Kawaii
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Pepper robots are getting fashionable makeovers
Pepper, Softbank's adorable emotion-sensing robot, is rapidly becoming the victim of its own cuteness after owners began dressing it up in wacky costumes. The Wall Street Journal has found that buyers of the device got together to form an intricate craft circle, making outfits for the device that won't interfere with its sensors. Head on over to Rierie and you'll find a wide variety of dresses, t-shirts and wigs that'll turn the appliance into a cross between a surrogate child and a cat you put in suits for Halloween. Interestingly, users can also buy makeup stickers and earrings to make the androgynous robot appear more masculine or feminine than when sold. It's become enough of a phenomenon that the store accepts global orders, so if you're looking for an attractive kimono for your droid, it'll cost you 20,000 yen ($163).
Only in Japan: the robot that's a smartphone that's a robot
RoboHon ("Robot Phone") is the cutest smartphone ever: a (familiar looking) robot frame that fits in your pocket. It can take calls, dance, project photos, display maps and more. It's a 'bot with a smartphone inside. Yes, some will snort at the idea of a phone with a 2-inch touchscreen, but it's certainly an original notion -- unashamedly so. That said, is it innovative? Is there a point to it all? Does it really fit in your pocket? We'll know better when it launches here in Japan early next year. For now, here's a closer look in person, answering at least one of those questions.
This transforming phone is all heart, no brains
In Japan, people still use feature phones. But despite the smartphone revolution, dumb phone innovation is not dead. Not when a phone can magically, (Transformer-ly) convert from a heart shape into something approaching a chubby handset you can actually talk into. Imaginatively titled "Heart", it'll come to Nihon in both red and black options, and according to our Japan team, weighs a mere 54 grams. Curiously, it doesn't launch until after Valentines' Day (late March), but when it does arrive, the phone will also come with in a special Sailor Moon iteration, with magical wand dangly accessory and livery.
Cute quotient overload: eyes-on with the Street Fighter x Sanrio Fightstick for Xbox 360
Thought the holidays were over? So did we. Imagine our surprise, then, when we returned to the office to find one last, special package lying in wait: Mad Catz Street Fighter x Sanrio Arcade Fightstick Pro. As ridiculous explosions of cute go, this one takes the sugoku kawaii cake -- even the box is a Hello Kitty collector's wet dream. Obvious overall otaku appeal aside, Xbox 360 gamers interested in the Fightstick Pro will find an eight button "authentic Japanese-style Sanwa Denshi" layout, switches for button lock / unlock and three joystick configuration settings (d-pad, left or right analog stick), turbo functionality, as well as a headphone jack upfront and a storage compartment housing the 13-foot long USB cable around back. Really though, no amount of English words will do this kitsch item justice. So check out the gallery below for a photo tour of this adorable collision of anime worlds.
Hello Kitty pays a visit to CES 2012: If you want it, we got it in pink
An electronics show wouldn't be an electronics show without celebrity endorsements. But there was one icon who had more product tie-ins than anyone else. Yep, Kitty-chan was in attendance and she had plenty of pink paraphernalia to hawk to unsuspecting fans of all things kawaii. We've collated together all the gear spotted at CES and, fortunately, there was more than just a few phone cases and laptop bags. Merchandise spotted includes Kitty-themed karaoke machines, alarm clocks with mounted laser cannons projectors, cordless phones and more. A brief video tour of some of our favorite surprises is coming soon, but until then, enjoy all that the super-deformed cat had to offer in our gallery below.Sean Cooper and Sean Buckley contributed to this post.
Hello Kitty, Snoopy lend their brand equity to the cute clamshell phone cause
In Japan, a certain hallowed distinction has been garnered by all ephemera cute and pretty. So, it goes without saying that this pair of oblong flip phones, with their familiar animated sponsors, should have the Harajuku hordes rushing in with charm straps at the ready. For its particular crack at kawaii, Panasonic's P-06C gets an understated splash of Snoopy cool, visible only through two available built-in themes. The clamshell entry comes with a 3-inch display, 5.1 megapixel camera and retails for about 28,560 yen (or $375). But, let's face it folks, the real stunner of the two is the Softbank-designed model Ms. Kitty-chan adorns. The Antique Berry-shaded 007SH KT packs a 3.4-inch display, 16.1 megapixel camera and Android 2.3 into a 180 degree foldable handset, and can be yours when it goes on sale next month. Be sure to jump past the break for a double dose of this wireless adorability.
Iris Online heads into open beta today
Looking at the above screenshot of a party going on in Iris Online, you can tell immediately whether this is the type of game you will enjoy. For some, those crazy, brightly colored worlds full of goofy fun are absolutely their thing. For others, not so much. With that said, if you're the type who digs crayola-colored silliness in MMO form, then you'll likely be interested to know that Iris Online is headed into open beta today! Offering three races (humans, elves, and part-animal humanoids), some of the most horribly adorable mounts we've seen in a while, a card system allowing you to morph your character, a level cap of 55, and 20 areas to explore, Iris Online has quite a bit to offer new players. After all, it's not every day that you get to go up against a world full of carnival-themed monsters who fling pies. If it sounds like your idea of fun, you can head over to the Iris Online site to get signed up for open beta, or check out the trailer we've lovingly tucked behind the cut for your amusement.
Run with the foxes: Grab a beta key for Kitsu Saga here
Tomorrow's the beginning of the closed beta phase for Aeria Games' Kitsu Saga, the MMO in which cute, cavity-inducing foxes roam free. You may recall that we here at Massively have run two exclusive behind-the-scenes peeks into the game, but now's your time to check out Kitsu Saga instead of just hearing us talk about it. Aeria has been kind enough to send 2,500 keys our way, so why delay giving them away any longer? Skip past the break to learn how to grab and redeem a key for yourself before they're all taken!
BlazBlue: Battle x Battle out this week on Japan's DSiWare store
Like many fighting game fans, you really enjoyed BlazBlue last year, but you had this irking feeling that the game would be just perfect if the characters were only a little more ... kawaii. Good news! Your wish has come true. Arc System Works says that its DSiWare version of the acclaimed fighter is ready to go. BlazBlue: Battle x Battle, which features big-headed cutesie versions of the full game's fighters battling it out Power Stone-style, will be available on the DSi's downloadable store this Wednesday. It looks, erm, interesting. Unfortunately, even if you were waiting to see a 2D franchise go 3D with hideously deformed versions of its characters, Battle x Battle is only available in Japan for now, so you'll either have to have a DSi from that region, or you'll have to wait until Aksys decides to release it here. If it keeps that 500 DSi point price, it might be worth a try.
First Impressions: Mabinogi
Mabinogi is an engaging MMO by Nexon, the makers of Maple Story, Audition, and Kart Rider. The name is derived from the Mabinogion, a collection of old Welsh stories. In that sense, it's well-named; Mabinogi is billed as 'your fantasy life', and much of what happens in the game follows a gentle, pastoral atmosphere -- even the combat, to a certain degree. We had the chance to check this out, now that it's in open beta, and here's what we found. Keep in mind that this is not a guide -- we have no insider knowledge to report. This is merely a record of our opinions and experience playing this game for the first few hours. Excelsior!%Gallery-18335%
Hello Kitty Online: I have no mouth, and I must scream [Updated]
Some of you have anticipated it. Some of you have dreaded it. Some of us have been threatened with it, when we've been naughty bloggers ('Follow the style guidelines or we'll make you play it!'). Whatever your reaction to the news, it's finally happening: Hello Kitty Online is currently in closed beta, and will launch sometime in the latter half of 2008.So, what can we expect from HKO? Appearances from other Sanrio characters: check. Cute explorable zones like the Flower Kingdom: check. Combat system: che -- wait, what? Combat system, guilds, extensive crafting system ... this is an actual MMORPG, not just another cutesy virtual world like Club Penguin or Webkinz!Color me curious; I've already signed up for the beta. More news as it comes. Keep an eye on Massively for all your superdeformed, facial orifice-less, kawaii character needs.[Updated: Closed beta actually begins on April 23rd.]
One Shots: Valentines cute overload!
For this Valentine's Day, we wanted to find the best of the screenshots that had been submitted to us -- ones that would embody the spirit of love. Of course, the few screens we do currently have involve either lovely landscapes or battles -- neither of which we thought was terribly appropriate. So instead we figured we'd go out and hunt down a screenshot for today's celebration of all things smooshy and cute. This screen comes from an MMO that just entered closed beta, and that we're working on a story for, even as I write this. Can you guess what this upcoming MMO bastion of cuteness could possibly be? Leave your idea in the comments below!Remember, One Shots is all about you. Without your screenshots, we have no stories to tell. So be sure to drop your in-game screens to us at oneshots@massively.com! %Gallery-9798%
Mimoco releases a whole new batch of adorable flash drives
Have you been looking for that special something to whip out at the big meeting to show everyone that you've got style, class, and money to burn? Well perhaps you should take a peek at the latest set of Mimobot Core Series 2 USB flash drives, which come fashioned in a wide variety of cute-as-all-get-out cartoon monsters, designed by illustrator Dino Alberto. While we can't say that we prefer these to the company's previous Star Wars-themed line, there is something intriguing about this new set, like the fact that these adorable little guys all have an elaborate back-story that's loaded onto the drives for your viewing pleasure -- although you may just want to scrap that to make more room for your "business documents." The drives come in 512MB, 1GB, 2GB or 4GB capacity, and range in price from $39.95 to $109.95.
Hot new DAP comes in Japanese chili powder container
Who says you can't have your audio player and eat it too? Not that we recommend ingesting consumer electronics, but you just might be tempted to if your DAP was encased in a small container of shichimi Japanese chili powder (we're betting that they've rinsed it out, though). This 2.6-inch tall 128MB player will play back both WMA and MP3 files, and features a headphone cable integrated into the neckstrap. It'll set you back a scorching ¥8800 ($74), and while that may not buy you the kawaii-est player in Nippon, it'll surely get you the hottest. We'll be here all week.[Via Engadget Japanese]
Hello Kitty takes over portable media players
When will the madness of Hello Kitty gadgetry come to an end? We can't take it anymore, seriously. To review, we've seen a cellphone, Xbox, MP3 player, guitar, SD card, laptop, and tailpipe (plus lots more we couldn't find or didn't even post about) in the last two yeare. Our partners in crime over at Engadget Chinese came across the latest sighting of the queen of kawaii: a Hello Kitty mobile DVD player with a 3.5-inch screen and a three hour battery life. This whole package can be yours for 4,000 yuan, or about $500 -- not as cute as we'd thought with a price like that, but really, who can resist that puss? As proven, certainly not us.
Hitachi's DV-DH1000D WOOO DVR maxed out at 1TB
Yesterday we joked that we'd all have 1TB storage devices hard-wired to our brains by 2056. We're not quite there yet, but today we're taking some of the first steps: Hitachi has just announced three new models of its WOOO DVR, which top out at 1TB. These sleek little players, the DV-DH1000D, DV-DH500D and the DV-DH160D all record in Hi-Vision (Japan's version of HDTV) and come in three colors including "piano black," "champagne silver" and another metallic color that Google couldn't translate for us. Hitachi's latest range from ¥120,000 and ¥200,000 ($1,020 and $1,700), and while the two higher-end versions will be released in early October, the DV-DH160D won't be out until the middle of that month. Each recorder comes loaded with two terrestrial digital tuners and two BS / CS digital tuners (a Japanese digital stream standard), along with three sets of component and S-Video ports on the back, HDMI, iLink (on the DV-DH1000D only), Ethernet, an SD card slot and a DVD-R / RW recorder. So if you're in Japan, get ready to smash your piggy bank or whatever it is that the Japanese are keeping money in these days -- knowing them, it's probably something way kawaii-er than ceramic swine anyway.[Via Akihabara News]
Hello Kitty invades the Epson Endeavor NA101
Until now, hardcore Hello Kitty fans deeply lamented the fact that their laptops were clashing with their iPods, cellphones, and SD cards. Fear not, legions of the kawaii army, Sanrio Japan has just released an Epson Endeavor NA101 rebranded with Kitty's lovely mug (or optionally, 20 of her mugs) on the cover. You'll pay a ¥44,000 ($376) premium for this though, compared to the un-Kittyified blank NA101. But really, that's such a small price to pay to have the cutest computer in Shibuya.
BiblioRoll, the new digital literary baton
We're not sure that the BiblioRoll exactly meets the definition of kawaii, but it's definitely all sorts of awesome looking, and feels pulled from a 70s sci-fi. The BiblioRoll is a 15cm (about six inches) plastic cylinder that contains three 2-inch LCDs encased in separate sections of the cylinder. Each section can be rotated to display pages of different books, each of which can be linked and referenced together. The good folks from Media Design Okude Laboratory at KEIO University in Japan say that the BiblioRoll won't be complete until 2010, which should give us enough time to save up enough money to actually buy one of these things. Maybe by then we'll also have organized a BiblioRoll throwing contest.[Thanks, Takashi Matsumoto]
PaPeRo : Shibuya girls' favorite robot
While we tend to prefer more aggressive robots, or more sporty robots, most of the 500 Shibuya girls surveyed in the latest issue of Robot Life tend to prefer kawaii (um, cuteness). The champion of the informal 500 person poll was PaPeRo, a short stubby little mini robot that looks like the lovechild of R2D2 and the Fighting Nun puppet. PaPeRro, whom we fell in love with at CeBIT, beat out such competitors as the security guard bot Wakamaru and the ifBot, an elderly-friendly little droid. We still think that PaPeRo should enter the Robo-One in the Space competition, which is totally feasible since it has few years to work it out and get in fighting shape. Click on for the list of today's best robots, as rated by a ton of Japanese ladies.[Via Wired Blogs]
