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The 'father of manga' joins Google's Cultural Institute
One of the (if not the) most influential manga artists ever, Osamu Tezuka, has joined the digital halls of the Google Cultural Institute. If there was no Tezuka, there would have probably been no Dragonball, no One Piece... well, you get the picture. The collection includes a Google Street View tour of the museum founded in his honor, as well as a beautifully curated selection of photos, artwork and video clips. It's all been timed to coincide with Atomu's (Astro Boy) birthday, the robot boy that's now 62 years old-- and starred in Japan's first (yes, first) anime. While the collection might not touch the mind-blowing 700 total manga titles the artist completed in his lifetime, it's a mighty well-presented primer.
Zeno the child-robot apes Astro Boy, Chucky
Hanson Robotics, creators of the wildly creepy Albert Einstein and (now missing) Philip K. Dick robotic heads has turned its attention to children... er, that is, a child-robot. Sure, it's somewhat difficult to look at little Zeno and not find him just slightly disturbing, but that won't stop the team from breaking ground on this new cybernetic-tyke. The bot will stand 17-inches tall, weigh 6-pounds, and will cost you around $15,000 apiece (consumer models could be $200-300), though you can't put a price on a child-bot that walks, talks, and makes eye contact, right? The original design for Zeno is based loosely on Astro Boy, though somehow the creators have imbued him with a slightly more Chucky-like appearance. Zeno will be controlled wirelessly from your PC, but will also have, "His own moods," and make, "His own decisions." The bot is due out for mass consumption in "a few years," though no word yet on whether Zeno will silently creep into your bedroom at night and stare at you while you sleep.[Via The Raw Feed]
Animation studio Imagi inks distribution deal with Wowwee
Imagi, the animation studio behind the recent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film, and the upcoming Gatchaman and Astro Boy movies, has inked a deal with Wowwee Ltd., makers of the infamous Robosapien (amongst others), which will grant the toy-maker exclusive distribution rights for the studio's properties. According to the company press release, Wowwee will provide some of its proprietary technology for use in toys related to the upcoming pictures, which will closely replicate the look and story of the films in both design and "play patterns." As Imagi co-CEO Douglas Glen puts it "All too often, film-licensed toys fail to live up to kids' expectations, because they fall so far short of what the kids see on the movie screen," but Imagi and Wowwee will seek to avoid this by having toy designers and filmmakers work closely with one-another. Our personal hope is to see a life-size, fully functional Astro Boy... with feelings. Maybe we're expecting too much.
Top 10 GBA game list is highly selective
Infendo's list of the Top 10 Must-Buy GBA Games definitely includes ten great games. We approve of Infendo's drive to fill the neglected bottom cartridge slot of the DS with excellence. However, it comes off as a list of the Top 10 First-Party GBA games, with no representation of third-party publishers at all. Every single game on the list, even Final Fantasy VI Advance, was published by Nintendo. We know that Nintendo fans tend to be loyal to Nintendo even to the exclusion of other companies that publish on Nintendo consoles, but a list of great Game Boy Advance games should really have at least one Castlevania game on it. Technically, the NES Castlevania is included as "anything from the Classic NES Series," but that's not what we're talking about. We're specifically talking about the three original Castlevania games made for the system. We'd personally include Astro Boy: Omega Factor as well, but we understand that to be a matter of opinion. And we've grown used to not seeing Super Dodge Ball Advance on best-of lists, because the world is a terrible place. The full list is posted after the break.
Okwap, it's AstroBoy!
You know you're in for a good time when Okwap has a new phone, and when it's an AstroBoy branded phone we're talking about, all bets are off. Given the packaging of this particular model A323, we don't think it's unfair to assert that they're aiming this less at the user and more at the AstroBoy collector audience, but ain't no shame in that game, there are certainly enough fanboys of that particular character to make it worth Okwap's while.[Via MobileMentalism]
