Audition Online:

Audition Online (Korean: 오디션 온라인), also known as Dancin' Paradise in Japan, is a downloadable multiplayer online casual rhythm game produced by T3 Entertainment. It was originally released in South Korea in 2005, but it has been localized by various publishers around the world including North America which is marketed by Nexon Corporation. Audition Online is free to play but it earns its revenue by selling virtual items such as clothes for the player's avatar.

In South Korea, PSP (called Audition Portable) and cellphone versions were released on June 1, 2007 and June 4, 2007 respectively.

As of June 12, 2008, Korean Audition is now Audition Season 2. Audition season 2 features a new interface, sound system, expressions, and more!

History

Audition Online first originated as a popular comic, called Audition, that is read by young adults of South Korea. With the inspiration of the comic, T3 Entertainment created Audition Online alongside with Yedang Online. The game originated in South Korea, where Audition Online gained its popularity. As popularity increased, T3 Entertainment and Yedang Online began localizing the game in other regions including China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Philippines, North America, Thailand, Taiwan, South East Asia, Vietnam, Brazil, United Kingdom, and Remaining European Countries including publishers who licensed the game in Europe. Audition was also released to a "global" audience at one point, which largely consisted of American and Vietnamese players. Updates to Global Audition were stopped due to hacking and so the server was shut down. The Latin American (Spanish) version of the game is being hosted by axeso5 in association with Latin Interactive Network. Audition Korea continues to be the most updated version with a very large support base and weekly updates.

Audition Online is free to play, using the popular Virtual Asset Sales which is a cash shop system that allows users to use real money to purchase in-game clothes, accessories, etc. to dress up their avatars. The game is similar in effect to Bust A Groove but because this game features online connectivity, it is referred to as a multiplayer online casual game.

Electronic Times Internet, an IT news website, reported that Audition reached 50 million registered users in China, with 500,000 concurrent players. Baidu, a Chinese search engine, revealed that Audition ranks first in all its searches, and is ahead of games like Crazyracing Kartrider and World of Warcraft.

Popularity

Audition's popularity began in South Korean and Global versions of the game. As popularity increased, more and more users signed up for the South Korean and Global servers. Due to hacking in the Global server, Bugs Corporation discontinued the server and most of the users migrated over to the South Korean servers. As more users joined the South Korean servers, T3 Entertainment and Yedang Online began localizing the game in other regions including China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, North America, Thailand, Taiwan, South East Asia, Vietnam, Brazil, United Kingdom, and Remaining European Countries. In the Asian servers, the popularity of Audition has increased rapidly with millions of users on every localized region.

In North America, the popularity has increased rapidly due to commercials aired on MTV Networks and also being number three on Seventeen Magazine's list of hot summer to do list.

Available regions

Gameplay Features

A person makes a room, chooses whether it is password protected or not, and then people join that room. The 'DJ' (the person who creates the room) then selects a song (e.g. "Beautiful Liar"), sometimes according to the other people's wishes. The DJ also selects a background, such as a basketball court, and then selects the type of game (later explained in this article). The songs have different tempos, with faster ones like "Magic World" (185 bpm) and "Love Mode" (190 bpm) being harder to follow and slower ones like "Don't Give Up/Can't Dismiss/I Cannot Abandon It/Can't Throw It Away" (84 bpm) being easier.

By following the arrows displayed on the screen (with the exception of red Chance arrows, which the player must do the opposite of) and pressing spacebar or the control key on the 4th beat, the player may gain a score of MISS, BAD, COOL, GREAT or PERFECT. The character will dance on the screen respectively to how well the player scored. As the players go on, the number of arrows changes to the level that the player is on. The person who currently has the highest score will be dancing in the front centre. The position is swapped once someone else tops that person's score.

A special move during most gameplay modes is the "Finish Move". If a person does not miss the move before it, they have the option to do the "Finish Move". Finish moves issue a lot of points and can often be the key to success.

When a player does 2 or more PERFECTs consecutively, he will get bonus points for doing so. These PERFECT combos (or "Perfect chains" as some call it) enables players to interfere with the opposition. A blue circle indicates that you made a perfect in your move, and thus acts as a shield. When a player does a perfect X1 (or perfect X2 in some cases), they will make the other player, which has a standing either in front or behind them, receive a yellow circle. While under the yellow circle, points will not be given if that person does not hit a perfect (in a finish move it reduces a percentage rather than the whole move). In addition, players can increase their points by playing 'chance'. This can be activated by pressing the delete key or the . key on the number pad whereby red keys appear and players have to press in the opposite direction of the red keys. At the end of the dance battle, the person with the most points will land first place. Each player will receive experience points and Den/BEATS according to what place they scored.

If a single/group game (not including NPC, One-Two Party and Beat Up modes) is full, while also having the music set to random, a random event will occur. This is where bonuses are given if you accomplish a certain challenge. Examples are not getting a specific beat judgment (e.g. no COOLs or no BADs), getting perfect combos (e.g. PERFECT X3), or getting a standing (e.g. getting number 1). The music can be random, random(new), or random from any range of tempos.

Chance levels (Korean audition as of January 14th, 2008, AuditionSEA as of July, 2008)
There are chance levels from 1 till 6. With the addition of Chance levels, the DJ can now set a standard number of red (opposite keys) arrows a player will face when they use the chance mode. The choices range from 0 to 6. Alternatively the DJ can select the free chance mode which will allow players to cycle through the levels at their leisure. The more red steps a player clears, the more points they will score. The ability to choose your own level of difficulty adds a new level of strategy and can greatly stratify scores between weak and strong players. In addition, whether or not players are using chance and their current chance level are displayed next to player scores during the game.

Fashion Shop

In similar fashion to many of the Microtransaction based online games, Audition features an item shop in which players may customize the look of their character. Players may choose from a variety of hairstyles, shirts, pants, shoes, faces, and miscellaneous items (not all items are available in every edition of Audition). The in-game rewards system is called Den, or Beats in the American version of Audition. In every game in which a player competes against or with another player, a Den/Beat reward is given at the end of the song as long as a player achieves a rank higher than miss on a certain amount of bars (amount of bars required varies between each mode). Players may redeem this Den/Beats for the clothes and accessories in the Fashion Shop.

In addition to Den/Beats, players may use the Cash system. By purchasing Cash through Audition's online payment system, players may buy Cash items in the Fashion Shop. Many of the items in the Fashion Shop are only available if bought with Cash. Different forms of payment are used to get cash, including PayPal, M-Payment, and various Prepaid Card and Code systems.

Game Modes

There are many game modes including single, group and battle party modes, available in Audition Online. They have different characteristics allowing players to compete in different skills. Some modes such as Beat-Up and One-Two Party, has game-plays that are unique to the other game modes.

Single modes are essentially a free-for-all where each individual plays and competes to get the highest score in the room. Group modes, on the other hand, require co-ordination between players to win the game. Battle Party modes are avenues for players to earn Den/Beats by competing against NPCs. There is also a story mode that consists of missions that are continued by stories. This mode allow players to explore more about the game alone.

New modes, such as Beat Rush and Club Dance II, are currently being released as the game develops, providing players with new features constantly.

Criticism

Profanity in song lyrics

In some Audition Online editions including Audition Philippines, AuditionSEA, and Audition America; profanity was removed or censored from the lyrics of some songs. This profanity was found on numerous Audition songs, including songs produced for the game itself. In most cases, these songs were either remixed, or censored. Although most songs were censored, Nexon decided to completely remove some offending songs from Audition America. These changes were brought about in order for the game to retain a content rating suitable for ages 10+ which is supposed to be Audition Online's main market. However, numerous songs added by Nexon themselves contain profanity.

Audition America's Story Mode

In comparison to other Audition Online editions, Nexon's version of 'Story Mode', translation errors aside, has over-challenging NPC's throughout the beginning chapters [1-20], although Story Mode is available to those who reach level 6. Because of the lack of core Audition songs, due to issues with profanity in lyrics, or whether it be the copyright issues due to a used chorus, majority of the songs that are used in their place are too fast, or off sync for the average player to complete. It is unknown whether or not Nexon planned to enable Story Mode with this difficulty.

Songs wipe out in Audition Southeast Asia

Originally majority of the songs played in Audition Southeast Asia edition were Korean songs until a patch on July 27, 2007.^[1] All Korean songs were removed by AsiaSoft "due to complications arising from international songs licensing limitation".^[2] AuditionSEA was left with only songs by Audition and Taiwanese artiste Milk. Momentarily, songs by Milk and Korean artiste Rain were played in the Lobby, but were later removed and replaced with Audition songs once more by a patch after the song removal notice. Rain's lobby songs were unplayable at that time. Milk's songs were also removed due to the end of the contract between Milk's agency and Asiasoft. The removal of the songs is the company's due respect for the copyrights of the songs writers and composers as stated in Compass website.^[1] AsiaSoft has announced the permanent removal of the older Korean and English language songs, and also promised to patch on more songs for the players to enjoy since the removal of songs on July 27, 2007.^[1]. But no improvement has been made, and the few songs that they patched were merely songs by Audition.

Song changes in Audition America

One issue that was at hand was the song changes found in Audition America. Aside from the songs that were removed, other songs, despite being owned by Audition were removed as they had remixes of artists such as 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, DJ Kool, Jay-Z and the late ODB, Tupac, and Biggie Smalls. As a result some of the licenses and battle parties have different songs compared to a majority of the other Audition Online edition. Because of the song changes, players who played existing versions of the game felt the NPC Battle Mode to be unbalanced due to the programming of the NPCs remaining unchanged. Further more, Nexon seems to be putting no effort to make replacement mixes which may affect the Beat Up and Team Choreo Battle party release as many Audition mixes having Korean lyrics on them.^{[citation needed]}. This was changed in more recent update where the new Korean Audition mixes who have hired their own artists to perform the mix. Also, Korean audition has updated the license to remove New York, making it more reasonable in general.

Price changes for outfits in Audition America

Another drastic change in Audition America was the removal of certain popular outfits in Audition for reasons unknown, but possibly related to cultural reasons. Some of the outfits removed are the Autumn Outfit sets for girls and guys as well as the Ancient Korean outfit. Also, the pricing for other outfits were also changed for example, hip hop jeans which now cost 25000 Beats or otherwise known as Dens (another currency in Audition Online) was originally priced at 3000 Beats. Also, compared to Korean NPCs in NPC Battle Party. The den earned for winning afford den outfits.

Third party programs

Like any other online games, players encounter hackers who cheat to win. This includes the perfect chain spam bot; where the player always gets a cumulative perfect score and the BBoy hack; where the keys do not disappear and doesn't need to be memorized. There also exists a beat-up hack, a hack that allows six accounts in one computer, a hack that allows players to play removed songs, a perfect line hack and a hack that could increase the player's exp ten times. Every version had people that use third party programs.

Advertisements in Audition Korea

Compared to the rest of the Audition series, Audition Korea has perhaps the biggest amount of advertisement promotions throughout its entire run. Ranging from replacing the Audition symbol with its current sponsor (Basic House, Sunkist) to more direct ones like Demi-Soda (where the winner in team choreo and non special modes would open up a can of Demi-Soda and drink it. Also there was the ad at the end of the song). T3 Entertainment also sells some real life merchandise based on Audition as well as Outfits based on real life converted into Audition form.

Royalty free song licensing issues in Audition Southeast Asia

There have been reported eight royalty-free songs created by their respective artists that are featured in this Audition service under the artist name, Audition. AsiaSoft had reported that they went under an agreement with BeatBox Music Properties Ltd. to purchase these song licenses.^[3] Although the songs remain in the service, the artistes names have not been changed.

Artist-related Promotions

Nexon released a patch on June 3rd, 2008 that introduced an artist spotlight promotion which featured songs, including recent releases by Natasha Bedingfield, along with modified stages which have various portraits of the pop diva. There is also a special Battle Party occasion when players can dance with Natasha Bedingfield replacing the chosen Battle Party NPC. There has been notice of negative feedback from the players about this patch, and as a result the game masters have provided a thread in the Nexon Audition forum on receiving opinions from the players on what Nexon should do in future patches.^[4] As Nexon continues patching Audition on a regular basis, they also change the artist spotlight promotions. As of July 1, 2008, a new patch was released with a promotion of the band Lifehouse. 3 new Lifehouse songs were added, as well as modified stages with pictures of the band.

Players complain over poor performance of Audition Southeast Asia

High number of players from Audition Southeast Asia official forum, Playpark forums, have been complaining about the poor performance of Asiasoft. Concerns include increasing occurrences of the lag issues on the server side, and that has caused Asiasoft to make several useless server checks and maintenance. Asiasoft only patched on Audition Southeast Asia on July 15, 2008, which is 11 weeks after the patch before that. It is known that Asiasoft will also extend the duration of almost all of their patches and maintenance by at least 3 hours each time, and the reason is not known. Recently, the patch on August has a huge number of major bugs in the game client. Which includes missing texture files, non matching gender avatars, execution file error, and wrong content in the FAM battle replay file.

Petition to request for better game-play and more songs in Audition Southeast Asia

Players from Audition Southeast Asia has gone another step ahead, which is to start a petition in Audition Southeast Asia. The reason for the petition is because there is currently a serious lack of song variety. More improvements can be made to make the game better, such as heeding player's feedbacks and improving on them, fixing all the bugs, and patching the missing files to the original game client. However, there has been a few more people such as Pudding, Envisage and even Quixx (who were responsible for the Petition) who are determined to restore AuditionSEA's reputation and are doing all they can whilst being supported by many other players at the "PlayPark Forums"

Philippine Music Ticket Item in Audition Philippines

There is an in-game item called the "Philippine Music Ticket" in the Philippine version of Audition and is required to play selected OPM (Original Pinoy Music) songs that are available. Only players who have the said item will be able to actually play the selected songs, otherwise the music will not play and will be replaced by a metronome. The said feature caused several complaints^[5] from the players. Another complaint is that the said in-game item is expensive and is not available indefinitely, not to mention that there are very few OPM songs available. The said OPM songs were also played even in Random music selection, which causes everyone without the ticket to hear metronomes during the game, instead of the actual music. Players have been suggesting E-Games (the Philippine Audition publisher) to either decrease the price of the OPM Music ticket, add more OPM songs, or completely remove the said item.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "AuditionSea Patch on 27/7" (in English). AsiaSoft. Retrieved on 2007-11-13.
^ "Temporary Removal of Songs on Audition Sea" (in English). AsiaSoft. Retrieved on 2007-11-13.
^ "News - Royalty free Songs" (in English). AsiaSoft. Retrieved on 2008-12-08.
^ "Nexon Forums - Your non-flammatory opinions, please" (in English). Nexon. Retrieved on 2008-05-06.
^ "The Official Opm Ticket Thread, Reactions, and Suggestions post it here!!!" (in English). E-Games. Retrieved on 2008-08-11.

Audition Online

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