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Thursday, November 28, 2013

Namco Taiko Blog (28 November 2013) - Return of the Blog Update Rush!



You know what this title means, and so do I. Oh boy, to enter three blog entries in a single day is becoming a pretty strong habit for the Taiko Team!

Our first stop is in the advertisement territory, as the focus is on a couple of Taiko-related gadgets which will be put on sale next month.


The first one is the Bluetooth Tatacon for Taiko iOS games, which will be sold together with a promotional Don-chan cover to the first 2000 customers. Since we already talked about this item a couple of weeks ago, I won't digress further about this additional control option.


Then, we have a Taiko-themed 2014 Desk Calendar, whose pages are filled with what looks like a compilation of backgrounds both from past Taiko wallpapers and console games. This gadget will be available to purchase from December 12th, but it's possible to book the purchase online, just like the Taiko iOS Tatacon!

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Today's entry no.2 is about Sorairo Version arcades' last software update before the next big firmware.


Much like Codename Katsu-Don in the past, Game Version 9.04 for the current firmware is built in order to prepare the arcade machines for the upcoming update, this time to Momoiro. As such, some features will be disabled for everyone like the Dojo Ranking mode and the possibility to see the overall high-scores for each song in the Song Selection menu. This update will be live on December 4th.

The Taiko Team also wanted to remind that there will be no DonChare on December due to Momoiro's release. However, they'll come back next year from January!

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Today's big news have been left for last! The actual Momoiro firmware's release date has been revealed two hours later, becoming live and operational from December 11th, just a week after the final Sorairo update!


The release of this firmware is also going to be hyped like never before! Starting next week with the usual weekly blog entry, the first information about Momoiro's new features will be revealed, together with the data which can be carried over from Soriairo arcades and -of course- the new default songs! 

If this isn't enough, a special live streaming broadcast will be held on both Nicovideo and UStream on December 10th, right the day before Momoiro's release.

Unlike the past live broadcasts, this one will be so long that it's going to be split into two different parts, with Part 1 being accessible from both Nicovideo and UStream and Part 2 being a Nicovideo exclusive.

Part 1, which airs from 20 to 22.30 (Japan Time) is pretty much what an usual Taiko Team streaming session would look like, both repeating the stuff that will be said in the next blog entry and giving other new details about this new firmware build and other stuff. Here's the scheduled program for the section:

-) All you need to know about the Taiko Arcade Tournament 2013's postponed Finals event!
-) A real-time Momoiro Version presentation, with previews of both the new songs and features! 
-) A description of Donder Hiroba's new features, including a new 'Power-Up' mechanic!
-) The implementation of a future Questionnaire system for easier feedback-fetching about Taiko games!
-) The presentation of Momoiro's first software update, together with all its new features and release dates!

Part 2 starts an half-hour after the first one's end, lasting until 7 o'clock (again, Japan Time) of the day after! In this segment, the Taiko Team will look back at the running period of the Sorairo Version firmware and all the stuff it introduced, before holding a live celebration of the Momoiro firmware's release in the arcades. Sure, not everyone will be standing All Night de Indenai (nice pun, guys) for the second 'pre-release' event, but maybe for many of you guys the different time slots may be helpful for watching the countdown live during the morning or evening of certain time fuses!

With that said, that's all for today! As usual, here are the direct links for the original blog posts: