They built it in Barcelona, and everyone loved it. The game played just like normal, on a smart phone, but the results were a bit different, and some folks seemed quite surprised. What a hoot; thanks, T-Mobile. And then, just for grins and giggles, the official Angry Birds theme song.
Now that we have virtual Idols, between Vocaloid and the 3D RL holographic projection process that displays them live on stage, it is time to get creative with our live concerts. Mikunopolis is coming on July 2nd to the stage in LA as part of Anime Expo. Besides being Virtual Idol Hatsune Miku’s first performance in the US, she will be the first ever Virtual Guest of Honor at an American Con. In case you were wondering, her back-up band on stage with her will be non-virtual, but there is always the chance some of the other Virtual Idols will be joining her on stage. SEGA is doing the 3D imaging tech work for the show with Crypton Future Media, the creators of Hatsune Miku, supervising. The videos here were taken at the Miku’s Day Thanksgiving live show in Tokyo on March 9th 2010, and the reports are the 3D tech for the on stage presentation has gotten even better since then.
If you are interested in creating your own Virtual Idol, it was announced today, or yesterday depending on which side of the date line you are on, that Vocaloid is finally being updated (the last new version was released 4 years ago). The program itself has come down in price, and version 3 will be retailing at around $125, but they have not announced what the voice packages are going to run yet. This is supposed to be the most realistic singing voice engine to date, and comes with multi-language support. That means your English language songs can be built from English phonemes now; I am sure anyone who programmed the previous versions to sing in English when it only came with Japanese phonemes is going to be quite excited about that. I think I will save the resources to create your 3D Idol for another post; enjoy the music from the old version of Vocaloid.
On Memorial Day, Monday evening, the Science Channel has some combat goodness from our new robot overlords. Mythbuster’s Grant Imahara will be hosting Killer Robots: RoboGames 2011, for the first television coverage of the International RoboGames from San Francisco. Previously known as RobOlympics, this competition has been going on for a decade and gets better every year. The actual gathering took place over three days in April with 50 separate events, so I am expecting to see the very best instances of mechanical mayhem in the 45 minutes they edited it down to. If you want to get in on the fun yourself, the next one is the Combots Cup, a combat only event on Oct 28-30th, 2011; start building your bot now.
SFX just uploaded this teaser trailer; no info yet on if the tour will be coming to the US or just Europe. If the Torchwood trailer doesn’t work, try watching on YouTube.
This Saturday, April 2nd, the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. will be doing the Ninth Annual National Cherry Blossom Festival Anime Marathon. As usual Otakorp (the folks who bring you Otakon each year) are co-sponsors for the event, and the D.C. Anime Club will be helping to host it, also as usual. This year’s presentation includes a special remembrance of Satoshi Kon and his amazing body of work, which include Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, and Perfect Blue, and they will be showing his award-winning Paprika on the big screen. If you have only seen this on a TV before, now is your chance to see it the way it was meant to be viewed. The day starts out with the Hayao Miyazaki classic masterpiece Kiki’s Delivery Service for children of all ages. They will also be running a few titles from Makoto Shinkai, his excellent The Place Promised in Our Early Days and a preview of his new work, Hoshi o Ou Kodomo or Children who Chase Lost Voices. The theater is very nice and the price is free, but you want to get there early before the tickets are all gone. I can also recommend the non-film portions, like the Cosplay Competition and the reading and book signing with Roland Kelts, who will also be doing the presentation about Satoshi Kon. Hope to see you there!