pop'n music éclale is the 23rd version of the rythm game from Konami. It will be released in Japan tomorrow. The new Pop'n Star Maker mode replaces the Story Mode and allows the players to win characters medals and Lumina (in-game coins). The player can use his Luminas in the Star Factory shop to buy songs and decorations. pop'n music éclale features 160 songs, some were selected during a competition held last August, others come from crossover with other BEMANI titles: REFLEC BEAT colette, GuitarFreaksXG & DrumManiaXG.

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BlazBlue CentralFiction is the fourth episode of Arc System Works series. It ends the arc of the story of Ragna, story mode therefore promises to be exciting: after the events of the previous episodes, Ragna wakes up in Kagutsuchi and he has lost his memory. New characters make their appearance: Naoto Kurogane, Hibiki Kohaku and Nine the Phantom (Konoe A. Mercury), the last one will be available on December 3. Naoto Kurogane is a melee fighter specialised in combos and dodges. Hibiki Kohaku can make appear a clone which damages taken will not affect the player life bar and uses the teleportation. Nine the Phantom is a witch using powerful magic attacks. More than 50 stages from Kagutsuchi and Ikaruga cities are available. Two new features are going to change the way of playing. The Exceed Accel, a special type of Distortion Drive inflicting heavy damage which is activated by pressing the 4 buttons in Overdrive mode. The second is the Active Flow: it is activated when the player performs active actives continuously (as hit the opponent), once activated, the damage of attacks increase and the regeneration of the Burst Gauge is accelerated. The game inferface has also some changes: when the Overdrive is active, a countdown timer appears below the Burst gauge, when a character takes damage, his portrait shakes, at beginning of the 1st round, the emblem of each fighter appears and when a character is close to enter Active Flow, a pink circle surrounds the Overdrive gauge. The opening of BlazBlue CentralFiction is available here.

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Square Enix will start operation of Lord of Vermilion Re: 3 tomorrow. There are no less than 150 new cards in this version. 16 characters are present: Gideon, Angela, Julia, Iskur, Scipio, Deed, Hilda, Baldo, Als, Wolf, Kokuyou, Kohaku, Azura, Easia, Thérèse and Teo. Collaborations are also already planned with Sengoku Basara and Final Fantasy XIV. You can watch the game trailer here.

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Here's mid-November and the EAG International 2016 trade show is approaching fast. The 2016 edition will be held at ExCeL London from January 12 to 14. With over 300 exhibitors including Sega Amusements International and Bandai Namco Entertainment, it is the unmissable European event for discovering what's new this season. No products have been announced yet, but you can bet on the presence of machines that will be showcased at IAAPA Attractions Expo in Orlando next week (MotoGP by Raw Thrills, Sonic Dash Extreme from Sega, Namco's Star Wars Battle Pod Flat Screen Edition, Wahlap's Storm Racer G Deluxe, ...) and new titles unveiled at the show. EAG International 2016 will host the Visitor Attraction Show once again. More than 5,500 trade visitors are expected during the three days the show lasts. An after show party will be organized on Wednesday evening where 1,000 guests will meet in a friendly atmosphere. As every year since the creation of the show, we will publish a photo report with videos and detailed comments about all new video games (see our EAG International 2015 report). You can register now to obtain your access badge. All information and floor plan can be found on the official website: www.eagexpo.com.

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Konami starts operation of the latest version of its beatmania musical game: beatmania IIDX 23 copula. More than 1000 songs are already available, it's a record! Songs are composed by artists from the beatnation Records label and by promising young composers from the new beatnation RHYZE label. Regarding gameplay, some new features are introduced; a new challenge is offered to advanced players with the new "Hell load Note". Beginners are not forgotten with the new "Assisted Easy" option, they will be able to play beatmania without being put off by the difficulty. The new "Step Up" mode offers to progress in the game following a story based on the train that is the theme of the game.

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Border Break Scramble Takeshi is available in some Japanese arcades since November 5 but the game is officially out today. This update adds two new characters (customizable like the old ones), new mechas, new weapons as well as new maps. A new Squad Battle mode is also included. It is played in 4 vs 4 (unlike the 10 vs 10 of normal mode) on a smaller symetric map. You can watch the trailer for Border Break Scramble Takeshi here.

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While Japanese people are eagerly awaiting the release of the DX version expected before the end of the year, US players can finally play Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 5! Released 20 months ago (more than one year and a half!) in Japan, it is one of the two references in arcade racing games (the other being Initial D Arcade Stage 8 Infinity). The big difference of these two titles when compared with most other arcade racing games is that they offer the players the ability to improve their car and save their progress on a save game card. Add to that regular updates, online leaderboards and tournaments organized frequently and you'll quickly understand why communities of pilots form around these games. Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 5 location tests were discovered at Camelot Golfland in Anaheim, California and at Dave & Buster's in Denver, Colorado (by almightytora and Sam Porcaro respectively). The offer consists of 4 linked-up arcade cabinets and a terminal to customize your car and check the rankings without occupying the cabinets unnecessarily. This is the latest English version available that includes Extreme VS mode, the Fukuoka Urban Expressway course and the Subaru BRZ and Toyota 86 cars. Despite the fact that it's the international version, the speed shifter is on the left as on the Japanese version. The game is connected to the internet but only the ghosts of American players appear on the network. The other limitation is that the Banapassport card can currently accommodate 5 cars only instead of the usual 100. The initial location test is planned to run for four months, other places hosting the game will surely be discovered soon. The North American Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune community has just put online a Youtube channel dedicated to the game. Will we have the chance to see the game in Europe? The absence of large arcade chains on the old continent and the dumbed down version of Mario Kart Arcade GP DX to which we were entitled to let us fear that it won't be the case. But the situation can quickly evolve favorably... Fingers crossed!

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The November T-shirt at 1cc Shirt is dedicated to Technõs. The Navy blue T-shirt has the Technōs Japan Corporation writing in Japanese within the blue star composing the Technõs logo printed on the front. Technõs was a video game development studio created in 1981 by three former employees of Data East. Their first game was Minky Monkey released in 1983. During their career, Technõs explored various genres in arcade games including wrestling (Exciting Hour, Big Pro Wrestling, WWF WrestleFest and WWF WrestleMania), adventure (Mysterious Stones), air combat (Acrobatic Dog-Fight) and platform (Bogey Manor). But they owe their popularity to their scrolling fighters with the Double Dragon series and other games in the genre: Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-Kun (Renegade), The Combatribes and Shadow Force. The character of Kunio-Kun (named in reference to Kunio Taki, the President of Technõs) appeared in many of their games (including Super Dodge Ball) and quickly became the mascot of the company. The last three arcade productions by Technõs were released in NEOGEO MVS cartridge format. These are Double Dragon; a fighting game inspired by the movie based on the original Double Dragon game (understood?), Voltage Fighter Gowcaiser; a fighting game with scholars turning into superheroes whose characters are drawn by Masami ÅŒbari and a new version of Super Dodge Ball. The company closed down in 1996, shortly after the release of the latter title. The good news is that Arc System Works holds the intellectual property of Technõs since June 11th, 2015. Will we get a new Double Dragon game? Meanwhile, you can proudly wear the colors of Technõs Japan Corporation by ordering this T-shirt. You have until November 22, after that date, it will not be available anymore!

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Game Glorious is a Japanese fashion company which manufactures T-shirts and accessories (shoes, bags) based on retro video games. All products are officially licensed. Since July 2015, foreign customers can order on the international website of Game Glorious. For now, the site offers mainly tribute T-shirts of games from the following licences: Konami (Castlevania, Ganbare Goemon), Sunsoft (Atlantis no nazo), Jaleco (Ninja JaJaMaRu), Taito (Chase H.Q., Elevator Action, Bubble Bobble, KiKiKaiKai) and Hudson (Star Soldier). An upcoming article will especially hold our attention: the Gradius pilot jacket. As part of the 30th anniversary celebration of the series, this jacket is available in 2 colours: a blue model that will be released in late November and a grey model that will be released in December.

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Released in 1983, Dragon's Lair had impressed everyone at the time with its splendid graphics. The good idea was to use a LaserDisc as storage medium to provide a true interactive cartoon. Obviously, it was also necessary that the quality of sequences was up to par and that was the case thanks to the talent of Don Bluth, who had previously worked on major productions such as Sleeping Beauty, Robin Hood, Pete's Dragon and The Secret of NIMH. Despite its significant production cost ($1.3 million for the 22 minutes of animation that compose the game), Dragon's Lair was a huge success as it brought more than $32 million in revenue in the first eight months of operation. The work began on a follow-up but the collapse of the North American video game market caused the bankruptcy of the animation studio and the sequel would finally be released in 1991. Already at that time, a feature film project was being considered. A script exists since 2003, it's an humorous prequel to the game, telling the life of Dirk from his birth until the time he becomes a knight. Some story boards have been made to sell the idea to production houses, many of them were interested but wanted to make a sequel in computer graphics while Don Bluth absolutely wanted to use traditional cell-based animation. On October 26th, Don Bluth and Gary Goldman launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the production of a short presentation film that would allow them to convince producers and investors. The goal is to find the right people whom would let them retain full control over their work. The amount to reach is $550,000 by November 26th. The rewards for donors include caps, T-shirts, lanyards, story boards, posters, artbooks, statuettes, drawing classes, etc... We are excited at the prospect of watching Dirk the Daring on the big screen! Donations start at $10, what are you waiting for?

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