So IIDX and the controller have come out on ps2 in the US for the first time. Now people don't have to spend $100 on a japanese controller!
The reviews for IIDX US are awful, but what do others think of it? Reader reviews on IGN were like 9.2 and IGN's own review was a 6.0

My friend also has a comment about difficulty comparison between iidx 10th and Beat Mania US: "wow, so even in terms of gameplay japanese people think americans are fat and lazy."

IGN's 6.0 review of Beatmania IIDX US is a joke. Those guys are obviously ignorant of the Bemani scene. So do us a favor and don't listen to their review. I don't have Beatmania, but I played it at my friend's house, and it's nothing close to deserving a 6.0 -- 8.5 and up should be better. To me, the keys don't look "randomly slapped together" as IGN claims for it to be, and it's definitely not like any other "rhythm game" that they boast on about. The songs aren't crap either. The author of the review definitely puts a lot of his own personal, subjective (and biased) opinion on it, thus the 6.0 rating.

I still prefer playing StepMania to Beatmania, but it indeed is an enjoyable game -- if you have the money. :P

IGN's reviews on beat games are shit. I'd suggest you to ignore them, too.

And IIDX wise, I don't have a PS2 (yet), so I probably won't be able to try it for some time. But I have some questions:

-Which songs are featured in this version?
-How is the special controller? Good? Bad? Average?

I did ignore IGN :p hell, my dad went to go pick it up while i was at school on day of release. No matter what the reviews said, i would've bought it. IGN's always been full of shit, and this is no different.

Beatmania US has like 50 songs, selection is not so great compared to, let's say, 7th-10th styles maybe, but not terrible. The layout is very clean, much like 10th's but much more colorful. Song licenses now include Funkytown and Toxic, it also has V, Paranoia dirty mix, Spin the Disc, 5.1.1. of course, and... that's all i can remember now, i've been concentrating on 10th style.

The controller. Considering the game + the controller was $60 retail, it's definitely worth it just for the controller. It is modeled after the arcade, so cosmetically it looks the same. The buttons however are a tad bit stiffer, not quite as springy as in the arcade, but it's not really a problem unless you tend to hit the edge of buttons repeatedly. Timing is accurate as far as i can tell. The disc's resistance is about the same as in the arcade i think, but if you're sweating, spinning is not that easy unless you apply a decent amount of force. There's no real grip on it.

There's no IIDX machine in austin for me to compare it with so i'm trying to remember just from screwing around 2 years ago in a cyberzone in san antonio, sorry.