Quick Update for Andamiro’s Pump It Up PRIME 2015

(Thanks to Seth Eldridge for the tip)

As the launch of the next Pump It Up game approaches fast, so is the hype surrounding it. A few distribution networks have obtained some information that was shared with me that I figure is worth passing along.

First, the game will be known as Pump It Up PRIME 2015(BMI Gaming in Spanish link). As of next week the kits will be available to order which can go into an number of Andamiro’s PIU cabinets including the TX, CX, SX, GX, FX & DX models. I have checked with the BMI rep who posted that above and he has confirmation from Andamiro that the full cabinets with the software already installed will not be shipping until early December, with a new cabinet design coming along sometime early next year. Currently the price of the Prime units will be the same as dedicated Fiesta 2 machines.

Arcadespareparts.com also further details the online content, which will include monthly song updates, top player leaderboards and top songs. They also mention that more songs will be available on the HDD out of the box giving it the largest song roster for the PIU series in history. Arcadespareparts also has a few low rez screenshots which are making the rounds on the internet so I’ll include a couple here in case you haven’t seen them:

They also will have more language support than before (Korean, Japanese, Chinese, English, Spanish, and Portuguese) which plays to the fact that international fanbase of PIU has become pretty strong in the absence of competition like DDR.

I guess the only thing I wonder about is removing of unpopular songs. With an online system that can be tracked now and I don’t agree that just having an enormous song list to have an enormous song list is beneficial. I know there are some that disagree with me on that, where they like having thousands of step charts and songs but that only draws play from the top of the hardcore and not necessarily new players. I’m not saying no new songs, on the contrary new song updates help keep the games fresh. I just mean that if no one is going to be playing 100 songs on a 400+ song roster over a period of 6 months, you may as well trim the fat to make room for some new blood that may or may not be of interest to the players. The same can be said for any online music arcade game really. I do like how PIU will display the top songs as a leaderboard and I think the players will really enjoy the rankings.