during the normal communication phase. Otherwise, choosing to take the day off will cause the game to immediately proceed to the next in-game week and will cause an idol's enthusiasm to automatically increase. The rank up limit has been removed, and the player is now given 52 weeks to produce an idol unit with the addition of specifying the month. This does not include an additional three weeks which take up the idol's pre-debut period. The port uses Xbox Live during auditions to match players online, but an Xbox Live Gold subscription is needed to participate. An Xbox Live Free subscription only allows a player to view player rankings. The auditions limited to idols with a rank of E or F are split into two categories, Rookie and Local, and the national auditions now require a minimum rank of D to participate. Up to five photos can now be saved during a performance. The game also includes 10 achievements. Development and release The Idolmaster was primarily developed by Metro, in conjunction with Namco. In the early 2000s, there were arcade games already in use that allowed players to save their progress on magnetic stripe cards so as to continue playing later. In 2001, Namco designer Akihiro Ishihara chose to create an arcade game that used that technology. Ishihara wanted to make a game that would make players want to come back to play every day, which would be tied to the growth of video arcades. Ishihara realized that players would need an emotional attachment to the game for them to play it every day. With the target audience to be male players, Ishihara thought that a raising simulation where players could befriend girls and young women would lead players to form a strong emotional attachment for the game. Next, in order to effectively use the competitive culture that surrounds video arcades, Ishihara thought about various themes for the game, including professional wrestling and volleyball. Ishihara finally settled on a game featuring pop idols, who players would raise and compete against other players' idols to reach the top of the entertainment industry. The popularity of the talent search show Asayan partially influenced Ishihara in deciding on idols for the subject of the game, although he was still unsure if it was the right decision at the time. Video game producer Junichirō Koyama also points out that the concept of developing a