Idolm@ster
 

http://www.idolmaster.jp/index.html
Release date: January 25.

Screenshots:
http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/puzz...reenindex.html

Trailer (from TGS06):
http://www.gamer365.hu/download.php?id=2225 HD
http://www.gamer365.hu/download.php?id=2226 non-HD

Does this mean that the X360 is getting more popular in Japan? I thought that idol games are such a niche market that they are usually released for the most popular console. I can imagine that people who love watching 12 to 16 year old girls dance around with selectable clothes will be all over this game.

That aside, the celshaded graphics look pretty good to me. Finally the dreaded blockiness is gone, it always bothered the fuck out of me in previous generation celshaded games. This is finally close to anime quality.

What does GFF think about this title?

Well, I first heard about Idolm@ster from Taiko no Tatsujin...
when I looked into it, I was...neutral about it. I just saw it as another obscure japanese arcade game from namco.

But now that I see it's coming to the xbox... hmm..

IDOLM@STER is the game I want most right now, and I've been looking forward to the home release for a while. Considering how unpopular the X360 is in Japan, I think biggest reason NB chose to port it to the X360 is because of Live. The other systems don't have a strong net infrastructure, though I can see this going to the PS3 in the future.

I like dating sims and raising sims, and this is basically both of them combined into one game. Of course, neither of these will work if the characters aren't appealing; luckily they range from pretty cute to adorable. The voice actresses aren't that well-known, with the exception of Kugimiya Rie, who plays Minase Iori in this game ("the arrogant one" - typecasting?).

The music is pretty good as well. Naturally, those who don't like squaky-voiced japanese music will dislike it, though (though Kisaragi Chihaya's Aoi Tori wouldn't fit in that category, methinks).

Clearly, this game isn't meant for everyone, though. I think the people who like Princess Maker 2 would enjoy it though.

There's going to be two versions of this game on release: (1) The regular version, and (2) the special edition which comes with display figures of all 11 characters plus a stage to put them on, plus some other cool things as well.

And yeah, this is indeed the type of game that relies more on the profit of its inspired merchandise than profit from the actual game.

Seeing as this comes from the same company which brought us the Ace Combat family, I for one would be amused if the downloadable content were to include the more epic tracks from said games. Imagine, for instance, the girls doing the chorals on 'The Unsung War' (Ace Combat 5) or 'Zero' (Ace Combat Zero)...

I absolutely LOVE that games like this are coming to the 360. My main disappointment in the Xbox was the dearth of quirky Japanese titles. I was so tired of FPSers you can't even imagine.

The only reason I'm even interested in knowing these games exist is for songs like that--composed by Go Shiina of Driller/Legendia fame. So I tend to keep an eye out for the new ones and check the composer listings on the OST album info :)

For those who do like the squaky-voiced japanese music, someone at 4chan posted this torrent:
http://www.datorrents.com/download.a...40STER.torrent
contains a lot of Idolmaster soundtracks (around 9 discs maybe) all in Musepack format.

Nice! I hope this thing still has plenty of seeds up once I get back to school. I've been looking for something like this for a while.

At the main site (again, http://www.idolmaster.jp/), Namco has begun putting up short video clips featuring the girls. These videos just give you a sense of each girl's personality. Of course, they're in Japanese.

The spawning has begun
 

Well, that would certainly explain this...