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Amazon brings Instant Video to Japan, offers over 26,000 movies and TV shows
Folks in the Land of the Rising Sun will be pleased to know that there's now another option where they can rent or buy movies and TV shows. Today, Amazon announced the arrival of its Instant Video service in Japan, bringing with it a selection of more than 26,000 series and films from local and international studios -- such as Shochiku, Toho, TV Asahi, TBS and Warner Bros., to mention a few. Of course, this means viewers will have access to Amazon Instant Video on a number of different platforms, including PCs and the company's Kindle Fire line of tablets. So what are you waiting for? Start building out your very own Watchlist right about now -- and we'd definitely recommend placing Pacific Rim in there.
100K Pokemon X/Y 3DS bundles sell out in hours on Amazon Japan
Within hours of making Pokémon X and Pokémon Y bundles available for pre-order, Amazon Japan saw its entire allocation of units snatched up by eager pocket-monster wranglers over the weekend. Two bundles are coming to Japan: a special golden console bundle, which sold out within one hour of being made available for order, and a blue console, which sold out nine hours later. According to Amazon Japan's Twitter account (via DualShockers), all 100,000 units of the limited console bundle have been claimed. The online retailer continues to sell the game separately.
Olympus OM-D E-M5 Micro Four Thirds camera to ship on March 31st? (update: now April)
If a ship date pops up on Amazon for a date in the not-so-distant future, we're typically inclined to listen up -- after all, the world's largest e-tailer probably has a fairly good idea of when its products will first leave the warehouse. This time, it's the Olympus OM-D E-M5, which just appeared on the distributor's Japanese site with an estimated release date of March 31st. There's no mention of a date on the company's U.S. site, however, so it's still unclear whether or not the Micro Four Thirds cam will hit North American shores on the 31st as well. Still, unless a trip to Japan is in the cards for the end of Q1, your best bet for getting early access to the highly-anticipated mirrorless cam would probably be to get your pre-order on at our coverage link below.Update: We're now seeing US retailers listing the device with an April 10th release date. Check the More Coverage links below.
Amazon prepares Kindle Touch for April launch in Japan?
According to one of Japan's big dailies, The Nikkei, Amazon will attempt to brave the tricky e-reader waters of Japan, aiming to launch its Kindle Touch as the flagship device in April. The newspaper reports that the device will land for less than 20,000 yen ($260), teaming up with Japanese mobile carrier NTT DoCoMo for 3G access to the Kindle's online store, gratis. Amazon hopes that the device's very competitive pricing, at least in comparison to existing 3G-friendly e-readers, will make in-roads to the notoriously frosty Japanese e-reader market. It will also bring Amazon's e-readers to the home turf of one of its biggest rivals; Rakuten.
Nintendo 3DS expansion up for pre-order in Japan, ready to bulk up consoles in December
Ever feel like your life is one right hand circle pad short of perfection? We've got some good news if you happen to live in Japan -- Nintendo's 3DS Expansion Slide Pad is now available for pre-order via Amazon in that country. Sure, not everyone out there is excited about the thing, but aside from some obvious problems with bulk, we didn't find it entirely unpleasant during our hands-on time at the Tokyo Game Show last month -- and if that's not a ringing endorsement, we don't know what is. The add-on will run you ¥1,500 ($19.50) and should start shipping on December 10th in Japan.
Amazon Japan claims exclusivity to Korg DS-10
Talk about an importer's nightmare.Granted, those interested in Korg DS-10 will still be able to import this intense synthesizer/music-creation software, but being an Amazon Japan exclusive will make it that much more expensive (as if imports didn't already make our wallets bleed). As much as we love Amazon, the retailer doesn't ship outside of its respective country or region, meaning a direct purchase from the site is impossible. Going through some of the normal channels (like NCS or Play-Asia) will still work, but since they have to pay extra for retail, taxes, and shipping, the cost of the software went up $14. Now, instead of paying $48.90 for the import, interested parties have to pony up $62.90 -- and that doesn't even include shipping costs. Our wallets are crying.Of course, if you don't need the software this month, you can always wait for Korg DS-10 to release worldwide -- whenever that will be.[Via Destructoid]
