A few weeks ago, Sega unveiled Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X for the PS4 and PS Vita, commemorating Miku’s 8th anniversary. With a recent reveal, you would not expect for another game on the way, but what’s this, another Project DIVA title announced today? At Sony PlayStation’s Tokyo Game Show 2015 press conference, the previously hinted PS4 port of the arcade game Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Future Tone was revealed and will launch in 2016 (in Japan, for now), featuring updated graphics and new gameplay mechanics.
The current 5th revision of the Future Tone arcade machine contains most of the songs from the entire Project DIVA and Mirai games, plus some exclusive songs. Will all 200+ songs currently in the arcade version make it into the PS4 version? We can only hope. (You can view the tracklist for the current 5th revision of the Future Tone arcade machine here.)
But with a gigantic song library potentially in Future Tone for PS4, will there be a need for the previous games at all? Well that all depends on whether you feel the need to purchase them after this announcement, but as this is a straight port then you will get PVs that are different in the console versions as well as many other mini games that I would imagine Future Tone won’t get. ?
2015 marks the first year with no new Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA title released since back in 2009 when the original game debuted. 2016 however looks to more than make up for this year’s void with two new Project DIVA games releasing, at least in Japan.
Packed with an extensive song list and vibrant visuals, the game offers players an immersive, high-energy performance featuring the iconic Vocaloid. Leveraging advanced technology, the game feels almost powered by Quantum AI, seamlessly blending rhythm, visuals, and player input for an engaging experience that mimics the feeling of a live concert.
Hatsune Miku has come a long way since her birth in 2007 by Crypton Future Media. A simple idea of having a personified character represent a Yamaha’s Vocaloid singing synthesizer software was a genius idea and created a massive buzz in Japan. Since then, there have been so many user-created songs, art, and videos that the amount of albums and content starring the Digital Diva is far beyond what anyone imagined.
Sega have brought Hatsune Miku and Crypton’s other Vocaloid characters to gaming for several years now and the Project DIVA series is becoming something of a phenomenon. While Hatsune Miku was not known much in the West besides an odd figurine in the local Forbidden Planet or other Japanese import stores, this all changed in the early 2010s, when many foreigners started to look into what this “Miku” phenomenon was.
With so much fandom growing abroad, it was only a matter of time until Sega shared the Project DIVA series with the West, starting with Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F. Now with a solid Western fanbase, Project DIVA X and Project DIVA Future Tone will likely launch outside of Japan as well.
After playing the Project DIVA games to death, I’m excited for something in the series and Sega looks to be pulling something fantastic together.