While I was plugging away at iM@S Shiny Festa, I realized two things. First, some of the songs have arrangements that are on beat with calls and certain wota moves, and the button presses corresponds to that. I guess as someone who never really got very far in Ouendan, this is a revelation. I mean, this game can teach potential wotas not only the basics about rhythm and how each songs go, but also on which beat things ought to happen, should one chooses to cheer in that manner.

The other thing I realized, perhaps more important to media consumption, is that games like Shiny Festa actually goes with the franchise. It’s not only just another addition or a spoinoff, but it makes sense. Hanagumi Taisen Columns? Not so much. In Shiny Festa’s case , there’s all this “plot” material which may or may not simply add to the canon of the IP or makes these sort-of virtual, 2D idols more like idols and less like characters from some game or anime. But that’s kind of besides the point. I wonder if this is also the case for Project DIVA?

Then invariably I think about the K-ON PSP game. And how that is really, in a way, another way games can make sense in the big picture–it’s the game that makes the thing they tease you about come true. In that game you get to play and watch the band play their songs–the same songs you hear from their CDs and from the anime–except they’re actually playing it like real musicians. It’s all in-game graphics, not pre-rendered stuff, so you can even create your own set given the components provided you within the game. It doesn’t quite complement K-ON fandom in that way, rather, it’s like the fantasy that comes true.

Now, for iM@S, “fantasy that comes true” would partly be the various concerts and live performances, I think. In my case, it was more a gateway rather than a fulfillment, but nonetheless I probably ought to make time and watch more. Like that 7th Anniversary concert that came out last week.