: no. It only causes frustration in the players.

Do you think mines, hands, or rolls will ever find a home in DDR? Do you think we might see another new type of arrow (like the hand movements in HP)? Should Konami put mines/hands/rolls into DDR?

Maybe, its up to Konami. They arent needed, but they are a nice possibility. For hand movements similar to hottest party, I dont feel they should be used, as they would conflict with some playing styles.

Should Konami gradually add in new difficulty levels (perhaps, add one more "foot" rating per release until they reach songs that cannot be beat at first), or should they just jump right in to making 13s and maybe even 14s and up?

Jump into higher difficulties. The community can handle them, and those who cant will have more songs to practice on to get better.

Should they do things on the scale that we've come to know in the ITG and SM community, or should they reinvent the entire scale to be something different?

The difficulty scale should be similar to what it currently is, with the extension of difficulties past 10 (like in ITG). I dont see any problem with the current system from 1-9, the problem only starts with 10.

Should every song have a challenge chart? Should challenge charts be the hardest charts, or should they add in an even harder chart (having a total of 6 or more for single) on songs that they think merit an extremely difficult chart?

If it warrants a challenge chart, it should.

Should Konami consider having step chart contests within the community? Would you like to see charts more like those from the best Stepmania authors in DDR, or do you prefer the style of charts currently in DDR?

Konami should have step chart contests. If the people choose what charts they want, then they have a game that appeals to people as the game becomes what the community wants instead of what konami thinks the community wants.

Do you prefer charts (specifically hard charts) from the American or Japanese team? If you played the challenge charts in the Universe series, what did you think of those?

I dont know.

Do you prefer a boss song (anywhere in the 10-16 range) to sound like a "boss song" (menacing, fast, etc.), or do you really care as long as the steps fit the music?

If the steps fit the music it is ok. As an example: Happy Hardcore music may not sound like a "boss song", but the songs can have lots of notes and end up with a hard chart. Take Summer ~Speedy Mix~, Euphoria, or Delirium in In The Groove. Having a variety of boss songs beats having a boss song thats a remix of another boss song thats a remix of another boss song and stuff like that.

The main problem I think is that konami is simply not using the challenge difficulty enough. The way I view it is that konami is doing its job difficulty wise and such for heavy mode, but does not provide enough challenge charts, bringing out the difficulty of the song.

I'd place myself at the upper end where DDR seems boring in comparison to other machine-dancing games because If I want to challenge myself I have an extremely limited selection. So, being in my position, adding more challenging charts outside of boss songs would definitely get me to play more DDR.