DDR Con.

[Aoi-chan]

There was a very similar discussion on Anime Central's forums after this year's con. It dealt with having a separate J-Rock con, which branched out to become the next J-Music con as their ideas grew and minds opened up to bigger and better possibilities. I think a Bemani con is the way to go and just focusing on one game (DDR for example) wouldn't ever amount to much. Is Bemani the target topic, or should it include more than just Bemani and include all music based games (as G-type mentioned). At this point, I don't know yet. Having a too broad and open focus causes just as many problems as having too narrow of a focus.

A con like this has lots of possibilities and there are several levels to making a convention in general. It could be a smaller, less formal event; or it could be professional and decked out with only arcade machines and company reps on hand from around the world. I don't think it would be the best idea to have only 1 Bemani type con in the country, or the world for that matter. It'll follow in the foot steps of any fandom con before it no doubt. Anime cons, for example, are now in dozens of cities across the country and even around the world. Some are small, some are huge, but they all share an ideal and focus on the same general theme. Why can't this be the same.

Personally speaking, I'd love to run something like this. Unfortunately, I won't be able to even think about planning something of this size until the end of summer (at the earliest) and wouldn't have an actual event date till Summer of 2005 or later. I would choose to run the con in the nearest major US city to me, which is Chicago. I would either have it during June-July or Jan-March, since Chicago already has Anime Central (May), Wizard World (August), Anime Reactor (October) and Anime Sound and Vision (November). Not to mention, there are numorous other events going on in either Chicago or Milwaukee during the other months, including Summer Fest (Milwaukee), Asian Moon Festival (Milwaukee), GenCon (August - Indy, but still close by) and a few other events that I can't think of right now. Needless to say, the first quarter of the year (Jan-March) is looking to be the best for Chicago time frame wise. Boy, all that work just picking a date...and that doesn't even cover location, cost, guests, hotels, equipment, sponsors, con staff and I'll end there

[IIIMUNKIII]

man i cant go all the way to chicago . especially near winter too cold im a floridan id freeze lol. i say Tampa or Orlando heck anywhere in the south east is good for me . But i like what u said not jus 1 big con but a amount of not so big cons like 1 for each area of the US i.e. south east north west.
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[G-type]

[GR]

Hell yeah, man, I'd go almost anywhere in the US to attend a large Bemani con. Seriously, though, it probably wouldn't be too big the first year, but it could develop into something bigger over time. If it got enough advertising, some international players might even come.

Guests of Honor: Aaron, Take, and Yasu.

Can you imagine how much money the drink-suppliers would make?
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A Xanga.

MegaTokyo, PennyArcade, 10K, Mac Hall, Applegeeks, and Ctrl+Alt+Del.

[IIIMUNKIII]

Tons lol
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[Yost (C^2)]

I've been thinking about this for a while, and of course the biggest problem I could think of is lack of attendance. But that isn't neccessarily how it would be. We have a company in the Toronto area that puts on 4 conventions at once in late August. Anime, Scifi, Comic Books, and Horror. As it is, video games always have an overwhelmingly strong showing at this event. At the same time there is another annual event called 'geek week' that goes on that has a lot to do with Video Games. My point being, all the right people are in town in late August. If the con was held then, and advertised strategically, there's a chance it could hit it big. The arcade owners here would probably be very responsive to the idea, not to mention the shopkeeps and game accessory distributors. If a small dealer's room could be started up, that would raise some eyebrows, provided they had for sale all the items most people think they have to import from Japan, or at least resort to ebay for. Now I know that alone won't be worth the plane ticket but if they were coming into town anyway, I think they'd be intrigued. As for the local base, last time we had a tournament in Toronto the 50 spaces filled up VERY quickly. People came from all over Ontario, one person even from well into the United States, to play. And this is for an event that basically invited only the very talented players. If it were more casual, open to everyone, my theory is that a LOT of people would be curious. And of course, it would have to include tournaments. If there were seperate tournaments for each bemani, and for all different styles of play, going on all weekend, that would catch everyone's eye. I really think it can be made to work, but it will take a lot of work and some damn good marketing.

[Unstable Jelly]

wellz.. i dunno.. if this con thingy were/will take place i suggest doing it in Cali.. maybe LA or something. major DDRplayers here. as for the smelly stinky bemani kids.. deodorant booths or sumthin
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[IIIMUNKIII]

yeah this would have to be well exicuted but hey if it ever hits reality whoevers runnin it hook me up with like free tikits lol or a lifetime pass for startin the thread lol
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[G-type]

[IIIMUNKIII]