2007

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2007

In early 2007, Tatsuya Shimizu left BEMANI (and subsequently, beatnation Records as well) due to health issues. His previous role as sound director of the beatmania IIDX arcade titles would be taken up by Toshiyuki Kakuta. With Kakuta's introduction to the arcade titles, beatmania IIDX would begin its first steps towards the more hardcore-oriented sound direction seen in modern titles. Meanwhile, the role of head sound director was transferred to Yoshitaka Nishimura. Alongside the release of beatmania IIDX 14 GOLD, beatnation Records took in three more members: the synthesizer wizard Sota Fujimori and the 4th style duo Kosuke Saito and Ryutaro Nakahara. A few months later, the label released its first artist album, milestone. These six artists have been heavily influential in the development of beatmania IIDX and would continue to play a big role in the future of BEMANI as a whole.

Arcade releases continued along, but console releases began to change. pop'n music 14 FEVER! CS and GuitarFreaks V3 & DrumMania V3 CS would be the last traditional entries in their respective series. DanceDanceRevolution begins to make the jump to seventh-generation consoles with titles like UNIVERSE and HOTTEST PARTY while titles based on arcade releases continued to stick to the PlayStation 2.

The end of 2007 also marks the 10th anniversary of BEMANI. Building up to this milestone, three live events were held throughout the year: pop'n music Culture Festival (ポップンミュージック文化祭) in February, beatnation summit in August, and THE GITADO LIVE in December. As one can infer from the names, each event focused on a specific series (namely, pop'n music, beatmania IIDX, and GuitarFreaks/DrumMania respectively) and featured live performances from artists and vocalists involved in those series.

2007 was a celebration of the old and much of this continued into 2008. However, the following year would also become a celebration of the new, starting with the beginning of a new series.

January

• January 25th:
  • DanceDanceRevolution SuperNOVA CS (Japan) is released in Japan for PlayStation 2.
  • DanceDanceRevolution SuperNOVA Original Soundtrack released.

February

• February 21st:
  • beatmania IIDX 14 GOLD is released to Japanese arcades. Yoshitaka Nishimura takes over as head sound director of the beatmania IIDX series and Toshiyuki Kakuta replaces the spot previously taken by Tatsuya Shimizu. Yutaka Yamashita makes his BEMANI debut.
  • Sota Fujimori, Kosuke Saito, and Ryutaro Nakahara become members of beatnation Records.
• February 24th: pop'n music Culture Festival held at Harajuku Astro Hall in Tokyo, Japan.
• February 27th: DanceDanceRevolution UNIVERSE is released in North America for Xbox 360.

March

• March 5th: A North American version of beatmania IIDX 14 GOLD undergoes a location test. However, it never ended up being released.
• March 8th:
  • GuitarFreaks & DrumMania MASTERPIECE GOLD is released in Japan for the Playstation 2.
  • GUITARFREAKS V3 & DRUMMANIA V3 SOUNDTRACKS released.

April

• April 25th: pop'n music 15 ADVENTURE is released to Japanese arcades.
• April 27th: Dancing Stage SuperNOVA is released in Europe for the PlayStation 2.

June

• June 29th: Takayuki Ishikawa's first album, milestone, is released.

July

• July 2nd: beatmania IIDX 14 GOLD ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK released.
• July 12th: pop'n music 14 FEVER! CS is released in Japan for the PlayStation 2. It is the last pop'n music CS title released on PlayStation 2 and also the last pop'n music CS title based on an arcade release.

August

• August 8th: GuitarFreaks V4 & DrumMania V4 Яock×Rock are released to Japanese arcades.
• August 11th: The very first beatnation summit live event is held and recorded at CLUB CITTA in Kawasaki, Japan.
• August 22nd: DanceDanceRevolution SuperNOVA2 is released to Japanese arcades.
• August 30th: beatmania IIDX 13 DistorteD CS is released in Japan for the PlayStation 2.
• Unknown day: Yoichi Hayashi, the original CS sound director of pop'n music, and an employee of near 11 years, leaves the company.

September

• September 25th:
  • DanceDanceRevolution SuperNOVA2 CS (America) is released in North America for the PlayStation 2.
  • DanceDanceRevolution HOTTEST PARTY (America) is released in North America for the Wii.
• September 28th: pop'n music 15 ADVENTURE AC ♥ CS pop'n music 14 FEVER! released.

October

• October 4th: GuitarFreaks V3 & DrumMania V3 CS is released in Japan for the Playstation 2. It is the last GuitarFreaks & DrumMania CS title released on PlayStation 2 and also the last GuitarFreaks & DrumMania CS title based on an arcade release.
• October 24th: DanceDanceRevolution HOTTEST PARTY (Japan) is released in Japan for the Wii.
• October 25th: DanceDanceRevolution HOTTEST PARTY Original Soundtrack released.

December

• December 2nd: THE GITADO LIVE ～BEMANI 10th Anniversary memorial event～ is held at Zepp Tokyo in Tokyo, Japan.
• December 4th: DanceDanceRevolution UNIVERSE2 is released in North America for the Xbox 360.
• December 12th: Dancing Stage UNIVERSE is released in Europe for the Xbox 360.
• December 14th: A commemorative compilation album celebrating the 10th anniversary of BEMANI, titled BEMANI BEST for the 10th anniversary, is released.
• December 19th: beatmania IIDX 15 DJ TROOPERS is released to Japanese arcades.
• December 21st: Dancing Stage UNIVERSE is released in Australia for the Xbox 360.

Unknown Date

• Scott Dolph, the former International Affairs Manager of KONAMI Japan, and a frequent contributor to BEMANI, as well as various non-BEMANI projects at KONAMI, leaves the company after nearly a decade of service.
• Tatsuya Shimizu leaves KONAMI due to health problems. He would return in 2010 as a commission artist.