The Tops-Game site is http://tops-game.jp/. However, they have a message on their site saying:

 TO FOREIGN VISITORS:
PLEASE CONTACT EXPORT DIVISION FROM HERE (with a link to nora1110@sophia-corp.jp

I'm sure you could either email them or just go to the Sophia Corp. website at http://sophia-corp.jp/

I'm not quite sure what the relationship between the two companies is, but it would appear that Sophia Corp. buys stuff from Tops Game and then ships it out internationally.

The game runs on a standard aspect ratio 15khz or 31 khz monitor.

Kevin,
Many thanks for the info.  Email sent.

Hmmm, interesting conversation but I kind of missed the crux of the "debate" so to speak.  Anyhow, Tetris sounds cool; I'll probably still be going to ACME just to play Drummania though.
That said, DM10th's hi-hat was busted again last night.  I placed a call into your service around 11:30 PM as I was leaving (I just played auto hi-hat, ug, in the meantime).  So maybe it will be fixed today?

Cymbal and bass were both very responsive.
Thanks Bill,
C

Heh...looks like all WA DM machines are having hi hat troubles.

My dad's girlfriends electric drumset has problems with the ride cymbal and hi hat.  I think electric cymbals just aren't the way to go.

You guys should try to get doogi doogi.

Hey Bill, anything new going on with TGM 3? I'm excited that we might get a cabinet at acme.

thanks.

I was gonna keep my mouth shut until the deal is final.  But I can say it looks like the deal will go down tomorrow, and the kit will be on it's way. 

!!!!!!!!

This was the response in the Tetris Concept IRC when I copied over your post:

<KevinDDR> some very exciting news
<KevinDDR> from Masterman Vending Company
<KevinDDR> I was gonna keep my mouth shut until the deal is final.  But I can say it looks like the deal will go down tomorrow, and the kit will be on it's way.
<KevinDDR> !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
<Kitaru> !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
<KevinDDR> !!!!!!
<muf>
<Kitaru> DAMN YOU
<muf> what cab
<Kitaru> haha
<mushroom> !!!
<KevinDDR> not sure yet
<mushroom> you lucky bastards

As you can see, people are pleased.

I want to truly thank you for catering to your players, and for going through with the order of this game. Make sure to visit Acme when it arrives! I'll be sure to be there.

AHH! i can't wait! please keep me posted so i know when to plan the first visit!

It's now officail, the deal is done.  Now just give us some time to receive it and get it kitted up.  Will be in some sort of standard generic cabinet, probably medium resolution. 

How is the DM hi hat working?

Bill,

Someone on the PIU Pro forums had a thought that might save the PIU Pro from eternal damnation:

You could set the credit limit to two. That way, no one will gain more than one free set from the credit glitch.

Just a thought.

Or just get PIU NX Absolute. Testing starts tomorrow!

i dont get it

Yeah, seems like it would be just better to go with the main series (NX2, ABSOLUTE).  I don't think there were any problems before with it.

Kevin,

Great thought!  However, I also thought of that, and come to find out there is not a max credit setting in the games program.  Argh!

You will happy to hear that GM3 is shipping to us right now.  Just be patient while we get it kitted up.  So, this game uses a standard resolution?  That is what it looks like from what Sophia said, but I wonder?

It either uses a standard resolution monitor or a high resolution (31khz, I'm not sure what the terminology arcade techs use) monitor. You can really use either, but it'll look much better (apparently) on a 31khz one.

Also, I was totally wrong about the 4-way stick thing. It really does need a 4-way restrictor; I tried playing emulated TGM2 on a really nice 8way stick the other day and it just doesn't work at all. Misdrops are far too likely. If it's a Sanwa stick, I think you can just rotate the restrictor 90 degrees or something like that.

Haven't been to check out the hi-hat yet. I'll probably be going either next week or whenever TGM3 comes, whichever comes first.

One more slightly useless but relevant piece of info:

It might be a good idea to make a backup of the game's hard drive. If anything gets corrupted, you can't just send off for a new drive since the game is actually tied to the hard drive the Type-X system comes installed with. It's much better to save the drive backup somewhere, so you can restore it if you need to.

Post on tetrisconcept.com's Acme thread when you have more info!

Thanks

The Tetris goodies arrived today.  But our shop is backed up, but should be starting the conversion process in a few days.   

DM HH is working pretty well again as of last night... basically as well as a highly used e-drum hi-hat can work. There's a pretty nice sweet spot on it that responds very well but if you strike out on that you'll probably get some misses.

Hey Bill,

Any word on TGM3? Do you have a cabinet for it yet? When do you think it will be installed and ready to play?

Thanks a lot, I really appreciate all this. I don't know if you realize what an amazing amount this means to the TGM community in the US - it's the only TGM3 in a public arcade in the whole country.

Yes, we have a 27" cabinet, the usual upright variety.  Our techs kit these up at night as extra work after their shift.  Therefore, they move slowly.  I would guess about a week, and hopefully we will have it booted up. 
Looked over at tetrisconcept.  That site loads painfully slow on my puter for some reason. 

Not sure what to yank out for TGM coming in.  Will have to think about that one.  Maybe all that Bemani crap?  Hehehehe.  Kidding of course.

I went to Acme tonight, and it was great! Far better than Gameworks, for sure.

ITG was eating coins when I left, but my phone died so I couldn't call the service line. The pads worked well before that, though, and the volume was good enough. The machine was rebooted, but it didn't help. Coin jam!

DM hi-hat is "good enough" again, but as plzhelpme said I don't think it's really possible for it to work any better. I didn't notice any severe problems. Thanks!

Pop'n was in perfect condition as far as I could tell.

GF buttons are still a little stiff, but the popping sounds and screen distortion seem to have been fixed. Woohoo! I set some new records on that tonight.

Max2's monitor is turning purple, but the pads are excellent (no pad misses at all).

Supernova, I didn't play it.

So that's my report. Good stuff! I'll be sure to come back next week, heh.

everything's working great but boourns at the machine timer on ITG being turned back on my fat ass can't keep up

ITG had a major program failure yesterday. 

Kevin, please confirm that the Tetris GM3 is supposed to be a two player cabinet?  It appears that way, although we do not quite have it booted on the monitor yet.  But it appears to be two player, whereas the old tetris games I remember were all single player.