A few weeks ago I was able to take time out to speak to Andrew Muir who is the Product Manager of Konami's Arcade Division.
I've met Andrew on many occasion from DDR tournaments, Trade shows and even on Sky News J.
Andrew has been one of the biggest supporters of the DanceGames community in the UK, listening to the players wants and needs. He was involve in the design of DancingStage Euromix *-ahem-* BoyZone.
Also he's a wicked DDR player J
Here we go….
Champ What is your Position and what do you do at Konami?
Andrew Product Manager. I market our new titles to our UK customers and
European distributors.This involves all manner of stuff from graphic design to
Event organisation. Arcade game buyers tend to not want to take chances with
regard to purchasing unique and revolutionary titles. Its my job to convince/educate them that Konami products are worth buying.
I also deal with product localisation and R&D ....umm....game
Translation and modification to suit the European market. As you are no doubt aware
there is a lot of Konami stuff available in Japan which just wouldn't work over here. Shame. :o)
Champ Since its release, Euromix's popularity has exceeded many people's expectations - has this surprised you in anyway?
Andrew I'm not surprised its doing well. I am surprised it took so frickin' long though to get noticed.
Personally, I'm still not happy with the track listing that we "chose" for the machine but it seems to have the mass appeal that we were aiming for.
However, the fact that I Will Survive is a popular track amongst the monkey masses is a sad reflection of this day and age IMHO.
Champ Are there any plans to release a Euromix 2 any time soon? If so, what new songs can we expect to see?
Andrew Plans have been afoot for sometime, but the fact that DDR is now levelling out in Japan will have a severe effect on whether Japan will want to dedicate any further R&D time to overseas titles.
Rest assured I thought we could do with a strong lineup of new
Millennium titles for the game including hits by Frank Sinatra, Led Zeppelin and the best of the Eagles.........(jk)
Champ Private thought - Eagles what?
Champ Why do you think Euromix has been so successful, when its predecesser Dancing Stage, achieved relatively limited success and recognition in comparism?
Andrew As there is little aesthetic difference between the cabinets, I'd have to say the music was largely responsible.
(Sigh)
Champ DanceGames.com has receieved a lot of info about the Japanese mixes of the game being imported to relatively obscure places around the UK. Do Konami have any plans on officially releasing any other mixes into the UK, such as the recently released DDRMax?
Andrew Unfortunately , no. Licensing etc.
Champ The only other games in the Bemani series that have been released over here officially are Beatmania and Guitar Freaks. Are there any plans to release any new mixes for these two games?
AndrewI wouldn't want to speak for the consumer division, but I don't think there
are any plans to.
As far as I know, these products were not successful enough in Europe to warrant a sequel.
Champ Can we expect to see some new Bemani titles arriving in the UK? Or can we only dream of seeing such titles as Para Para Paradise, Drum Mania and Keyboard Mania in our local arcade?
Andrew Konami don't have any plans to release the above in Europe.
The decision being based upon the sucess of previous titles such as Beatmania and Guitar Freaks.
Champ The Playstation release of Beatmania: European Edit, made little impact. Why do you think this was, and please don't say it was due to the poor attempt the DanceGames team made at promoting it to the nation!
(side note: Champ, James and a few select others were chosen to promote the game, appearing on national TV, radio and newspapers and magazines)
Andrew LoL , yes I remember those appearances. Much appreciated they were too.
I had a pop at the Beatmania for the PSX. It was much harder than the arcade version.
I get the feeling the difficulty must have put a lot of players off as some of the tracks weren't too bad.
Champ DDR "clones" have been around for a long time, however in the UK there's always just been Dancing Stage.
Until now that is. What do you think of games such as EZ2Dancer, Pump It Up and 3ddx? Are you worried about the increased competition for what is still, a niche
in the arcade gaming market?
Andrew I know for a fact that at most locations Euromix is what takes the highest proportion of income for the Dancing Games. The majority of arcade game buyers have little interest in game content and are obsessed with the earning potential of the machine. So were we to release another version, I'm positive it would do well.
Champ A caveman is transported to the present day walks into a local arcade and see's Euromix. How would you describe the game to him in no more then 20 words, assuming the caveman has English speaking abilities? :)
Andrew Ummm...., follow the arrows, put your foot there...no ! there!....there!!,,,,, Step , 2 , 3 , Step . Good. 2 , 3 . .........get your hands off the bars........try facing the screen.
Thats about 26 isn't it ? Soddit, its Monday Morning.
Champ What do you think of DanceGames.com?
Andrew Its quicky becoming the only online resource for any European DDR fan.
Will you remove these handcuffs now ? I want to go home.
Questions compiled by our great editor James "Dim Sum" Chong
Posted by Champ
Edited by Champ
Bemani Related 
Music Games Related 
Other News
