John Zeitler

I still love and play Dance Dance Revolution, the fact that I’m also still terrible at it notwithstanding. However, I have significantly less enthusiasm for Konami’s other music games as presented to the English-speaking world. Don’t get me wrong, I dig Pop’n Music, but nobody can say that Beat’n Groovy was anything other than an insult to the NA fans of the series.

So it probably should not surprise me at all that Dance Dance Revolution S Lite, recently released as a free trial of the upcoming DDR for iPhone and iPod Touch, is equally terrible. I could say that the whole idea of arrow matching on a touch screen removes a lot of the charm from the game mechanic, but then again it’s not that far removed from Guitar Hero or Rock Band (or even straight-up Beatmania). That’s not the major problem. The problem is that the iPhone and iPod Touch have such small screens and that half of them are consumed by the arrow hotspots… which are transparent overlays over the scrolling arrows. And try as you might, you are probably not going to find anyone with transparent thumbs. My opinion is not to bother with DDR S when it becomes available, and to not even waste the time or effort with the free trial.

I doubt anyone from Konami is reading this, but if they are, they ought to know that I’m through with the NA Bemani games until Konami of America straightens up and flies right. To be honest I should have seen this coming when Beatmania US was released to absolutely no fanfare or attention, or for that matter anything resembling playtesting for the difficulty curve… Little did I know, four years ago, that it was just the beginning of the end for North American Bemani. Ah well. DJ Max Fever is out next week. Le roi est mort; vive le roi.

I know I can’t be the only one to avoid syncing my music player unless it’s absolutely necessary. Granted, iTunes has been much better about speeding up the process, but in my case that’s not the reason. Primarily, I don’t sync unless I have to because of the playlists I set up. See, they’re randomized based on what I’ve listened to recently, and they don’t update unless I sync. So, if there’s a song I like or am in the mood for more than usual, and I listen to it all the way through or skip it at a certain point (the criteria for what counts as a “skip” are vague), it’s pulled out of “rotation” for at least two weeks. I just heard a song today that I don’t think I’ve heard since, oh, 2006, and I have to sync tonight so that a new audio drama gets onto the phone.

Yeah, it’s my own fault, and ultimately not listening to the same stuff over and over again is good, but not when it works against me.

The big buzz in the tech world of late is the impending release of Windows 7. Now, ostensibly as a self-declared “Mac guy”, and knowing that OS X will always hold a special place in my heart, I have to admit to a certain amount of excitement in the whole deal. I may even actually get it.

Well, I’ll have to, as it turns out– I’m downloading the beta now.

Quiet day today, huh folks? Oh, wait, maybe that was just me. Had my headphones on damn near all day.

Though I will say this, today was certainly a triumph for music-lovers everywhere, and I think you all know what I’m referring to. I can’t believe it, really. The first thing I thought of, so many years ago, was being able to play “Pretty Woman” on a plastic fake guitar.

…stop looking at me like that, Roy Orbison was a genius and you know it.