Bandai Namco released another PV for PS3 iDOLM@STER2 a few days ago, but there’s a subtle (in incredibly anal sounding) difference between this and the previously released PS3M@S trails – this one isn’t actually a trailer for the game, rather it’s the first trailer for the games DLC. The game isn’t actually out yet, but this is Bamco settling into business as usual, and you’ll be seeing one of these every month now for a while to come (heck, the eighth 360 DLC promo was released just a couple of weeks ago).

It’s hard to tell if the PS3 version will work the same, given that the platform hosts have different policies regarding bandwidth costs on their service, but it’ll probably worth me spending a little time discussing how DLC in the games, or at least the 360 ones, work.

iM@S DLC is bundled into monthly packs, referred to as catalogues. When I say bundled, I mean exactly that as well – all the DLC is clumped into one big file, which is free to download for anyone. What you then pay for is to unlock the parts of the catalogue file that you want access to. Typically, each months download content consists of a song (could be completely new, could be something retreaded from a previous game, prices vary a little depending), a completely new Extend-type costume, some colour variant of one or more of the standard costumes, some new accessories and, new for iM@S2, the ability to spend some actual money to get in game cash. Also new for the PS3 version is the ability to unlock extra costumes for your Stage For You!, but I doubt that one will be a regular feature.

It probably sounds a bit weird that you are downloading a bunch of DLC you don’t necessarily want – downloading the audio files for the songs is a bit of a waste of bandwidth if you are only after a costume, after all – but there is a method to Bamcos madness. The thing with iM@S is that you can go onto the player rankings and watch other players saved PVs, and this includes PVs containing content you haven’t bought. So even if you haven’t bought “Kyun! Vampire Girl” (not that it looks to be getting a PS3 release anytime soon), you can watch the the saved video for people who have (presuming, that is, you’ve downloaded the catalogue). Which is kind of neat.

(Also, the Vampire Girl costume appears in the new ANiM@S OP, so I bet the song will be up on PS3 sooner rather than later).

As for the actual contents of the new Catalogue PV, previously discussed Miku content aside, you’ll note that the DLC song this month (and this DLC is day one, by the way) is actually Kami-Summer, which aside from being a somewhat excruciating pun, is a new song which was used as the insert track in the fifth episode of ANiM@S. It’s curious in so much as it’s the only DLC song being released – whilst the PS3 version does have the first three 360 catalogues integrated, and a lot of the later 360 ones are retreaded from older games, it does still mean that they’re going to have at least five catalogues of content that won’t be on PS3. I’m a little surprised that they weren’t going for maybe two songs a month or something.

Saying that, this months catalogue is a little weird in that there are essentially three Extend costumes, being that the Miku costume is being released alongside “Sailor Suit”-styled swimwear and that odd checkered uniform (which seems to be listed as “Idol School”). There’s a bunch of less interesting things like that gaudy balloon accessory too, and a couple of money unlocks (humorously, the 600K unlock is going to cost way more than twice as much as the 300K one).

There’s also the mail addresses. The mail addresses are probably, more than the money unlocks, the skeeziest part of iM@S DLC. Basically, for a small fee (I think it’s about 300Y per character on PS3), you’ll unlock a feature whereby you’ll receive e-mails from your idols after events, occasionally with some photographs attached to them. More than just a simple nicety, though, occasionally it’ll result in your unit being switched into a state which gives you a temporary stat boost. Yes, it makes the game easier – not that you necessarily need it, but it can save you a week here and there in terms of being able to skip lessons in favour of fan building efforts.

In other iM@S news, the PS3 demo should be out on the Japanese PSN this Thursday, for anyone looking to have a go at the game without the cash outlay. Also, it looks like Jupiter might actually be getting their songs released on CD. Not that many other than myself are likely to buy it.