Music game updates: Guitar Freaks/DrumMania XG released; DJ Max Technika raffle

[Thanks to Aaron Auzins for the info]

While I was away at the Amusement Expo a couple of weeks ago, we missed out on some news regarding a couple of Konami titles that were released in Japan at that time. We have covered them before and they are known as Guitar Freaks XG and DrumMania XG, these both have been selling quite well in Japan and of course can be imported elsewhere, if you can foot the shipping costs. For those out of the loop on GF/DM, these are the music games which pioneered the idea of playing a virtual rock band, well before the likes of Guitar Hero and Rock Band were forces to be reckoned with on the consoles. They are a bit more hardcore than GH or RB however and might not be everyone’s cup of tea but they are still important games to Konami as well as many loyal players. The XG series features updated game mechanics and controls, songlists and very impressive cabinets. In addition to the release of XG, Konami has also announced Guitar Freaks and DrumMania V7. Not many details beyond what the cabinets look like have been released yet but I imagine that it won’t be too long before we discover more. [GF/DM XG released – Bemanistyle.com] [Konami teasing GF/DM V7 already – Bemanistyle.com]

Also on a bemanistyle.com related note, they are running a raffle to upgrade their servers and as a prize they are offering a complete DJ Max Technika machine as the grand prize. Yep, you read that right. The cabinet in question is lightly used and thus in great condition but because of the costs involved on bemanistyle.com’s end, this can only ship within the US. You can find out more about that here.