Of course many have you have heard about the iPad (and god knows this is probably the 1 millionth post about it on the web.) I was busy posting about it on my other personal blog as the information was coming in during the Apple conference. The first thing that comes to our minds when seeing it is; how great would reading manga be on it? Also, there are the Kindle, the Nook, and the Sony Readers out there that for the most part, haven't captured the hearts of manga fans and the lack of manga on them is proof.
Now, here's the more important question. Will this be good or bad for the manga industry? The good is that people who might not have been into manga, could start to realize what all the hype is about. On a bad note for the industry, it is bound to reduce the actual paper printing of manga plus it will give more fuel for all those illegal manga viewing sites...even more so than what we already see.
The anime and manga industry hopefully will be able to monitize from the iPad and the other readers as well and if they don't, though many fans will be happy to build the pirating free manga sites, less money in the pockets of the content creators means less anime for us to read and watch.
Comment what you think this means for manga. Would you be buying the iPad for manga (as well as the other features)? Maybe you are already or planning to use the Nook, Kindle, Sony Readers, etc...or are you just sticking to what most anime fans continue to do and buy stacks and stacks of manga?
Here's an interesting piece of electronics I saw over at mile-stone.jp. Looks like in January or February we can get our hands on some Dragon Ball head phones, yep add headphones to the array of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z items that are out there. Based on the page, they will go for about 3440 yen or roughly $40-$45. Unless I really get started on some of that voice-over work, I probably will keep using my small ear-bud headphones.
A few days back this phone obviously caught my attention on both Dannychoo.com and sankakucomplex.com. In celebration of the Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance anime movie, this phone has a semi-old school look but matches perfectly to all that is Eva. The phone will be created by NTT Docomo and is dubbed the "SH-06A NERV"
If I didn't absolutely love my iPhone, this would be the phone I'd use. Even so, I might still snag one for the heck of it. (Maybe I should look for an Eva iPhone casing or something ^^;;)
If I can also grab some for the store to sell, I will as well.
20 years since the Game Boy came out? Man I feel old. I was 5 years old at the time in 1989 and I was already a gamer for 4 years so...yep I indeed had one. I actually still have my original Game Boy, the odd long orange carry case (more of a reason I always refer to the 1980's as the 'awkward 80's') and good old Tetris.
From there I of course got the color adapter, then Game Boy Color, then Game Boy Advance, then the DS. (I have yet to get the DSi as of this post ^^;;)
Anyone got any good Game Boy memories?
I so remember this commercial. Was on Nickelodeon when I was watching Double Dare, Fun House and Count Duckula.
Thanks to Engadget for letting me know of the GB reaching the big 2-0.
An interesting bit of news from Engadget. Seems that IBM recently patented a bionic armor concept. Not only will the armor use electromagnetic waves to bounce off bullets or any other fast moving projectiles but will also stimulate the wearer's muscles to automatically dodge a bullet.
Granted, this has to be something that won't be around for a while but how cool would that be?
Once again we are graced with yet another special version of the Playstation 3. For Final Fantasy VII fans (like myself) , this PS3 might make you want to finally get one after all this time. Painted in "Cloud Black", this FFVII PS3 features the wolf emblem from Cloud's Advent Children outfit but it also comes with other goodies like the new re-release of the Advent Children that includes 30 more minutes of our favorite characters, a 160GB drive and even the demo to Final Fantasy XIII. Comes out next month in Japan, but like usual, us American gamers + otaku seem to be getting shafted since there is no set US release date ~_~ Well, here's some food for though Sony and Square-Enix...after doing my taxes I found I actually did over $100K in 2008 in anime and game sales for this site so...um Sony, Square-Enix, there is a market here for this...no need to shaft the US gamers because of needless fear of... "THE DREADED ECONOMY"
Looks like the eroge, Gift is finally available at the Apple App Store. Only the Japanese version is out so if you are like me and still haven't learned your Japanese yet (^^;) don't fret, the English version will come out soon.
So glad to see a real anime app for once. A bit pricey though for an app at $12.99USD, but it might be worth it.
Looks like others can now see what we think. Japanese scientists at ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories were recently able to successfully display test subjects' thoughts. Imagine what can be done as this technology progresses? I know what they'd find if they scanned many otaku......
More gadget news via Engadget. This one is particularly good if you own a PSP. The Playstation 3 (the last of the next gen system I have yet to own) soon will be getting firmware version 2.50, supposedly nothing big, mainly bug fixes and Bluetooth support for the SOCOM headset. The PSP will recieve version 5.00 which will include direct access to the Playstation Store in order to download games right to the PSP. Now the PSP can be added to the list of systems that utilize game downloads and patches, like the 360's Xbox Live downloads, The Playstation Store (for the PS3), the Wii's WiiWare and the iPhone/iPod Touch's App Store. The progression of game distribution is obviously heading towards an all download media.
You can bet your money that eventually all DVDs and Blue-ray disks will be replaced by just data flowing to and from your systems. Going to miss the days of opening a brand new video game box and getting that old "New-Game" smell.
(not like I smell the box but you gamers know what i mean ^^;;)
Engadget spilled the beans about a week back on the newest version of the PSP, the 3000 model. Apparently this one will have a built in mic and a better, more anti-glare screen. Now I know why my PSP was giving me hard times when I was playing Crisis Core on break in my car ~_~. It won't come out till October in Europe and will retail between $250 and $300.
Saw this not too long ago on gizmdo. Being that I work as a web developer at a camera store, I've seen the long list of under water cameras and the almost infinite types of housings and accessories. This one looks like it makes underwater photography more for the casual photographer...just watch where you point those goggles though.
(for anyone who gets my posts via mail...sorry about the occasional typos ^^;)
You heard right, there is an invention in the works that can bend light around 3D objects thus making it invisible. Its currently on the nano to microscopic scale but scientist Xian Zhanga and two US teams at UC Berkeley created what they call "meta-material." Its still nowhere near anything applicable but need I ask what you would do if you can be invisible? Hey, it could be used in combat like the cloaking in Halo...probably not knowing the otaku mind ^^;;
Stumbled upon this interesting gadget just recently via Engadget. Pretty cool amateur invention, looks very much like the old Nintendo Power Glove. If you could beat the learning curve of this, would you honestly find use for it?
As I write this post, Steve Jobs is doing his keynote speech about the new iPhone 3G. He states its the only phone that beat the original iPhone. From the looks of it... he's right. I'm glad its on the 3G network now and from the picutre provided by Engadget's live coverage, it has the GPS we so wanted. I don't have an iPhone yet but now its up to par and better than features found in the Blackberry phones....at least in my opinion. Every phone company has been making iPhone copies as of late which shows that technology is really progressing in the right direction. The 3rd party apps on this thing will be something to behold I hope.
....oh and lets not forget.... the 8Gb model is only $199.99 and the 16GB model is $299.99! Very glad I played the waiting game.
It would have been cool if I had this when I played through Crisis Core. Awsome hack by Acidmods member Blizzrad that makes it so he can play any game on the PSP with a DualShock Controller. Image and story via Engadget.
That little Japanese robot keeps amusing. Check out the whole story here on CNN. I find ASIMO really cool and proof that Japan will come up with simply the best robots for the future.
Looks as if Sony has created a fuel cell system that is currently still in the prototype phase but looks very promising for future mobile devices. Check out more of this at Engadget.
In not so shocking news, AT&T cut their free wireless internet service they had for their iPhone customers. It apparently was easy to hack into if you knew a friend's iPhone number. The phone companies won't be able to stop the future when everything everywhere is wireless. Europe is already leagues ahead of the us with this. I feel in the next decade we will look back at our old phone rates and laugh at why we paid so much for so little, much like how we now can laugh at AOL's old CDs granting you 600 hours online. More info and picture thanks to gizmodo.
Since the HD DVD wars are over with Sony being the obvious winner, Microsoft will be coming out with a Blu-ray integrated Xbox 360. This might make the videogame wars a bit interesting.. well the battle between Xbox 360 and PS3. Sony wins both ways though since Blu-ray is their technology. I still like my xbox 360 the way it is. I'll have a PS3 soon anyways so my Blu-ray needs will be taken care of. Of course this is great news for anyone without a 360. More on Engadget.
Looks as if the 3G iPhone is only a few months away from being in the stores. Not only will i be 3G but its GPS will be better and also looks like Apple dropped the whole metal back thing. I guess I'm glad I have yet to buy an iPhone. Check out its specs at Engadget. (Picture also thanks to Engadget)
In case you haven't already heard; expert computer engineer Ben Heck created a laptop made out of a Playstation 3 unit. Lots of work was obviously put into it. Weighs over 16 pounds so it might be a bit tough to carry around. Check out more of this masterpiece in computer moding here at the Engadget page. Also check Ben's site for more of his work.
Nothing is concrete yet but recently Apple applied for trademark protection for gaming technology. Could this mean that the 2009 featured product will be a gaming system to compete with Nintendo's DS? This is obviously a long winded guess for a future time but I'm game for any gaming system by Apple..or any company for that matter. Apple's touch pad technology could create some interesting games.
Also in a related note; another company us gamers are fond of, Sega did a similar action a number of months back. Who knows, maybe x-mas of 2009 will be the battle of the handhelds with Apple, Nintendo and Sega. Check more on this at Engadget.
What a way to start the new year with some really good videogame news. Sony's CES 2008 promo site is showing off that soon you can be able to use the mostly free phone service of Skype on your PSP. This will simply be a great add-on to the PSP. Maybe it'll be out by March when Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core comes to the states so you can call a fellow gamer and boost how you just fully completed the game (after 60+ hours).
Check out this fan made Metroid arcade unit. Thought Metroid fans wouldn't mind another post. Click here if you don't see the video below. Complements of Engadget.
After playing the Wii yesterday, I had to put up another Wii post. Looks like it sells for $30. Not bad if it actually lights up. Just hope this doesn't become another scapegoat to sue for angry parents with crazy sword-throwing kids. Complements of engadget
Just came across this cool gadget for the Wii. If you want to play Wii games the old fashioned way or say some of your Game Cube titles, this would be pretty good. I can't believe they named it like this but for $39.99 you can chose a black, white or pink one.
