in the groove

As of today (6/11/2007) the ITG series remains dormant and out of production.  The original ITG team has moved on to other projects.

Most of the songs go through a “remix” when they appear in games or other projects. The biggest reason for these remixes is for time limits. Common numbers that apply to remixes for promos/game appearances are: 0:30 1:00, 1:30, 1:45, 3:30.

During the first ITG beta testing phase, my first quad stars were “Why Me” and “Romeo & Juli8” The Vertex expert steps originally received 26 revisions before becoming what people know it as today. (this song was difficult because we were still figuring out what could be done with mines at that time.)

Currently, (5-7-2007) There is not an internet portal that provides ZiGZaG music to listeners. (as far as I know) I have considered adding a section for these questions. This may become a reality in the near future! Thank you for the suggestion.

Every artist has their own bag of “tricks” to produce products like this. ITG backgrounds were constructed with Digital Juice backdrops (www.digitaljuice.com). What raw product created these? Products like Maya, 3D studio max, Aftereffects, and other similar imaging packages.

Changes (like these) usually occur to correct for accuracy & details. Misunderstandings are common with any media project; especially when groups of people are involved. Thankfully, software is very easy to update and accuracy can be true to the product.

I’m so there! If I’m in the Chicago area, I have no problem with this. Is there enough room for mad freestyl’n o’ skeelz? 🙂

I’m unable to specify and/or clarify any rumors/announcements about future ITG related software/hardware/products. Sorry!

You can find Chris Foy’s myspace page HERE (http://myspace.com/foyboy21)

“Lynn” is also known as “Papaya” or “Miss Papaya” in the Bubblegum dance genre. She is very well known for the lyrics and music she contributed to this genre. “Doolittle” is a concept demo artist that isn’t as well established. You will most likely hear more about this artist in the future. (game related or not)

My connection with StepMania, Machine Dance, and Electronic music composition; lead me to a position at Roxor Games.

Yes, I’ve heard of several famous ITG players. In general, I’m impressed by a lot of players skills these days. Glad we (as in a community) are continuing to grow forward and conquer new challenges eh?

Roxor continues to support existing In The Groove machines in the field. This is unrelated to the happenings between Konami/Roxor.

Most of the content from ITG came from various sources who were actively involved in the music industry at the time. If artists are part of a community website, that is generally is a great way to promote their work. We generally look for artists to contract for a particular need. We do more “looking” then listening by submissions. As an artist myself, it never hurts to get your work out there anyway you can. Just being involved in the music industry will help get you noticed by anyone looking for that type of music.

Most of the artwork for the ITG series was developed by our small team of graphics gurus. This includes Ryan McKanna, Matt Puls, and Heather Dority. I do believe adobe photoshop was part of their large arsenal.

I’m not able to specify complete details about the arrangement between Roxor and Konami regarding the ITG series. (I’m sorry for this) As much as people speculate or “claim” to know things, I can assure you that they do not understand the full details behind the history here. In general, I would suggest that nobody get caught up with politics and internet forum debates. I’d get out there and just enjoy what you love to do. Don’t let internet drama determine what you believe in.

This chart is originally a 12 rating on ITG. This was because of the complex rhythms and ability to score well on the chart. In general, it’s a pretty straight forward song that won’t cause people difficulty. There was talk and changes to the rating in later ITG versions. This song was believed to be considered a harder “11” then the initial easy “12” rating.

Many people question the initial design behind this step chart. Chris Foy is the original author behind this chart. Foy’s step styles tends to emulate the music with the most auditory accuracy possible. This can include effects or other specific attributes to the song. I would suggest taking your question directly to the master himself. (He can probably address your question more accurately then myself) You should be able to locate the “Foy-n-ator ” on myspace.com

In general, it was part of my job to make sure the game is possible for players to attain these incredible scores. Yes I am able to 100% some of the material in the game. Am I as good as the best players at the past ITG championship events? I wouldn’t go so far to say that! However, I consider myself fairly decent and involved in the dance game community!

Wow, this is an action packed question! FIRST – Most of the ITG team consists of original members on the Stepmania dev team. These projects are still developed and cross developed at the same time. (the people that actually created ITG maintain stepmania) SECOND – I do not have any affiliation or influence on the Stepmix series on the Stepmania site. I believe most of this is handled by Chris Danford. THIRD – Stepmania is a non profit developed project. This means that nobody makes profit from the project so it falls into public domain. Most of the coding from this project is owned and maintained by Chris Danford/ Glenn Maynard. Material that is loaded into Stepmania is usually owned by other people. If you are using materials that you don’t own, this could be considered illegal. Hope that helps answer your question.

ITG / Roxor had a few different teams of people that made these backgrounds. The 3 people that contributed graphic work to the ITG series are: Ryan McKanna, Heather Dority, and Matt Puls.

This song uses samples from a common sample library. A lot of people have made comparisons to other songs because of their use as well. The actual title of this song (from the original ITG attract sequence) is “In The Groove”. Currently, there is no other version of this song outside of the game.

Very impressive ears and transcribing skills! That is a remake of one of my old tunes “legacy” that is available on the “Synthsations” album. You should be able to locate it without too much digging. That remake (also with other things) might appear on a future album. Be sure to watch out for it.

C. Foy and myself often spent many late hours (sometimes 11 p.m to 5 a.m) going through dance step motions and planning. If we questioned something, we generally presented data to an outside person and asked for opinions. I guess you could say that we did involve many outside people occasionally. Obviously, we had a habit of doing whatever we felt was necessary for perfection.

Naturally, as the next year comes closer; (2007) I imagine you’ll be able to put meanings together. I can promise you that there is a good future ahead and something to look forward to!

I actually help contribute step authoring to the ITG series. Obviously, there are several types and styles that differ from song to song. Sometimes, this results in patterns that follow the song or compliment the song. I feel both styles are important and I can appreciate the step patterns even if this conflicts with my personal opinions. Generally, I’ve been very happy with the step/song innovation & results in the ITG series.

That’s an interesting way to look at it! Yes, the work of ZigZag is often rearranged and morphed. From what I understand; both methods apply here. There is material composed from original ideas and traditional remixes from material that I have helped contribute. It’s sort of a “fushion” of both ideas. Recently (December 2006), the work from this artist has not been in production.

I’m not able to talk about this in full detail. (I apologize for this) ITG now belongs to Konami and they will now be controlling the game. They acquired the ITG name and franchise on October 18, 2006. Am I angry about this? Not at all! ITG set out for a purpose and certainly accomplished that and more! Who would have thought a small project by a group of guys would have gone as far as it did? Even as much to get noticed by several arcades and companies along with way? It’s truly a good feeling to know that it went as far as it did! ITG’s vision will always remain with me and I can say that nothing can stop those dreams and memories I have from living forever. Obviously, the world is about options and I hope that these options continue to be free and not controlled by one source forever. Does this mean the end? As of this date, I don’t think anyone would know the true answer to that question. I would personally like to thank all the fans and ITG players all over the world who made ITG what it was. Be sure to keep stomping on those arrows and keep living the ITG dream!

My involvement with the In The Groove is related to my original involvement with the Step Mania project years ago. Basically, the original people responsible for SM emulation formed a team and produced a commercial game known as “In The Groove”.

I wouldn’t be surprised if it pops up somewhere in the future. It certainly has not made any appearance or had much demand at this point however.

I understand that this is a very difficult problem for people to deal with sometimes. I’ve actually witnessed people picking on others while they play dance games. My best advice is to either “ignore” the offenders or to laugh with them. As funny as this sounds, it typically can work. If you don’t appear to be bothered by comments, people typically will typically stop. What’s the fun in bugging someone when it’s not having an impact? 🙂 As another suggestion, maybe try doing some songs that you wouldn’t need a bar? Maybe try some mods? It’s a good rule of thumb to be able to play multiple difficulties/styles anyway. There is no shame in ‘attack play’ versus ‘freestyle play’. There is also no shame in holding the bar versus not holding the bar. Bottom line? Have some fun with the game and don’t worry about others trying to distract you. As long as you continue to stay in your zone and keep your cool, you’ll overcome any of these outsider distractions. Hope that helps!

That’s a very good question. I’ve always been a big fan of Nina, E-rotic, and Missing Heart outside of the ITG games. I like a lot of the music in the songlist though…

That’s a very difficult question. I actually like a lot of pieces of songs/steps. If I had to choose a complimenting pair, it’d probably be Zodiac.

Either… It really doesn’t matter to me. I think of the bar as a “tool” and not a necessity in most cases. I often switch off during a song either way. I do NOT depend on using it.

We’ve all gone through difficult times in the past. I share many different visions and beliefs with ITG compared to a lot of my coworkers. I’ve probably had my fair share of squalls with everyone on the team at one point in the past. We generally agree to “disagree” on a lot of topics. Foy and I seem to get along pretty well, we are generally good friends outside of Roxor as well.

Long answer coming…Be prepared! — ITG/Roxor quick story: Back in early 2003, most of the “ITG Team” was helping develope to the original Stepmania project. Chris Danford, Glenn Maynard (ITG’s lead programmers) are probably responsible for 90%+ of the original code that most people now know as Stepmania. Ryan McKenna contributed to the simfile community via his “Plaguemix” Series. MJ was well-known in the community for running a site called “DDRsimfiles.com” and specialized in doubles edits. Chris Foy had always pushed the limited with his unorthodox/challenging expert level DDR edits that involved high level thinking. And I (Kyle Ward) contributed Sound/Music to the Stepmania project as well as made original music when a community known as “DDRmaniax” existed. The first DDRmaniax edit contest featured my compositions. (now to actually answer your question) A lot of people don’t understand that ITG is based from Stepmania because a lot of our core team use to actually help develop Stepmania. We aren’t stealing, we simply came together as a team and contributed our efforts to a fully released game in our own vision. Most of the concepts you see in stepmania started out as concepts for ITG and later got ported into SM after the fact. (Mines/Rolls/Mods/Mod Stacking….several other features too) SM continues to be developed by Chris and Glenn in their spare time, but most of our team time is devoted to ITG. We fully believe in the game and still have fun subjecting others to our “vision” of a dance simulator game. Many of us still enjoy casual gaming and can be found at arcades all around the nation. We’ve pushed ITG into so many markets and exposed so many fresh people to the game that it’s a huge accomplishment for us all. We started out as a very small team and we are STILL a very small team that is continuing to make a huge impact in this game genre.

That’s a very difficult question for me. (I really like a lot of the charts) My favorites that I often play would have to be: Monolith Hard, Energizer Hard, VerTex^2 Hard, Tribal Style Expert, Bumble Bee Expert, There are so many more I’d like to mention too! 🙂

I can usually pass all the content from ITG. (testing is certainly a huge part of what I do for the series) On the flip-side, it’s generally a matter of how well I can pass these songs… 🙂

It really depends! Most of the time a stepchart rhythm jumps out at me during composition or when I simply listen to a new song. It’s like a fast BOOM that just hits you and you have that vision…You know what you want to do. I generally don’t have a bias towards my material versus other material either.

ZiGZaG’s identity has been kept secret by his request. ZiGZaG is an artist local to the pacific northwest that uses very unorthodox techniques to create music.

It’s a very nice hand isn’t it? 😀 Didn’t you know that phones of the future don’t require buttons?

Actually, you can thank the great and powerful “photoshop” for it’s miracle work!

Sometimes, ITG material can be very time consuming. While I enjoy game content, it’s often nice to sit down and make song without pressure. ITG’s memories will always remain in my eyes forever…

I’m very supportive of community based projects. I think it’s great that the ITG spirit can live on forever amongst community members. Goodluck with the projects guys!

congrats on the accomplishment! I haven’t actually had a good deal of time to play through the PC version of ITG. (Most of my playing/testing involved the arcade ports) Additionally, my time has been rather limiting recently. However, I suspect that I will conquer this challenge one day!

I’m unable to officially comment on any future plans involving the ITG franchise. (6/27/07)

Not likely. Konami entertainment is a very greedy company that typically doesn’t partner with anyone who has good intentions with product support. They have lost several faithful fans and even the vision they once understood with their own products. (my personal opinion on the matter)

There are many aspects that people do not understand between the the final outcome of the ITG legal battle. Additionally, there are many rumors and speculation(s) around the internet with “theories” from people. I can assure you that there are details and logistics behind the outcome that people aren’t fully aware of. Sadly, 4 panel players now have one less option…

I’m contacted regularly by ITG players who are sad about the future of the franchise. My heart goes out to all those players that enjoyed the time of ITG’s short life. Regardless of all these past details, ITG’s spirit will continue to live on. Arcades around the world battle to keep ITG dedicabs running. Remaining players have even helped with ITG mechanics to help keep machines running at arcades. This truly shows the demand for the product. It went so far in this short period of life.

Additionally, ITG still earns well against other 4 panel dancing games. Arcades have become wise to this and have kept ITG around because of the earning factor. Players continue to make edits that feature mines and other aspects from ITG. Thank you for playing and allowing In The Groove to be a part of your life!

Production is slightly behind on the 4th KaW album due to other projects. I’ll be sure to announce it’s release here as soon as a date is known. Happily, I can guarantee that you’ll hear a Smiley song on that album!

In the meantime; be sure to keep an eye on the site jukebox for new music previews!

Due to a legal battle with Konami Entertainment, Roxor Games can no longer produce a “Dance Simulation” game. However, Roxor Games still exists and is still currently developing other products. You can visit their site (www.roxorgames.com) for updates.

If the song is only available in the Jukebox (as a preview) then it is currently unreleased. I typically do not approve of “white label” or unreleased material being used in projects at this time.

Very good find. Thankfully this “lift” concept made it’s way into the opensource stepmania code. I have very vivid uses for this concept (in my head) that I hoped to include in the past. as you have concluded, this never came to be. Sadly, I have several ideas like this that are not often used.

On a positive note, need not worry! This concept is still fresh in my mind and will most likely make a future impact in the next title that I’m involved with. Be sure to keep an eye out! 🙂

I’ve always referred to this song by excessively yelling at the person who just asked the question. (yells) 🙂

Truthfully? I’m not sure. Many people seem to have many names for it. Lately, “BANG!” seems to be the default choice.

Due to my current schedule, I generally do not have the time to author simfiles. When the songs become officially released (outside of the jukebox), I’m sure you will see some steps made available by authors of the community.

Very good find! This was a potential remix of the original “Legacy” melody from the synthsations album. Half of the concept was used for a credit theme; and the other half went to kbits “Robotix”.

In general, I sometimes make material that is easy to recondition for similar purposes like this. Does it have a name? Not yet; but don’t be surprised if it pops up sometime in the future! 🙂

All material for the future (and past) ITG series was frozen and passed on to Konami. I no longer have access to this material and will certainly not break any of my previous contract commitments. Will this material ever see the light of day? It is possible, but you might see it in new forms from Konami. They might use it for inspiration, they might hide it and act like it never existed… Whatever the case may be, it is now controlled elsewhere!

I’ve seen reports of “illegal leaks/rips” All of these so called “leaks” have not been completely accurate. A lot of this material was unfinished at the time and was not complete by any means. This is probably the closest outlet for seeing some of this unreleased material. With a few searches, you should be able to locate something!

By optional do you possibly mean opinion? 🙂

I’ve heard of this project and I’ve had some people contact me about it. I think it’s really neat that the players are doing something to continue the “ITG spirit”. Because of the final r21 update, this allows players to continue the series and take it to the next level. I’m happy to see the spirit live on and I hold high regards for these players that take on this huge task.

Personally with me? I’ve fallen out of the 4 panel (directional) dance game scene. Ever since my work on PIU Pro, I don’t see myself ever returning to this ancient format. Once you’ve enjoyed the memories of the past; they continue to be memories. The future is meant to be explored and I look forward to the uncharted territories ahead.

From memory (there are probably more of these I’m forgetting)

In ITG, you can achieve awards for:

70-80-90-100% Great Attack,

Full combo,

Less then 10 greats on a song,

1 great, full excellent combo,

less then 10 excellents,

1 excellent,

full fantastic combo,

combo awards between 1,000-10,000

Hope this answers your question!

While it is sad that the remains of the ITG3 beta content will never be public, you can find several “leaked” files throughout the community relating to ITG3. Most of these leaks are NOT true to the original works and have been altered by the community. I can promise you that we (the developers) were also sad that we’d never be able to share the true data with the devoted players. (Some files took several day/hours of work)

While many people believe that a 14 level song did NOT exist, we did have a few potential 14s ready for play testing. One of these 14’s includes Chris Foy’s Pink Fuzzy bunny steps that have never been released or leaked to the 4panel community to this day.

It is not likely that ITG3 will ever “officially” be released to the public. At this time, Konami has no interest in providing ITG players with anything new. (The former ITG team is not allowed to release any former materials, sorry!)

I’d strongly recommend enjoying the R21 feature of ITG2, and checking out other dance titles that are being released and supported.

ITG2 multiplayer is presently being sold & supported because of prior arrangements to the “settlement”.

To simply answer your additional question, nothing! 🙂

You can’t ask 2 questions for the price of 1…. Sorry! (no jk)

1) It is my feeling that when a location purchases an amusement device, they are allowed to modify to their liking. This can affect future support, but this is usually understood. I’m not partial to these supernova kits at all. I would question why anybody would want to replace a better earning game with this though!

2) Honestly, I’m not devastated and angered like many people seem to predict. The ITG project was not “mine” or my sole work. I participated with a great team of people who did the impossible! We created product that turned several heads in the amusement industry. (ITG kits are still known for the outstanding earnings performance)

Life has a funny way of progressing at times, and I feel no hate towards any of this history. We all enjoyed ITG while it was in it’s prime development days.

Lately, I’m very happy with my other opportunities. I typically keep active with my other projects and I enjoy every second of what I do.

All of these effects can be achieved via BG animation effects with the stepmania engine. I suggest you checkout the forums via www.stepmania.com for further information.

Yes, I am able to play the top tier expert songs of the ITG series. How well do I do? That’s another question! (laughs)

This rumor is completely false. As of October 18th 2006, Konami now owns the “In The Groove” franchise. As of now (12-16-07) they’ve made no indication of continuing ITG releases. From this day forward, ITG continues to live on through it’s dedicated players.

Being 13 is an incredibly young age for serious machine dance play. With years of practice, you have the potential to be one step ahead of many older players. Keep up the goodwork! 🙂

Damien was given the option to receive an ITG2 dedicated cabinet. He did eventually receive one of the last ITG2 cabinets later in the year.

Some members of the former ITG team decided to not honor an NDA that had been previously negotiated. What does this mean? Deciding to help share inside information with players & communities. (discussions & file swapping of sensitive materials) This resulted in several ITG related “leaks”.

Most of the time there is zero tolerance of this behavior in any industry. Because these actions, it resulted in immediate termination and cutoff from all future development opportunities.

As a developer of ITG, we naturally had to play test all the content that was released. Both Chris Foy and myself are capable of passing some of ITG’s most challenging charts. How do we score? Pretty decently, but that’s another story! 🙂

For your second question, I’d suggest you check http://www.itgfreak.com for questions relating to an “unsupported ITG version” Hopefully the ITG community will be able to help you more directly with this issue.

The main reasoning behind this is:

I started giving project names an alias back in 2000. The original idea behind this was to give the music “styles” an icon/name for people to follow. This makes it easier for people to follow a particular style that they like.

Without being too specific about this: R21 was a way to give ITG players what they always wanted. (control over the game)

In some of the final days developing ITG for players, it was great to be able to help provide them with the last update they’d ever need to continue enjoying ITG forever.

Stop 2 Go is a current unavailable white label remix of the concept behind “Stop & Go” What is it like? I guess we’ll have to wait and see in the near future when it’s released! 🙂

Hardcore of the North by Digital Explosion is based off an original Finnish Polka called “Säkkijärven polkka” This song appeared first appeared in ITG and was known as “the first very difficult 12 with a lot of arrows!” 😀

Generally, most of the steps in ITG did have a theme that they tried to follow. For example (experts):

Oasis – Advanced twisting., Tell – Jump steps, VerTex – Mine dodging, Bend your Mind – Hand usage, Charlene, jump step/mine avoidance, Hardcore of the North – 24th note bursts, Pandemonium/Summer – Stamina, Utopia – Difficult rhythms, etc…

As you can see, several of our charts & songs had themes that we set out to accomplish. Hope this helps answer your question!

As ITG was developed, changes would happen “daily” to input code and to the systems used to calibrate those songs. Additionally, the final encryption process also played a part in inconsistencies.

Unfortunately, these problems and other similar issues lead to several sync changes overtime.  Chris Danford and Glenn Maynard also had a history of changing input code in the engine and never told the other developers about this… Handy huh?!  🙂

As with any “new” process in the software world, these were corrected for and changed in the future with other bugs.

Luckily, the process for “sync” has become a lot more delicate today and this has lead to better production that leaves very little error! Additionally, tools have become vastly improved since what was available at the time.

Dust Devil is an Extreme Music artist that was licensed for “In The Groove 2”. Dust devil’s “DCode” song has also appeared in many television outlets and is a remake from Tito Puente’s “Mambo Gallego”. You can locate more about Dust Devil here: http://www.extrememusic.com/

A dedicated “In The Groove3 cabinet” was in the process of being born in summer 2006. It was brought to the core ITG teams’ attention during Summer of 2006 that the production of ITG3 would be halted until further notice. Sadly, the beta cabinet never got to experience the play test stage for the AMOA 2006 show. The machine was later disassembled and became “parts” for other machines.

I’ve seen forum threads and have been told about these projects from various ITG players. Some communities are helping support tournaments, some are building new content packs, and some enjoy causing harm to the community (sadly).

Regardless of the situation, I’m glad that the existing ITG community can continue to live and prolong ITG’s soul! The force of R21 is strong no doubt eh? 🙂

My best guess is that you’ve stumbled upon an older demo mix of “Supremacy”. This went through some changes and later appeared on the Urban Comatose album in it’s final form.

Thank you for the kind comments about the songs, I much appreciate this! 🙂

This is a very difficult question to answer! A lot of it has to do with how technical the song rhythm is, and how technical you plan for your step placement to be.

To give you a rough estimate for the ITG series: There were single step sequences that took as little as 2 hours, and sequences that took up to 22 hours! Naturally, after the initial authoring period, you must additionally also allow weeks of testing and tweaking.

The simple answer to your question would be:

(ITG2 to SM)

The life difficulty for a typical ITG machine is between stepmania’s 4-5 life bar difficulty. Hope this helps!

The background picture featured in the ITG series for Kagami is a street snapshot from Chicago, IL USA.

No. Part of the reason for R23’s release was to fix for the unlimited limit from R21’s release. In edition to this time limit, background scripting code was improved/fixed.

(This was done because of complaints from locations of players abusing time limits on local ITG machines)

Please note that the limit of R23 is 130 seconds and not a solid 2 minutes.

 

I Hope this helps answer your question!

Who is your favorite itg player?

 

Ya know, I’ve never thought about that…. I can’t really think of a “single” player.  I really enjoy the community as a whole!

I would say that I’m very impressed at the attitudes of most of the European ITG players. Out of all the tournaments and forums I’ve come across, the Europeans seem to be a very level headed crowd with great respect towards each other. Making friends and participating in a “community” is probably one of the best aspects of dance machines.

Yes (simple question, simple answer!) I think you actually answered your own question though… 🙂

I’m always open to new possibilities and new types of game ideas! Even after the ITG series, I’ve continued to explore other possibilities and still do this in my spare time! I typically stick to a dance game title because of the physical aspect and my passion for Dance music.

Unfortunately, Konami owns patents and trademarks on those titles and has the ability to stop all other “similar” titles if they are released in North America. Yes, they appear to have a monopoly over this very simple concept of “music games”

Yes, I feel that this monopoly is wrong and I believe one day this will change…

Since ITG is owned by konami , is their next project an music/rhythm game too? And how much does a ITG machine cost?

After months and months, Konami has made no attempt to revive ITG’s concepts or do anything with the materials they acquired from the Roxor settlement. Will they someday? (Probably not…) I suspect you will see concepts from ITG live on (slowly) through future DDR titles, but you will never see another “official” ITG produced.

ITG machines can now only be purchased through previous owners. These machines have held their value incredibly and are getting very hard to find!

Most ITG’s original art was drawn by “Beth Shultz”. Here is a link to her deviant art page – http://jackboot.deviantart.com/

I’m very impressed with the project! It’s hard to say how the final ITG3 would have looked… Do know that this team has done a very good job in re-creating the closest thing to what would have been an ITG3.

I’ve helped supply a few outside feedback elements and some testing in my spare time, but haven’t supplied much outside of this!

It’s good to see some content from ITG3 live on through it’s rather forceful father figure. It’s true that the later DDR’s (CS and Arcade) have spawned a new generation of players that is far different from what began years ago.

No. The “RoXor Games” company will never be involved in a dance videogame product ever again. It was part of the 2006 agreement between Roxor and Konami.

I do correspond with the ZiGZaG artist. Sadly, Zag does not have aspirations to officially distribute or do anything outside of what has been done. with the current releases. Sorry for this report…

There are plans for a “Pump Pro 2” product. At this time it’s unknown whether it will reach the arcade market due to current amusement market demand.

My schedule has been very unpredictable lately. I’ve been known to drop by ACME unannounced and in route to another occasion around the Seattle area. If you see me, please feel free to stop me and introduce yourself.

I probably was focusing on a specific Pump related issue at the time. I still enjoy all Dance games in my spare time, so it’s very unlikely that I’d never step foot on an ITG machine again!

Very interesting question indeed. Luckily, I can give feedback on both of your points.

1) It’s very unlikely that you will ever see Roxor produce another Rhythm game. Additionally, It’s a definite “NO” that you will ever see another dance project.

2) You will be happy to know that I have recently been contacted by a few interesting proposals involving additional “rhythm based” game ideas. It’s very likely that you will see my involvement in a new (maybe few) rhythm game project(s) in the future!

Thank you so much for this comment! It’s great to still receive so many positive comments from fans over the years.

I don’t plan to go anywhere anytime soon… So, naturally this means that you WILL see more music as the years continue to progress. Additionally, I’ve been focusing my music efforts towards commercial dance releases. Oscillator X has began to make several appearances in the global dance radio market. (1-31-2009)

Be very careful with some of the things you find from ebay. Many companies are trying to get rid of a “particular one-off Chinese DDR cabinet” lately. These home brew machines are horrible and the owners realize this because they are trying to get rid of them ASAP. Be very careful with buying “home creations” of amusement cabinets!

Thank you for the nice ITG comments. I look forward to seeing your project in the future! 🙂

1) Honestly, It’s not a huge surprise to me. Players aren’t stupid these days! It’s just an honor for me to be able to have participated in something that helped benefit the community.

No matter what, Konami can never change the past and success that ITG had during it’s production days.

2) To be honest, I’ve paid no attention to Konami’s announcements or future plans for the DDR series. I’m happy that they have made some additions to the DDR franchise and some of the inputs from ITG will benefit future DDR players. I’m not angered or hurt at all! It’s rather MARVELOUS! 🙂

(My personal thoughts)

DDR is NOT the same as it use to be when it started 10 years ago. The player-base is now completely different then when it first began.

It’s my personal belief that Konami Entertainment continues to release uninspired material without any regard to the fanbase it once created several years ago. (CS or Arcade) The DDR concept has appeared rather bland recently and I can’t see it ever supplying the same memories I once had. Through the recent years I’ve come to realize that I moved on from the the past moments remembered. It appears that this is what keeps me from being interested in any of the latest “news” or title announcements any longer.

Digital Explosion is a great electronic band who still continues their musical legacy today. You can find more information by dropping by their site here: http://www.digitalexplosion.fi/index.html Be sure to give Tero my regards!

Thank you for contacting me! I’ll most certainly consider the proposal and maybe you’ll see me out that way again soon eh? 🙂

Do know that I’ve been rather active lately with our “Oscillator X” group and it’s very likely that we’ll be doing a new round of promotion soon! Be sure to drop by www.scirecordings.com and keep up with all our show news. We’re scheduling for 2009 and we plan to do a tour over in the East soon!

Thanks for leaving me the comment.

Most of the features were announced at the 2006 AMOA show that our original ITG3 flyer made an appearance. Be sure to drop by the wikipedia pages for ITG and have a look at some information about ITG3. Many of the ITG3 features were documented and you can read about what the title would have been before it was canceled.

These specific charts were on the “border-line” of the 9-10 spectrum of ITG content.

I believe the easier BPM had a huge influence on ultimate decision to go with a 9 rating vs. the 10 option.

I can’t directly answer this. As you may or may not know, There are no more ITG machines being produced now that the ITG series has been canceled and out of production. The only way to obtain an ITG machine is from a previous buyer… Will a machine appear in your area soon? It’s possible, but hard to predict. Just keep pressuring your location to locate one and act ASAP!

There are more releases from Smiley planned for the 2009 year. However, Oscillator X is taking a large chunk of my production time due to the new ’09 market demand of Eurodance and vocal Pop music. No matter what, do know that you will see more Smiley music in the future when time becomes available.

It’s hard to say! I’ve not been able to closely review all the SM packs sadly…

The content for ITG3 was left very much “unfinished” and it was nothing like it would have been, if properly completed for the release. Anyone who claims to have “FINISHED ITG3 DATA” is false and completely incorrect. Don’t believe everything you see on the internet!

The “MOD” opening song for ITG1 was constructed out of a “standard” sample library that is available to many electronica artists. These constructions sounds are why some songs can sound very familiar at times.

My position with ITG was focused on Game Content. What does this mean? This means that I was responsible for assembling the ITG songlist & Steps. With the help of my other core ITG content team members, we made a very revolutionary dance game title. ITG continues to have an incredible history and accomplishment list.

There are three artists I was not responsible for with the ITG series:

Anet

Dax

Mc Frontalot

Would we have included more? Possibly… But only due to demand if it was high. (It wasn’t during ITG2)

Thank you for the comments towards my music and the ITG series. ITG’s spirit will continue to live on through the players for a long time!

More Smiley/Banzai are on the way, please continue to watch the site for info about the future release. Take care!

Hypothetically speaking? Yes! Although, it looks highly unlikely 🙂

Keep your eyes on the look-out though. You never know what will come next. Maybe something someday?

Stepmania seems to be safe as long as it stays clear from using “Konami” content in future releases… You may have noticed the lack of DDR material appearing in later SM releases? There is a darn good reason for that!

SM is open source and is likely safe and will remain unaffected by the market happenings… SM and DDR are very intertwined to each others marketing potential these days as well!

Many of us older players have felt that DDR has not had the same appeal for several years now. Why is this? Probably a lot of reasons relating to different team members and potential placement of the product. (The same people don’t seem to be producing it that use to ) Regardless, do know that Dance Dance Revolution is still a lot fun for new people who are just starting…

With that being said, many of us old players will always remember DDR’s finest years as (1999-2003) During Those 4 years, Konami accomplished so much with the brand. Congratulations to them for that.

If I was asked to help produce DDR today what would I say? I guess I’d cross that bridge if the opportunity came to me. (which doesn’t seem too likely) Who knows what the future has in store!

You might want to try http://itg.ddrfreak.com/ “The Special ITG DDR Freak Addition”

by using the machine location page, you should be able to find local dance machines to your location. Hope this helps!

I was not part of the legal team, so I can not directly answer that question. It is my understanding that the main complaint was “unfair competition”. Roxor Games felt they had the right to make a dance game title in the market place… Konami obviously felt different about that topic. As you may know, the outcome of that court case was never determined by either party. Both sides came to agreement and went separate ways with their own terms.

Nice to meet you Kyle. Have you checked forum threads at http://rhythmatic.net/ ? This is what became of the old ITG freak.

Obviously, this process is unsupported and the best advice I can give you is to do some forum searches. Here is a list of sites that may be helpful:

http://www.boxorroxors.net/

http://www.rhythmatic.net/

http://www.bemanistyle.com

Goodluck with your Quest!