Talk about interesting house architecture, this particular house is so narrow that 2 people with their hands outstretched can almost fit the width of the unit.

Check out this video as 2 Japanese speaking foreigners visit the house’s owners. A family of 4.

You will be shocked that the interior is quite cramped but it is pretty well designed and “7 floors” high.

and the daughter of the family is cute too ^^

Credits to iganustanaka for the video

PV No. 8 for Angel Beats! have been launched, featuring seiyuu’s voice in the anime itself and a preview of the song. Check out the youtube video embed below for the trailer. Angel Beats! is slated to air in April this year, a production by Jun Maeda. Production by Aniplex and Key/Visual Arts.

<3

Images © Visual Art’s/Key © Visual Art’s/Key/Angel Beats! Project

Sony Japan have announced its next lineup of S series Walkman players with lovely Disney characters – Mickey and Minnie. There are three designs available – Mickey only, Minnie only and the couple . Sony Japan has also released two original accessories, a case (1,680 yen) and Mickey Phone stand (2, 680 yen).

The Walkman players itself will be available in various models, each with 8 and 16GB versions and the price will range from 13,800 yen to 18,800 yen and is available in Japan.

Sony Style Japan

By now, you should be aware of the Hatsune Miku concert that was held in Zepp Tokyo music hall, Sega revealed plans for a downloadable expansion of Project DIVA which will allow the user to play the game on their PS3 console.

Great news huh

It is official and it will be known as Dreamy Theater. The graphics will match with Project DIVA Arcade and will be a downloadable expansion which is also a PSP to PS3 connectivity add-on. Release date and price unconfirmed.

So one more reason to get a PS3 if you are into Miku.. ^^

Source

Date: 27 March 2010
Venue: West Coast Plaza
Time: 1.00pm – 5.00pm

Seems like the organisers are pulling off something big this year by organising the World Cosplay Summit Singapore Selection rounds 1. Along with the actual event on 27th March, there are also some other sub events held between 22-28 March and also the Anime Musical Live!

Quoting from one of the commitee members who posted on SGcafe.com

Rules of entry

1) Only cosplays from Japanese Anime, Manga and Game is eligible.
As this is a special collaboration between WCS Singapore and WCS Korea,
Korean animation, comics and game characters are also permitted.

2) Only pair entries are eligible for this selection rounds

3) The pair must come from the same series

4) Please send all entries to wcs2010@cosfest.com
Please include the following details of both members in the pair
-Full Name(as in IC)
-Passport Number
-Mobile Number
-Msn
-Home Address
-Series
-Characters you want to cosplay
-Reference photos

Closing date is 21st March 2010.

Sony have announced “Playstation Move”, its official name for the motion controller in GDC with various lineup of games supporting the controller. One of them, Socom 4. The controller will connect wirelessly to the console via Bluetooth and features a lil vibration. Check out the trailer below

PS Move trailer

More at Joystiq

]]> http://www.thebanzaieffect.com/articles/ooga/playstation-move-unveiled/feed/ 1 http://www.thebanzaieffect.com/articles/ooga/valve-confirms-steam-for-mac/ http://www.thebanzaieffect.com/articles/ooga/valve-confirms-steam-for-mac/#comments Tue, 09 Mar 2010 03:31:55 +0000 oOgA http://www.thebanzaieffect.com/?p=12729

Mac owners rejoice! Valve have confirmed in its latest press release that the its Steam game distribution service and Source engine will be made available on Mac and it is pretty soon.

April 2010.

For a start, Valve’s existing line-up of games (including the Half-Life and Left 4 Dead series) will be available to Mac users in April, while Portal 2 will be made as a simultaneous release for PC and Mac later this year.

Steamworks for Mac will also include a few feature known as Steam Play which will let you buy a game once and, for instance, start playing it on a PC at work and then pick up where you left off on your Mac at home.

But then again….at work? lol

Good news people. Good news.

Source

FIFA World Cup 2010 for South Africa is coming soon in June and EA Sports will be launching its 2010 FIFA World Cup: South Africa across various platforms – PC, PS3, PSP, Xbox360 and Wii.

The game will launch some time in April 2010.Check out one of the recent trailers as above.

Will you be getting this game ?

March 8th, a day observed by many countries as Women’s Day which is celebrated annually. Its focus of the celebrations are usually targeted towards the celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women. It can also be represented towards a celebration for women’s economic, political and social achievements.

Time to give some appreciation to the ladies around you, show them the love and don’t boss around like a male chauvinist. Of course, it doesn’t apply just for today, right? ^^

Regardless, this year, on occasion of 2010 International Women’s Day the International Committee of the Red Cross is drawing attention to the hardship that displaced women endure. It relates mainly to the displacement due to the modern armed conflicts.

Quoting from Wiki,

Women displaced by armed conflict – often living alone with their children – are frequently exposed to sexual violence, discrimination and intimidation. Many face poverty and social exclusion as well. International humanitarian law therefore includes specific provisions protecting women, for example when they are pregnant or as mothers of young children

So ladies, do you “celebrate” this day ? :3

Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer made a talk in the university of Washington and it looks like somewhere during the Q&A, he made a statement relating large-screen televisions and Microsoft’s related hardware strategy:

For that big screen device … there’s no diversity. You get exactly the Xboxes that we build for you. We may have more form factors in the future that are designed for various price points and options, but we think it’s going to [be] important.

Of course, there is no direct hint of any Xbox360 slim but given the statement he mentioned, there “may” be more form factors with various prices.

Now comes the question, would you like a Xbox 360 “slim” ? Are you happy with the current Xbox360 model and its bulky power adaptor ?? I am hoping adaptors will be smaller in size as technology advance.. :/

Source

The 4th Seiyuu Awards held in UDX Theater of Tokyo Anime Center have concluded with the following award winners that won the following awards.

Best Lead Actor Award
Daisuke Ono

Best Lead Actress Award
Miyuki Sawashiro

Best Supporting Actor Awards
Daisuke Namikawa
Shinichiro Miki

Best Supporting Actress Awards

Kikuko Inoue
Yui Horie

Special Merit Award
Kazue Takahashi (1929-1999)

Merit Awards
Tesshô Genda
81 Produce
Kazuko Sugiyama
Aoni Production
Nobuo Tanaka
Tokyo Actor’s Consumer’s Cooperative Society (Haikyo)
Kei Tomiyama Award
Nana Mizuki
Sigma Seven
Kids/Family Award
Wasabi Mizuta
Aoni Production

Synergy Award
Mobile Suit Gundam
Tohru Furuya (Amuro Ray), Shuuichi Ikeda (Char Aznable)
Overseas Fan Award
Mitsuki Saiga

Best Singing Award
Aki Toyosaki
Yōko Hikasa
Satomi Satou
Minako Kotobuki
Ayana Taketatsu

Best Personality Award
Masaya Onosaka

Best New Actor Awards
Atsushi Abe
Tomoaki Maeno

Best New Actress Awards
Kanae Itō
Aki Toyosaki

Source, Source 2

Summer Wars have won the Animation of the Year award at the 33th Japan Academy Prize on Friday. Competing with the awards were strong competitors such as Hideaki Anno and Khara’s Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance (Evangelion Shin Gekijōban: Ha), Kôzô Kusuba and Shinei Animation’s Doraemon: Shin Nobita no Uchū Kaitakushi, Shinsuke Sato and Production I.G’s Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror.

Mamoru Hosoda, the director have also posted a photo of his award on his twitter. Check it out here

Source

Starting from March 5th to March 17th, there will be a “Anime Showdown” fair held in the Basement level 1 of Takashiamaya Singapore. Its located in the Talking Hall. Look out for a wide range of exclusive merchandise from your favourite anime titles and also exciting activities.

Not bad I will say, we needed a fair or sorts to sell some good stuff. ^^

Avex Holdings have announced that its subsidary, Avex Entertainment had established an anime division to create business opportunities  in voice actors and actresses, merchandise works, and long-term franchises. According to source, the birth of the division is due to outgrowth of its anime section within the video department.

via ANN

2ch was attacked not long ago by hackers from Korea according to source and now they have vowed to take it down again. The hosting company which is based in California have reported the case to FBI which the case is currently under investigation.

Reasons are not clear at why the hackers are targeting 2ch but they have formed a league known as “The League of Patriots,” and their 2nd assault is believed to begin on 6th March.

More @ source

The infamous PS3 glitch mentioned which caused a Error 8001050F was a millennium bug, delayed for 10 years. Of course, the issue have been resolved. Patrick Seybold, senior director of corporate communications writing have commented in the official Playstation Blog -

“We are aware that the internal clock functionality in the PS3 units other than the slim model, recognized the year 2010 as a leap year. Having the internal clock date change from February 29 to March 1 (both GMT), we have verified that the symptoms are now resolved and that users are able to use their PS3 normally.”

Those with Windows Mobile might have recalled a similar bug before. Of course this isn’t a direct relation with the PS3 glitch but lets hope any more electronics won’t have such a issue.

No software update is required

By now, you might be already aware of the issue that is plaguing the old PS3 sets (not PS3 slims) that cause your games not able to boot up even when you are playing it offline. Gamers are enraged with such a issue and have complained. Rumors spreading everywhere.

Sony have acknowledged this issue in twitter and also on the community page that they are looking into it. Cases of clocks being reset and even data loss were reported. Speculations came up that it might be the PSN unable to handle leap years properly.

Sony have released an official note on the Playstation page

Date : 2010-03-01
Owing to the system maintenance, some services of PlayStation®Network will be unavailable during the following period:
Start Date: 01-Mar-2010
End Date: Until further notice

Affected services (not limited to):
- PlayStation®Network online gaming service
- PlayStation®Home
- PlayStation®Store (PS3™, Media go, PSP®)
- PlayStation®Network account registration and log-in
- ‘My Page’ and PlayStation® product registration

If you require additional support, please contact our customer service hotline (service hours 9am – 8pm) at

HK: 852-2341-2356
TW: 0809-079-888
SG: 800-8523-663
MY: 1-800-81-4963
ID: 021-2994-8800
TH: 0-2715-6100

Please accept our apology for any inconvenience caused.

Lets hope this issue get fixed asap.

Source

Meet Yoshi Akai who uses wireless waves to create various music tunes by the works of an analog synthesizer that taps WiFi activity. All of this with the help of an onboard antenna. To check out what are the devices he have, check out his official website here

Of course, don’t expect some kind of orchestral soundtrack

Via Makezine

Fans of Ar Tonelico 3 staying in Japan, there is a thanksgiving event which will be held on the 21st March 2010 in Bellselle Akihabara (ベルサール秋葉原 B1ホール)

Entry is free but there are limited seats which you have to reserve during the period from 26 Feb to 8th March 2010

Guests such as the hymmnos artiste Shikata Akiko will be present along with the staff of the game. Other guests are also scheduled. More information can be found in the official site here

I wonder if the staff will drop any hints on the DLC for the game. ^^

**Event is in JAPAN only**

『アルトネリコファン感謝祭』 再び開催決定！

■イベント名：「アルトネリコ ファン感謝祭 ～PHASE2～」
■開催日時：2010年3月21日（日）　開場13：00　開演 13：30 終演 15：30（予定）
■場　　　所：ベルサール秋葉原 B1ホール　　住所：会場案内はこち ら

■応募期間：
2010年2月26日（金）～3月8日（月）

I have to really give my hats off to this guy who is dressed up as Jason from Friday the 13th while carving trees with chainsaws from different lengths just to make the Big Daddy character from Bio Shock 2. It is really pure awesomeness as the amount of detail in this big wooden statue is simply amazing.

and you know what ? He does an awesome job in doing Feito-chan from Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha statue too. Here is his official website for his works

Check out the video below !

on a sidenote, I wonder how many trees died.. ^^

恐縮ですが
「バイオショック２」の「ビッグダディ」を彫りました。

潜水服にドリルという男の子のロマンが詰まった キャラです

宜しかったら見て下さい

nice job for Fate!
「ジェイソンさん」フェイトを彫る！「Lyrical Nanoha 」

]]> http://www.thebanzaieffect.com/articles/ooga/man-chainsaws-trees-for-bioshock2-big-daddy-statue/feed/ 2