Rumor: Project DIVA Possibly Appearing in US Arcade

Word has been spreading on Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites with unconfirmed reports about the appearance of SEGA’s Project DIVA arcade cabinets in an arcade in Southern California. According to one post on Facebook, the machines have been spotted at a ROUND1, although they are currently not out on the gaming floor yet, pending network setup. If these rumors are true and that the Project DIVA AC machines do indeed show up in the near future, then this would be the first time such machines would be used in a real arcade in the United States. Previously, a demo machine was set up at New People during 2011’s J-Pop Summit Festival and remained there for some time afterwards; it was not connected to the network and thus was not compatible with the gaming cards used by players to keep track of their progress.

UPDATE: Twitter comments are indicating a noon launch on February 14.


17 thoughts on “Rumor: Project DIVA Possibly Appearing in US Arcade”

    1. why? Most arcade goers aren’t going to know or really care about Miku Hatsune. It certainly is interesting but it is certainly a huge risk if true. Besides these reports are unconfirmed so for we know it could just be gossip that is not true. The other problem I see with this is that Project Diva was never released in the USA so the whole network thing would be kind of waste since no one other then the few who actually own Project Diva on PSP and PS3 could save their data. Also wouldn;t it be really expensive to connect to a Japanese network and worth the risk of a small time arcade? (Unless I miss understanding what they mean by network)

      1. The Project DIVA Arcade machines have their own international network, and it is separate from any of the console releases. Basically you buy a smart card and you set up an account with it; every time you play at the arcade, you swipe your card for it to look up your account information (number of points, play history, module settings, etc.). A Project DIVA AC machine without network access is pretty much useless unless you’re just a casual player.

        1. That seems like it would be incredible difficult for a US Arcade to Set Up (Not to mention expensive). Also imagine the lag time it would take to go from the US to the network in Japan and back again. Something tells me that if this is true they won’t be hooking up to the network and will be used only for causal play. (Kinda like how the guitar hero arcade version works)

          1. Well, good thing that ROUND1 is actually an international chain with many locations in Japan as well. Furthermore, lag is not an issue because the only time the machine needs to communicate with servers is after login, after finishing a song and for song updates. Singapore is only slightly closer to Japan than the US West Coast and has no problems at all with the netowrk.

          2. Fair enough. Still I don’t think this is true. Something about it just doesn’t seem right. I know that Vocaloid fans would like it but out side of this fandom who would be willing to play a game in solid japanese (Or even if the program was programed into english) with Japanese only songs? That was always the problem with the original DDR games from konami but when they tried to localize the games they turned out even worse. (yes even the arcade versions) So unless they try localize all the Project Diva songs ( which I’m pretty sure Vocaloid fans would go into a massive riot if it happened) I just don’t see it happening. Also has anyone just called the place and asked? Unless Sega is asking to keep it on the down low I don’t see how an arcade could not say if they have it or not.

          3. There are a lot of hardcore rhythm game fans in California who have no problem playing on the Japanese arcade machines; furthermore, it’s not like Japanese-only lyrics have prevented people from enjoying VOCALOID songs in the US, and in California of all places.

          4. Yes but that is within the fandom people who know who Miku is. I’m thinking more outside the fandom of people who have never heard of Miku who are going to an arcade with family or friends. Project Diva just doesn’t seem like it would fit in or appeal to them and an arcade is about profit. ( I know that is why DDR and the korean version of DDR at my local arcade got unplugged because no one other then DDR players would play it and at $5 a play it really wasn’t worth it when you could play it at home for free)

          5. Where do you live? I find it surprising that a DDR machine would get unplugged simply because only hardcore people would play it. Perhaps there were other reasons behind it? Perhaps the decision to charge FIVE DOLLARS for a single play was a pretty terrible management decision?

            In any case, I don’t think putting in a DIVA machine at this point would ever be aimed at drawing a huge casual crowd (besides, what type of casual crowd would actually go to arcades in the US nowadays?) And if this is installed, we’ll see if the hardcore crowd can keep it going… (and it’s not like this is as big a financial risk as you are making it out to be, since it’s not like they’re ONLY putting this machine on the floor and nothing else) As for ROUND1, they also have the bowling alleys to take in the money from the casual crowd.

          6. I lived near the Denver area of Colorado which has a couple of big name arcades like Brunswick zone and Dave and Busters around. But at both of those arcades the DDR Machines were shut down and removed since no one other then hardcore user played on them. I do remeber they did start off at a 3 dollars a game but still not many people played them.

            But as for the financial risk I think it would be fairly big because Sega I believe only rents out these machines so not only do you have to think of the cost of maintenance for when people pound on them and break the buttons or when lights burn out, but the rental fee from Sega for the machine, royalty fee for using Sega’s logo for advertising and brand software, more then likely a network charge, internet connection fees, a setup/installation fee (I know Kodak at my work required this for setting up a prints in second at my work though it could be different for video games), and probably even a royalty fee or two to Crypton for the use of Miku and the gang. (Though that might be in the fee with Sega)

            But again I really am not buying this story because the evidence is shaky at best since it is a Facebook mention; If Sega home page or Crypton Facebook mentioned I might believe it more. Still in the long run it really doesn’t affect me since I know that the Denver area will never ever get any of this because it is in the middle of nowhere.

          7. You should have seen the line at the New People machine then, although it was only $1/play (which I believe is what it is on other machines) the line was quite long, and you do not have to understand Japanese or know what to do as it is pretty self-explanatory. Even though it is such a specific game, I know that people from all over will come to play it at least once, especially with AX coming soon.

          8. The one time I went to AX I do remember seeing a line for the project Diva game but everyone in the line who I asked knew what Vocaloid was. (To an extent though most only knew Miku, Len, Rin, Luka, KAITO, and some times MEIKO) But again this goes back to people who are already are fairly deep in the vocaloid fandom or in the anime/otaku fandom which is closely linked to Vocaloid. But I’m thinking more just general arcade goers that are use to racing games, shooter games, chance games (Where you win tickets and can exchange for prizes), crane games, etc,etc. Out side these two groups I don’t see it making much of hit in main stream goers even if it is simple to figure out and doesn’t need to be translated.

          9. Round trip latency from a server in San Fransisco to a Japanese server in Tokyo is under 200ms on average. Even if we toss in a lot of overhead, it won’t be more than 500 ms unless the connection is piss poor at the endpoints. Not too bad for a round trip total distance of 10,200 miles.

  1. Cool.. Within 45 min drive of both The Puente Hills and Moreno Valley Round1 arcades. I still have the card from when I played at the Shinjuku Sega Game Station Arcade in Tokyo. Hope it works!

  2. hey all. OK only because of certain types of connections I have, I have confirmed that Project diva machines are on there way to round 1 at the puente hills mall. I can not give you a time frame as that would make a few higher ups upset. BUT It will be sooner then most would logically think. It is a special collaboration for round 1 being one of the few large sized arcades and entertainment companies. The network is currently being configured and installed as of now. That is all I can say without getting into trouble 😉

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